It took me ten months to pay off all my debt and get the car back. Liam was very understanding when I declined his offer to help pay. I told him I got myself into the mess and I need to get myself out.
He did manage to get me a job at a puppy store.
It's not the same as the pet store. It's only puppies at this one.
They pay fourteen dollars an hour and I work forty hours a week. I beg him weekly to let me come home with a puppy. I want a puppy so badly.
I found another apartment, but I don't want to leave Liam.
I want to stay with him.
I've just gotten home from work, and he's already made dinner, and roses are on the counter.
I thank him over and over again, and we eat dinner.
"So, um..." I hesitate over the dinner table. "I found an apartment."
He's quiet for a long time.
"Oh..." He sounds disappointed. "Okay."
"But, I mean, let's get married."
He looks up at me.
"What?"
"Married. Let's get married. Not now, but in July, like we planned."
He sighs slowly.
"What if I don't want to wait till July?" He says. "I want you to be mine now."
"Liam, I've been yours since the day we met."
"Not like that. Not as serious. Not as intimate as marriage. I want you to be my...wife."
He whispers the word.
Wife.
Chills spread through my body.
I'm not going to be just his girlfriend.
I'm not going to be just his fiancé.
I'm going to be his wife, and he's going to be my husband.
He's just my fiancé right now.
He's not my husband.
"Liam, I have to move out." I say. "Just until the wedding. It's not going to feel like we're married."
"So you'll buy all new furniture and an apartment for one month?"
"Yes. When I'm done with it, I'll pass it to Izzy or something. We'll be getting new furniture for our house anyways."
We already sent out wedding invitations to everybody.
He looks sad.
"Abby, I don't want you to leave." He mumbles.
I stand up, taking his plate from in front of him.
"Baby, I'm not leaving forever." I kiss his cheek from behind. "Just for a month, and I'm just a few miles down the road."
"But...but why don't you want to stay with me?"
The house phone starts ringing.
"Babe, it's not that I don't want to stay with you. It's that...I just want it to feel like we really are married when we do get married." I whisper. I'm right behind him, leaning down with my chin on his shoulder.
He stands up.
"I want you to just stay with me." He says, frustrated and upset. "I don't want you to go."
"Liam," I sigh.
He picks up the house phone because it's still ringing.
"Hello?" he's quiet for a second. "Yeah, twenty minutes. Okay, bye."
He hangs up.
"We're going to your grandparents house."
"Liam, don't be mad at me." I sigh.
"I'm not." He says, walking out of the kitchen.
Yeah he is.
Frustrated, I clean up from dinner because it's my turn since he cooked, and then I go change.
He grabs the keys for the Nissan.
We don't really discuss who's car we're taking. We just grab the first keys we see.
I throw on a pair of white ripped skinny jeans and a light gray loose tank top on. I have a black lace pushup on under.
I've been avoiding me family, and I see them only when Liam sees them.
I've seen them probably five times in the past ten months, and that's for holidays or birthday parties.
I feel ashamed for being an idiot and not asking Liam for help, and I know they're all probably sick of me.
He drives, and the ride is silent.
He parks and we get out.
"Liam," I start.
"Abby, I'm not mad at you." He says, walking into the house.
Everyone is already here.
I sigh, following him.
Everyone starts hugging us.
"You guys got another Nissan?" Mum asks. She looks at me in worry.
"I bought it back." I say.
"Oh." She looks shocked. "You did?"
"Yes. With my own money."
I know she's thinking Liam helped me.
"I'm out of debt, actually." I say.
"Really?" Dad asks. "Weren't you like, six thousand in debt?"
I nod.
"Did Liam help you?" Grandma asks.
"No." I say. "I got myself in the mess, and I got myself out."
They stop questioning me because they can obviously tell I don't feel like talking about it.
<><>
We're here for a movie or something, and Liam is completely avoiding me.
We're outside again, and I'm just kinda sitting alone, playing on my phone.
He hasn't said a word to me, and it's been like, two hours.
Mum slowly sits down next to me.
"So...are you and Liam fighting?" she asks.
I sigh.
"I don't know." I mutter.
She sits with me, and it's kinda nice.
I've missed Mum.
It's weird though, because everyone is watching the movie, and Liam is sitting alone, and I was sitting alone, but I'm with Mum now, and we're both on our phones, and he keeps running his hands through his hair like he's stressed, and I'm just kinda not doing anything, but I keep messing with my hair.
I hear the movie get silent all the sudden.
"Alright, I have no clue what you guys are fighting about, but I'd rather have the two of you behind us finger fucking instead of mad at each other a month before you get married." Zeke says.
"I'm not mad at Abby." Liam says.
I scoff and stand up.
Bullshit.
I go into the house, shutting the door loudly behind me.
ZEKE'S POV
Liam watches the door shut behind her, and a couple seconds later, he sighs and gets up, following her in.
Well I'm fucking following them.
ABBY'S POV
I'm fucking leaving.
I grab the car keys.
"Abs, don't leave." Liam says.
I sigh.
"Liam, I don't know what to tell you!" I say. "You're not going to guilt me into doing what you want."
"I'm not trying to." He says, "I don't..." he looks really frustrated. "I'm upset, love."
"Why?" I sigh.
"Because I don't want you to fucking leave! I'm gonna be alone. I'm gonna be lonely. Why do you have to go?"
He looks like a small child.
He looks upset.
I look down.
"Everybody I've talked to had said that when you get married, if you previously lived together, it won't feel any different."
"Abby, we're not even staying in the same house." He sighs. "We're moving into a house. We're not staying in an apartment. We're moving into a house. Together. It's not just you paying, or just me. It's both of us. Like that, forever. That's different."
He's right.
I know he is.
"I know...I just...it means a lot to me that we don't live together before we get married. I don't know why, it just does."
He looks down.
"Okay. Alright, fine. I can accept that."
"It's just a month." I whisper.
He sighs softly.
"I know. Let's go back outside."
LIAM'S POV
We went back outside, and Mrs. Robinson moved to go sit with Mr. Robinson.
I went back to my space.
I'm collecting my things and I start to grab the blanket, but I feel very clingy right now.
Most guys act tough and they refuse to love all up on their lady, but I don't give a fuck.
Sometimes I just want her to hold me, and right now is one of those times.
And she's on a twin comforter.
Everyone is kinda watching me watch her, and she's on her phone, completely oblivious.
I abandon the blanket and shove my phone in my pocket, and walk over to her. I lay down and tug her down with me so we're both on this tiny twin sized blanket.
I wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her chest.
ABBY'S POV
He wants to cuddle.
I smile, running my fingers through his hair.
ZEKE'S POV
Their relationship is incredible.
I don't understand how they're so...
So madly in love with each other.
I want a relationship like that. I'm jealous.
All of us guys have agreed we're jealous of Liam.
He went and laid with her, practically on top of her, with his face on her chest.
They fell asleep like that.
The movie is over, and we're all enjoying the silence, and the two of them are fast asleep.
"I want that." Izzy says.
"Want what?" Mom asks her.
"I want their relationship."
We all look over at them. Abby starts to move around under Liam, and the second she moves, he starts moving too.
It's like they're connected, and if she starts to wake up, he does too.
Liam even told us that if he leaves the bed, she'll wake up five minutes later and come looking for him.
"Babe." Abby mumbles.
He's still sleeping, but she keeps talking.
"I had a dream."
I'm almost positive he's still sleeping.
"You got me a puppy, Liam."
He starts laughing.
He wasn't sleeping.
How the hell? She knew he was awake.
He lifts his head up and kisses her.
"You're never going to give up on that damn dog, Abby."
"I want a puppy." She whines.
"I know." He says.
"You promised me three years ago when you lost the bet that you'd get me a puppy." She says. "That's one thousand and ninety five days ago, at the least.
"I didn't lose any bet."
She snickers.
"Yes you did. Almost everybody here can attest to the fact that you lost the bet."
"Abby, Abby, Abby-" he presses his finger against her lips to silence her. He's still half awake.
"What?" she whines.
"What kind of dog was it?"
"I don't know. It was big and black with white on it, but it was a puppy. A really big puppy."
He wraps her in his arms again.
"You have enough puppies at work."
"And then somebody buys them, and it's never you, Liam. Please, please can we get a puppy?"
LIAM'S POV
Her voice is soft right now because she's just woken up.
She sounds so adorable.
I peek at her.
"No. Not yet."
"Liam, you promised!" she whines.
"And I'll keep my promise." I reply. "It doesn't mean you're getting a puppy right now."
"What if I buy my own puppy?" she asks.
I stare into her eyes.
"Please don't."
She sighs. "Do you promise I'll have a puppy by the end of this year?"
"I promise."
"Pinky swear." She lifts her left hand, and my eyes rest on the diamond ring on her finger.
Damn, I really, really love her.
I interlock my pinky with hers.