I stood in a beautiful old Victorian on the same street as Mackenzie's house. It was so perfect. There was open space and natural lighting and the renovations were needed but not impossible. And everywhere I looked I saw things Olivia would love just as much as I would.
I had known as soon as I walked in that this was my home, Olivia was walking around as well and she walked back up to me, "Do you like it?"
"I love it, it exactly what I wanted."
She smiled, "It is pretty special, with some renovations it will be everything you had talked about."
I loved it and I wanted but I wanted to know if she liked it as well. Even though she didn't know it I hoped that this would be her home as well one day, "Do you like it? If you were looking for a house would you buy it."
"I think so, it has a homey feel and it's just so... beautiful." Her eyes filled with amazement as she looked around. And with that I knew this was the one I wanted. I loved it and she loved it, that's all we needed.
***
Through the next week or two Olivia continued to develop our relationship, staying together most nights alternating between her place and mine. I was moving into the house in a couple of days, the owner had wanted a quick closing and I was eager to start renovations. I had ordered furniture and didn't need to move much so I was set. The first thing I planned on doing was redoing the master bedroom and bath. It was what I was talking over with Olivia right now as we laid in my bed this afternoon, we had been up late last night for work and decided to sleep in.
"I think the master bedroom and bathroom are perfect as is but I really want to put in some hardwood floors before moving on to the kitchen." I showed her a picture of the floors I was going to put in.
"That will look amazing!" She says as she looks at me from where she was pressed against my side. Then her head bops up as she remembers something, "Also, I forgot to mention that Mackenzie invited us to a honkey tonk bar on the edge of town that just opened up. I think she also invited Ethan too."
"Do you want to go?" I wouldn't mind going out it with them the four of us always had fun together and we had not been out with a group as a couple before.
"Yeah I think it will be fun and I haven't hung out with Mackenzie in a while." She was being casual but I could see the excitement in her eyes at the idea of hanging out with her best friend. Her and my sister frequented bars and always seemed to get themselves into trouble.
"Then let's go, it will be funny for me to watch Ethan get pissy when guys flirt with Mackenzie. He's got it so bad, I don't understand why he doesn't just ask her out."
"It's so obvious too, but Mackenzie insists that they're just friends."
***
Later that night I watched from the bed as she got ready for our night out. I fiddled with the small box in my pants pocket as I watched her apply her makeup. I had bought an engagement ring, I know we had agreed to take it slow but I knew she was who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I had known it six years ago and I knew it now.
But, I would wait a little bit before I actually proposed because I didn't want to freak her out even though I was pretty sure she would accept when I did propose to her.
"I'm almost ready, Slate." She calls out to me from where she was standing at the bathroom sink.
I slip my hand out of my pocket drawing my attention back to the woman I love, "Okay, we'll leave whenever you're ready. No rush." I was being jittery because I was thinking about how I could propose but I tried to act as normal as possible.
We had not been back to the lake where we had fallen in love since high school and I thought that it would be the perfect place to go back and propose to her. Our life together could start in the place that we did.
She walked out of the bathroom and my breath hitched, her hair was up exposing her neck and the multiple hickeys I had left over the past few weeks. Her skinny jeans were hugging her body in a perfect way and her makeup accentuated the beautiful green eyes that I adored. They were sparkling up at me as I looked at her appreciatively.
"See something you like?" She teased at my silence.
"Very much so," I jumped off the bed to give her a quick kiss. My tongue plunging into her mouth as her hand touched my cheek. She smiled at me and chuckled before grabbing her purse and getting ready to leave. In the few weeks we had been together we already had routines and acted like we had been together our entire lives. We fought like an old married couple and loved like one as well.
These past weeks had confirmed every thought that I had about us since high school. As stupid as I used to think true love was, this was it.
When we were finally ready to leave we hopped in my truck and started the drive to meet my sister and Ethan at the bar. I looked over at Olivia as she sang the song on the radio and just appreciated that I had her, that I could call her my own. I never thought that I would be lucky enough to call her mine and I never thought we could get over our issues that we could get back to how we used to be. I never thought I would have been able to forgive her, but I was so thankful I had.
She looked over to me as I stared at her and giggled, "What?"
I lifted her hand that I was holding and kissed it, "Nothing."
She gave me a small smile as I pulled into the parking lot of the lit up bar. I could see Mackenzie and Ethan waiting for us outside the door. Olivia and I laughed as we saw Ethan fussing over Mackenzie, she was wearing shorts and a tank top and it was a chilly night. Ethan was trying to give her a jacket and Mackenzie continued to refuse as we walked over.
"I'm fine, Ethan. It would ruin my outfit anyway." She exclaimed.
"Fine," Ethan grumbled in response finally giving up.
"Hi guys!" Mackenzie exclaimed when she saw us next to them, "You guys are so cute!" I watched as Olivia blushed and I pulled her against my side, laughing. She had never liked to be the center of attention.
"Let's go inside." Olivia grumbled bashfully.
I chuckled again as we all walked inside. The entire bar was packed with people dancing in jeans. There were neon signs and there was country music blasting throughout the huge space. Mackenzie squealed at the sight of everyone dancing and dragged Olivia to the dance floor. Ethan laughed watching Mackenzie and we went to go get drinks for all of us.
As we waited for our drinks I used the opportunity to talk to Ethan about what was going on him between him and Mackenzie, "When are you going to ask her out?"
He had the decency to look a little nervous at my serious tone, "Who?"
"You know who I'm talking about."
"She's your sister, I wouldn't ask her out and risk losing our friendship."
"I've seen how you look at her, I wouldn't be mad at you if you asked her out. You're a good guy, Ethan. You should go for it."
His eyes widen in shock, "Really? You'd be okay with it?"
"Yes, go for it. Just don't hurt her." I look at him seriously as a bright smile crosses his face when I give him my blessing.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to go talk to her now." I watch as he walks over to where Mackenzie and Olivia were dancing. He talks to her for a moment before they walk off to the side and I lose them in the sea of people.
Olivia starts to walk over to me with a coy smile, "I think he's finally making his move."
"Yeah, he's asking her out." I respond raising my beer to my smiling lips. It seemed like things were working out for once.
"That's awesome!" She presses a quick kiss on my cheek and says, "I'm going to hit the ladies room." And walks away through the crowd of people.
After a minute, I see Mackenzie and Ethan emerge through the crowd back onto the dance floor. They began to dance, eyes locked on each other. I guess that went well, I was happy for them. My sister deserved to be with a great person and so did Ethan.
After a couple of minutes passed I wondered what was taking Olivia so long and started to cross to the back of the bar to look for her. As I looked through all of the people I spotted my girlfriend kissing a stranger.
And I saw red.