The rain had passed, and the sun was shining through the roots. The ground was somewhat moist, but we didn't get one drop of rain of us. We slept on a blue blanket, while another covered us up. Derek's arm was under my head while his other arm was hugging my waist. My head laid on his chest, listening and watching his chest rise. Our clothes were thrown all around us, my jeans were near our heads, while my shirt was hanging on one of the roots.
"Good morning." He says, his voice sounded raspy. He brushes the hair out of my face, brushing my cheeks. "Good morning," I say back. He smiles down at me, before kissing my forehead. "It's a good thing we stayed here last night, seems like we both got some sleep." He rolls me on top of his chest, scratching my back lightly with his hand. "You look beautiful.." His eyes seemed to change a different color than before, "The rain made my hair curlier, so maybe that's it." He shakes his head, "No, that's not it." He grabs my hair, pushing it off my shoulders. "This. You right now, laying here with me. It makes you beautiful." He lifts his head up a little and kisses me.
We stayed laying down on the ground for a while, enjoying the silence. "What do you think your mom's going to say when we come back home together," I ask, running my fingers over his chest. "She might be mad that I left in the middle of the night, but then again, she might be happy that you found me, and that we came back together." He grabs my left hand, "You kept it, the ring." He turns it towards the sun, reflecting a bright rainbow on the wood. "I loved it, I couldn't throw it away." He brings my hand up to his mouth and kisses it. "I love this, us together. I will work for this, I promise."
We got dressed and walked into the woods.
The Hale family were walking, and sitting on the porch. Scanning the woods for any sign of Derek and I. "Where are they! Savannah told me that she knew the woods better than anyone, it wouldn't take her a whole night to come back home." Laura yelled at the distance. We walked from the right side of the house, "Hey guys." Derek says. His Mom and Dad come running towards us, hugging us both tightly. Cora and Laura were next, then the rest of the Hale's. "Thank goodness you guys are alive, we were going to send out missing person reports?" I nudge Derek at Talia's concern.
Derek grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly. "You're together..." Laura whispers, catching the attention of the family. They turn to us, while we stand side by side, looking back at them as well. "We worked it out." He said. An even happier celebration came from the Hale's again, "I'm happy for the both of you." Talia says as she hugs us at the same time. "I promised her, I will work for us." He whispers to me, but his parents heard as well.
Talia's sisters and aunts prepared lunch for everyone, soon after the whole 'scavenging' for Derek. I called my mom, making sure she didn't freak out about where I was. "Well, as long as you're with Derek and Talia, I'm happy. Have fun, you deserve it for looking after Scott. Bye sweety." "Bye, mom."
We ate lunch outside on the porch, Cora and her other cousins played in front of the house. "C'mon Savannah show us some soccer moves." One of them yelled. I put my drink down, and join them. I scoop up the ball with my foot, bouncing it on the top of my laces, then of my knee. "Oh, let me try." Another yelled. "Okay, I'm going to pass it to you, ready...go!" I bounce the ball to him, and he continues the bounce. "There you go! Now hand it over to someone else." He repeats the same thing, and in the end, we all passed it around the circle.
Laura, Andrew, Derek, and I played with the kids soon afterward. "Hey let's take a picture! Cora, you're in the front, then Sav, Derek, Me, and Andrew. Now separate, okay ready." She clicks on the timer and runs to her spot. The camera clicks down before flashing our eyes. Talia comes behind the camera, taking a look. "Cute!" She takes it off the stand and bends down to show us. "I love it." She yells.
After lunch, I roamed around the house for a bit, until I ended up in Derek's room. He was on the computer, searching something. "Buying something online." He spins his chair around in a nano-second, "You scared me..yeah I was. But you can't see, it's for your birthday, in which I wasn't invited to?" He walks over to me, wrapping his arms. "I'm not the type that likes birthday parties, had a bad experience, I'm not going back there again." He kisses me, "Well you're going to love this present that I made myself, with the help of people online." He flashes a fake smile.
"Oh god, I'll love it anyway, probably post it on my wall, or hang it in the back of my closet." I sit on his bed, while he brings his computer to me. "What do you think about this ring?" Scrolling down several pages, I remember Andrews proposal. "Are you helping Andrew?" Derek's eyes widen, "Yeah? You?" I nod my head slowly, "He asked me a few weeks ago, he leaves this month right?" Checking the calendar on our phones, "Yep."
We hear a knock coming from his door, "Hey, I'm going to do it tonight." Andrew comes in the room, "You have the ring?" He pulls out a small white box, revealing a silver band, with a square diamond. " She's going to love it, I promise you." He smiles down at it, before taking us downstairs.
The whole Hale family was waiting outside, the porch lights were shining, and the moon was out, followed by the stars. "Laura! We need you hurry!" Michael yells, seconds later, she sprints down the stairs, almost falling down. "Here! What do you need?" We all move aside, letting her see Andrew at the front of the house.
I didn't know how to explain it, but. They looked at each other, and it seemed like the whole world vanished in their eyes. Some people believe that this only happens in fairy tales, but I felt it between them, between Talia and Michael, even Derek and I. I look up at him, the light shining on his skin. He squeezes my hand, "I know I'm hot, don't have to stare." He whispers I turn my attention back to Laura and Andrew.
"Laura, I've liked you since 7th grade. We followed each other into high school and started dating that summer. Then sophomore year came, and you told me about your family. At that moment, I didn't really care if you were a vampire, an immortal human, a hunter, or even a werewolf because I fell in love with you. With you and your whole entire werewolf family, they took me as their own. Not forcing me to be like them, or telling me to let you go to some other supernatural creature. What I'm trying to say is, I want to be with you for the rest of my human life. Will you marry me?"
All of a sudden a rush of tears, come from all the woman in the family, including Laura. She held her hand up to her mouth, "Yes!" She says to him, he takes out the ring, placing it on her finger. "It fits!." She yells. They embrace each other, twirling and spinning around in a hug.
"We have to start planning now! Mom, ladies let's go start planning." Talia rushes the girls inside. I walk over to Laura, who is crying tears of joy. "You knew, didn't you!" She wipes the tears and gives me a hug. "Of course I did, we wouldn't be able to marry you without my approval." I congratulate Andrew one last time before I head back home.
"I'll see you later," Derek says to me, as he drops me off at my house. "Bye." We kiss again before I go in my house.
"Mom I'm home!" I yell from the foyer, "In here!"
I walk over to the kitchen and see Mike and Scott sitting on the table. "You must be Savannah, I'm Mike. I've heard incredible things about you." I shake Mike's hand, watching him sit down. "I can say the same about you, Mike. Nice to finally meet you." My mom sits the lasagna on the table, "I'll get it." I get up from the table and reach for the door before it even rings. "I didn't-" "She does that all the time." My mom says.
I open the door to see Derek holding my jacket. "You forgot this." He hands me my jacket, "I didn't have a jacket last night?" He looks up to see my mom, "Hello Ms. McCall, I'm Derek Hale. Savannah's boyfriend." Curiosity grew on my mom's face, "Welcome, we're having lasagna." She moves into the house, "I'd love too." He passes by me, slapping my butt on the way in. "Mike Hunter." They both shake their hands, "Derek Hale"
The 5 of us enjoy the dinner, and amazingly it wasn't awkward at all. I learned that Mike's family was in the hunting business when he was younger, making Derek pretty defensive but didn't show it. He's also a neurosurgeon, at the same hospital my mom works at. "So Derek what about you? What are you planning to do after high school?" Mike asks.
"I was planning to play college basketball, and hopefully get scouted, but for the meantime, I want to study Mythology." My mom and Mike start to ask him about his favorite colleges, "UCLA, Standford, U of A. Any schools nearby I'm applying to."
"Savannah here was thinking about going to Juilliard for Music, right sweety?" The piece of lasagna that I was going to eat falls on my plate, "I was just thinking about it, it's too far away and I don't want to leave you here alone with Scott, mom? And plus I've talked to UCLA before and they offered me a full ride, with Soccer and the swim team, even Music school too." Derek looks over at me, not showing any emotion to what my mom just announced. "But just considerate, UCLA is an amazing school, but Juilliard. It's going to change your life."
We end dinner, with my mom heading out with Mike, leaving Scott, Derek and I alone. "I'm heading up to bed, Love you." Scott gives me a kiss, and fists bump Derek. "Bye little man."
We enter my room, "Wow you haven't really changed much have you?" He looks at the pictures on my desk, "Where're the other ones?" I point to the locked cabinet, "In here." I take out the pictures of us, putting them back in their place. "There, now your room is complete." He looks around confidently, while I sigh out relieved. I take off my shoes, and change into something more comfortable, then laying down on my bed.
"Tired?" He lays into bed with me, "Very. So much has happened today, I just want to sleep forever." I cover my face with my hands, "Well I'm sorry love, you can't. Because then you will miss your best friends wedding, in a month." He lays on top of me, settling between my legs. "Well, I can at least sleep until tomorrow afternoon, since it is spring break."
"We're also going to have wedding planning as well." He lays his head on my chest. "She's happy, that's all I care about."
2 Weeks Later
"Hey, how was class." Derek met up with me after History with Mr.Thompson. "Really interesting actually, were learning about Mythology." He grabs my hand, taking me out to his car for lunch.
"My mom has been going crazy over the wedding plans and arrangements, it's almost like it's her wedding again. Laura's just telling her all the things that she likes, and telling her how much she wants." He finishes his burger, while I still have half of mine to go. "Has she picked her dress out?" He shakes his head, "Nope she was going to ask you and Emma to join her this week after practice maybe."
"That's going to be fun, hopefully, she's not those bridezilla's."
He finishes his drink, "Well all I care about is being your partner when we have to go down the aisle." I throw my napkin at him, "Why wouldn't we be?"
Getting back to school, Derek heads for his office aid period, while I head to the music room.
"Here's your new music Savannah, it was used a few years ago by one of my top sophomores." He lays the music sheet on my stand. "An original song by Roy Todd," I whisper to myself. The music started off really slow, sad even. I played the first page for almost 30 minutes before continuing on the second page. "I'm heading out Savannah, keep up the good work." Mr.Lively left out the door, with his work.
The door opens, but not all the way. But I continue to work, instead of looking at the person waiting for me at the door. "You can't distract me, Derek." I look over at him, then back at the piano. "I'm pretty sure I can change that." He puts his bag on one of the chairs, "I can think of something." He stands behind me, grabbing my shoulders.
I turn to the next page, "Still nothing Derek." I feel his eyes look at me on my left side, then his breath comes near my ear. "What about this." He whispers, his lips run on the edge of my ear. I play slowly, closing my eyes, and tilting my head. "You can't play me at my game Derek, it doesn't work that way," I whisper to him. He sits on the bench beside me.
"I have..I also know what you're capable of as well." I roll my eyes at him. "I hate you," I say, making him turn me towards him. "You love me." Giving me his famous smirk, "I still hate you." He grabs my face, brings it close to his, "You love me.." He brings his lips closer to mine.
"I love you.."
The next few days were the same, Derek always met me after class. Emma, Danielle, and I had practice every day after school. I even finished the Rod Todd song for music class in just 2 days. But today Emma and I had other plans, we were going wedding dress shopping for Laura, while the boys, Ash, Derek, and Andrew went to look for tuxedoes.
Laura drove us to the local bridal store, "I'm nervous." She says, not letting go of the steering wheel, "It's going to be just fine, Laura." We help her out of the car, and into the store.
They guide us through the store, picking out wedding dresses, and bridesmaids dress all well.
Laura had tried on 3 dresses, mermaid, princesses, and Ball gown, but none of them stood out for her. "Ready, this is the last one, and I love it." She yells from the dressing rooms. She walks out in a long, sweetheart neckline dress, with lace embroidery. The veil she had on made it seem 10x's more real than what it really is supposed to be. "Laura, I love it. It describes your personality, in so many ways." I say I stand next to her. "You're going to be a beautiful bride this Saturday." She shed a few tears, before taking off the dress.
"Time for the bridesmaid's dresses!"
They take us into a completely different section if the store, filled with colorful dresses, and shoes. "Wow. It's like I walked into a fruity pebble store." Emma whispers. "Shh." I nudge her back. The store attendant pulls out Laura's favorite colors. Coral, blue, lavender, yellows, even pastel colors.
Emma and I try on similar dresses, just in a different fabric. "Nope. Nah. Oh god no. Mm..nah." She didn't like any of the dresses, meaning we had to go back inside a pick one that we liked. "Ready?" Laura yelled. Emma and I step out of the dressing rooms and walked down the runway. I wore a red sweetheart neckline dress, with chiffon fabric, while Emma came down with another red dress, but silk fabric. "I love it! Red is beautiful, I also love it sleeveless. But Savannah, your dress looks great, Emma what do you think?" She steps off the miniature stage and stands in front of me. "I like the chiffon better than silk, I feel like it's going to slip right off."
"Haha, Okay. Well, let's go because my mom's going to freak out that I'm not at the rehearsal dinner." Laura jokes, even though we know that Talia would have her head if she ever ran away. We pay for the dresses and head out to the Hale house.
"Good you're here!" Talia and Michael come out of the house, only to put us back in another car. "Andrew's waiting for us with Derek, and Ash." The driver speeds down the road again, and arriving at a beautiful venue, the same one they're going to get married in.
Two stories high, brick building, with white window piling. The inside was painted a beige color, decorated with red roses, and music playing in the background. "Look.." Emma tugs on my dress, and points to Ash, who is wearing a blue button-down shirt, rolled up on the sleeves, some khaki pants, and Sperry type shoes. "Wow, I've never seen him so dressed up before." She says, almost drooling on the floor.
Emma has always had a crush on Ash, I mean who wouldn't. He was the team captain for the baseball team and co-captain of the basketball team with Derek. He was tall, short light brown hair, but just long enough for him to run his fingers through. He was very athletic, always working out, no matter where he is. He had a million dollar smile, with the help of braces in middle school. He had dark green eyes, similar to Emma's. But one thing she didn't know, was that he liked her too. Once in a while, he would come up to me and Derek, asking about her, wondering who she's dating or talking to.
"Why don't you go and talk to him?" She turns to me with scared eyes, "No, I would probably fall on my face walking over there." Turning her attention back to Ash, he waves at us. "You might as well go, he's waving at you already." She grips my hand tighter, "Go, Emma, he just wants to talk to you." Derek comes up from behind us. "Alright.." She let's go, and Derek replaces her hand with his. We watch her walk by his side, just before he pulls out his arm, and guides her to the dining table. "Look at your little girl go." I dig my elbow on Derek's ribs, "Ow? I was only joking...c'mon I wanna take you somewhere."
We walk out the two white double doors, to the back of the building. A garden of roses are spread all around us. We walk down the aisle, realizing that this is where Laura and Andrew will get married tomorrow. "Sit, here. I'll be right back." I watching Derek curiously, walking back down the into the building. I look around, touching the flowers around me. And then see that I'm sitting under their alter.
The lights dim down, and Derek is waiting for me. I had realized that he was dressed a lot like Ash was. A white button-down shirt again rolled up by the sleeves. Khaki pants, with black tuxedo shoes. He had a gold watch on his right hand and a box in his left. "Ready?" He says to me, and I nod my head. He starts to hum a wedding song. "Dumb, dumb, dumb...Dumb, dumb, dumb dumb.." With a serious face, he starts to sing higher, I bring my hands up to my mouth, hiding my cheeky smile.
When he finally reaches down the aisle, he kneels down in front of me. "Well, it's not a diamond ring. And I know you're always cold, and I don't why because you're a werewolf? But this is something that hopefully with reminds you of me since I also have the same one." He lays the box on my lap, and I pull on the string. Taking the white fragile paper out, I see a black jacket. I take it out and run my fingers down the leathering, and the seaming. "Wow, how did you find one from this type of leathering?" He grabs the jacket and turns it inside out. "Look." I look at the tag, 'One of kind leathering, for a one of a kind girl.' -Derek.
"I asked them a few weeks ago to make one for you since they didn't have a jacket made for women. Now they do." He takes the box, setting it down on the floor. "I love it." He leans in kissing me.
Derek's POV
I get up from the floor and help her put the jacket on. I didn't realize that the jacket went with her dress that she had.
A red spaghetti strapped dress, with an A-line sweetheart neckline, and chiffon fabric. Realizing this in my head, I've spent so much time with my mom and Laura. "Wow, you look amazing," I whisper to her. The lights around get a little brighter. Her white smile glimmered under the light, "Let's go, they're probably wondering where we are." I grab her hand and take her back inside.
The dinner was just about to start, so we sat down at Laura and Andrew's table, with the rest of the court. "Derek! We need you." Ash yelled I let go of Savannah's hands. "I'll be right back," I say to her, kissing her hand.
"What's up? What are we doing?" Andrew was preparing his speech for the dinner but was freaking out. "I can't think of anything, I..I..just can't think straight." I grab his shoulder and tell the guys to leave the room. "You're just nervous okay? Everyone has been where you are, I know how you feel. I also know that you love my sister, just let the words flow, don't script it out." He finally calms down and looks up at me. "You seem like you've been here before, with Savannah." I chuckle at him, "A few times."
The guys stood on the sides of the window doors. I look out to see Savannah, laughing with Laura. Her smile was bright, her eyes shined in the lights. "You really love her don't you." I nod my head, "I've always have. I'm lucky." Andrew gets up from the bench. "What do you mean?" Taking a deep breath, I put my hands in my pockets. " I never thought that I would meet someone so beautiful, in every way. She's my gift, I'm lucky that she gave me another chance." Still looking at her, she turns her head over to me. Her smile fades, and the world seemed to go in slow motion.
I'm looking at the only person, I will hopefully spend the rest of my life with. And seeing her like this, smiling and having a good time. Just makes me love her even more. She gives me a soft smile, before being dragged away by Laura. "The dinner is about to start, so please be seated." I hear my mom say on the mic. "I guess we should go." We walk towards the doors, and to our assigned tables.
I jog over to Savannah and Emma, pulling out Savannah's seat, while Ash pulls Emma's. "What was that look about?" She asks me, "Nothing, you're just so beautiful." She looks at me, smiling at my compliment. "You're not so bad yourself Hale." She jokes, before listening to Andrews Speech.
"Good afternoon, This has been very exiting and challenging few weeks to pull this wedding together, and I just wanted to thank everyone who's helping us. Talia and Michael, the Hale family, My parents. You guys are incredible, and we thank you." Andrew says, wrapping his hand around Laura's shoulder. "I wanted to give a speech to my future wife, Laura Hale, soon to be Mrs.Edwards. I've spent my whole high school life, trying to find where I belonged in this town. Trying to become someone I'm not. But then I knew, I belonged to you, and your family. I have learned to be a better person because of you, I've learned to be patient, and love others, the way you love me. So I thank god, for bringing into this new life with me. I love you."
The room applauds his speech, "I guess it's my turn..heh. I grew up in this, not knowing what I was capable of doing. I was scared of every little corner, and every little space in between the darkness. But once in my life, I've felt protected. You protected me, Andrew. And I can't thank for everything you have done for me and my family. For my best friends, and I can't even imagine what you're going to be doing with our children. I can't wait to marry you and be with you for the rest of our life. I love you too." Laura had the while room in tears, including me.
I was the next person to give out a toast.
"Well I don't think I can top any of their speeches, but I'll try too. When I first met Andrew, he was the most popular guy in middle school and high school. Every guy wanted to be like him, even me. He had all the girls around him. And you would think he would have so many girlfriends, I mean look at him. But no..he was wanting to wait for that right person. And then came Laura. She was the quiet girl in school and a loud mouth at home. Even worst with Savannah and Emma. She got me in so much trouble, in which I took the blame because you can't let your older sister get in trouble, for destroying school property...that would be selfish of me. But when I found out, they were going out, I approved. And now there you guys are getting married, it's like finally completing the puzzle. So, congrats, and Welcome to the family, Bro." Derek and Andrew hug it out in front of everyone.
Ash and Emma said their speeches, rather quickly, not saving Savannah enough time to process her thoughts.
"I've known Laura my whole entire life, even in diapers. We've gone to school together, played sports together, now we are finding our way into different people's arms, together. I would have never thought that you would be marrying, the guy every girl wanted. And still have this fairytale relationship, in this world. I love you both so much. And I love the way he looks at you when you're just sitting there, looking up at the sky. Or smiling uncontrollably to my stupid jokes. We can all tell that he truly loves you, and even if he's miles away from you, you two will always have this bond. And I admire that. So enough of this sad story, Let's raise our glasses, to the beautiful couple. In celebration of other love to each other. Welcome to the family, Andrew."
We drink from our glasses and clap at Laura and Andrew kissing.
Savannah's POV
At the end of the rehearsal, I met up with Laura in the garden. She stood in front of the arch, looking at the roses. "You nervous for tomorrow." She nods her head, still looking at the roses. "Don't be, it's just you and him. Everyone else is just there for decoration." I wrap my arms around hers. "I'm marrying the guy I've dreamed of my whole life. And in tomorrow afternoon I will be calling him my husband." I wipe the small tear down Laura's cheek. "It's so happy seeing everyone I love, be here for the both of us." She sits down on the bench facing me.
"And you and Derek are so happy. You both look so great next to each other. I just can't wait for your wedding day, when you're having all these different types of emotions." Looking at her makes me excited for that day. "I know you guys are going to last forever, nothing can break you two apart. Not even distance. " A shadow looks at us from the top floor, Derek.
"I love him, Laura. And I'll always will."