When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 14

Heather

After everyone had dispersed into their cars at the restaurant, Heather had sweetly asked Ryan if they could make a quick pit stop at the Walmart before they'd returned back to campus. She had a plan to get back at Peter, so she had supplies to that she'd needed to get.

While they'd cruised the shelves, Heather tried see if he was going to finally say what had been on his mind since he'd been incredibly rude at dinner towards everyone. She knew he wasn't that kind of person, so what bothered him so much that he'd reduced himself to a slouching, glaring, antisocial asshole who couldn't even fake a smile to meet her new friends?

"Hey, I know everyone wants to go out tonight, but could we stay in, actually?" Ryan asked. "I have something I really need to talk to you about."

"Well, why didn't we talk about it last night, when it was just the two of us then?"

"Because I wanted to just catch up last night," he sighed. "I hadn't seen you in months, and I wanted just the two of us to spend time together ."

Okay then... What was so important that he wanted to talk about?

"Wait a second, was that why you were so angry at dinner? Because you'd rather it have been just us?" Heater turned towards him.

"Honestly, yeah. I know you wanted me to meet everyone, and they seemed great and all, but—"

"—You know what, Ryan? You're timing kind of sucks," Heather said. "Just say it already if its bothering you this much."

He frowned at her. "Seriously, right now? In Walmart of all places?"

"I'm getting annoyed with your moodiness, so yeah, let me hear it."

Ryan huffed. "Fine." He'd stopped the cart to glare at her. "I've been thinking a lot about us lately; all that's happened and where we're at, so I wanted to hear what your thoughts were on marriage?"

Heather froze right in the middle of the breakfast cereal section.

"I'm guessing by your freaked-out expression that you're not for it," Ryan deadpanned.

"Uh...Well, um, yeah?" She'd managed to stutter out. "Okay, it's just that I'm only 19 and you're 23...Why now?"

"Because I feel like I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I know we'll get married eventually, so why not save time and do it right away?"

She saw how that would make sense from his perspective, but marriage? Seriously? Heather thought that he hadn't thought about all the aspects that went into not only a wedding, but marriage in general. It was such a huge commitment to make, and honestly, she didn't think she was ready for that sort of thing, at least not when she was only 19 years old. Ryan was older, and had always been more mature than any guy she'd ever met; plus he was at a different stage of his life than her. He was set to graduate in December and was on the cusp of having an amazing job at the jumpstart of his career. It made sense that he was looking to the future and pushing everything forward in order to get to where he wanted as quickly as possible.

She wasn't ready; it was all way too soon.

Heather took a deep breath before she'd answered. "Ry, baby, I love you so much, you know that, right?" She regarded him fondly. "You're amazing for thinking about all of that and I'm so blessed to have you in my life." Ryan's expression dropped like he knew where she was headed. "I feel the same way about wanting to spend the rest of my life with you too, and I'd love to be married to you...but not right now. We're both still so young and probably have no idea what the real world is like out there. We have plenty of time to worry about marrying each other later on. Maybe when we're more experienced and financially stable?"