Under the New York Sky | ✔️

•E p i l o g u e•

"It's a New York City experience," he answered simply, avoiding my eye contact.

I narrowed my eyes at him skeptically, "We live in New York City. We experience this everyday."

I toyed with the ring he'd given me on my finger, smiling as I glanced over at Aden's wrist. Even now he still wore the bracelet I gave him a few years back and refused to take it off even when I gave him my necklace to.

"Did you know the reason why I took the subway that day when I first saw you was because I was picking my car up from the dealership?" Aden asked, finally making eye contact with me again. But his gaze was nervous, his usual confident smirk was nowhere to be seen.

I nodded, "I think you mentioned it before."

"Did you know that I was only on the subway every single day after that because I wanted to see you?" his voice wavered slightly.

I stared into his anxious eyes as he rolled his tongue over his bottom lip. I shook my head; he'd never mentioned that to me before.

"Every single day, I was on here because I wanted to try and talk to you, and every single day I failed because I was too scared. I didn't want you to think I was just some weirdo, or a stalker. So, I never did talk to you, until the day you accidentally stepped on my foot, as clumsy as you were," his lips curled into a crooked smile when he said that.

"And I ruined your white shoes," I added, feeling my cheeks start to heat up. "My bad."

"And I'm glad you did, Clumsy," his crooked smile morphed into a soft one. His eyes now seemed less anxious but rather they stared at me with an emotion my brain could never put a finger on — but I'd gotten used to. He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles, sending a wave of tingles over my hand. "Because I talked to you, for the first time that day."

The subway stopped and I glanced up momentarily, breaking away from Aden's gaze. It was a familiar stop, one that I took a lot. It was the stop I'd always get on to get to Aunt Claire's law firm and to get to her apartment.

I turned my attention back to Aden, just as he stood up from the seat, and my eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Where are you going? This isn't where you parked—" I stood up from the seat after him, and my eyes widened when he got down on one knee. He pulled his hand out of his jacket pocket, revealing a small black jewelry box. He didn't even need to open it and I already knew what was inside.

"Skyler, this is where we met," he started, licking his lips nervously as he stared into my eyes. I stared back into them, admiring the green in his dark irises even though I'd memorized long ago the way they looked. "I think I knew from the first time I saw you that you were the one. I just didn't realize it until months later."

I placed a hand over my mouth to muffle my surprised laugh as hot tears prickled the corner of my eyes. The subway began moving again but I barely felt it. My heart swelled, a warm, bubbly sensation spreading over me.

"I love everything about you," he continued. "I love your obnoxious laughs, I love how you play a song and sing along to it just about every single time we're alone together in the car — no matter how bad it sounds," he and I both laughed. "And I love how clumsy you are sometimes, jumping in front of a soccer ball, or when you step on me randomly when you trip, and I wouldn't change that part of you because that's how I first talked to you."

He opened the jewelry box, revealing the most beautiful ring I'd ever laid my eyes on. Two bands twisted over one another. studded with tiny diamonds. In the centre of the ring, there was a large diamond that shone brightly, reflecting the dim lights in the car.

"I know we're young, and we still have forever ahead of us. But those are just some of the reasons why I'm hoping you'll agree to spend the rest of your life with me because I can't see mine without you in it. Skyler, will you marry me?" he stared at me with hopeful eyes. Those eyes that had mesmerized me from the moment I'd looked into them on the subway five years ago.

My eyes clouded and blurred with tears as I nodded, "Yes, a million times yes. I'll marry you." I didn't even need to think twice. If it wasn't Aden, it wouldn't be anyone. A quiet bliss fell over me. It was as if in that moment, I was bathing in euphoria.

He stood up and I flung my arms around him, pulling him tighter towards me than I ever had. He returned my hug, sighing contently.

We pulled apart quickly, and Aden placed my hand in his. He took out the ring from its box and slid it smoothly into the fourth finger on my left hand. The diamond glistened in the light, suddenly looking ten times larger than it did in the box. The ring on my index finger didn't look so lonely anymore.

"How could you afford this?" I asked, looking back up at him.

His cheeks turned slightly pink, "I've been saving up for two years, but its nothing for you to worry about, Clumsy. You deserve it, and so much more." I gazed at his face, from his sharp jawline to the freckles lined on the bridge of his nose, to the rebellious strands of his hair that dangled over his forehead, all the way to the green speckles in his dark eyes.

He tilted my chin up with a finger and connected his lips with mine.

Even after all these years, the butterflies never subsided. A wave of warmth emanated over my body from where our lips met, all the way to my toes.

To love was to burn like fire.

Life may never be easy, but I knew that as long as Aden was there, we could get through it together. Our experiences gave us strength and I didn't doubt that we could get through them alone. But that didn't mean we didn't need anyone to fall back on once in a while.

We fell in love under the New York sky, and we had each other to go home to now. That was all I needed.

___________________

You were red, and you liked me because I was blue. But you touched me and suddenly I was the lilac sky.

~Halsey

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Credit to @BlackRaven- for the amazing book cover!

That was the final part of this story! Thanks to those of you who read to the end and supported this story! I love all of you!

There was originally two other ways I thought of ending this story, and both of them had a sad ending (I ended up picking the happy ending).

I'm so sad that this story is over!! But I hope you all liked this story and hopefully it brought smiles to your faces.

Please do vote, comment and share if you did like it! And thanks so much for reading and supporting!

For now, I will be catching up on everyone else's stories, and of course starting a new story in the New Adult genre that will be released sometime in May. I hope you'll all stay tuned for that :)

Thank you,

~SweetnessInTheSalt