After a long, relaxing dinner with Scott, we go to the local theater down the street. Every time I go in there, I remember passing it as it was being built when I was little and vowing that I would go there only on the most special of occasions. The parking lot is scattered with cars, as usual, but not packed, and Scott and I silently agree that we are going to see La La Land. Less than twenty minutes in, I start to feel tired.
"Scott?" I whisper.
"Yeah?"
"Can I lean on you?"
"You never have to ask." I lift the arm rest between us and lean against his side while he sets his arm over my shoulders. I somehow manage to stay awake for the rest of the movie, but only barely. My legs feel like jelly walking out and there is a heavy exhaustion seeping through me. As he reaches for my hand in the parking lot, I come to a realization.
"I have to tell you something." I say once we are sitting in the car.
"What is it?" He turns toward me, moving his hand to my knee and rubbing circles with his thumb.
"I...I don't want to wait anymore." His eyebrows come together in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"To marry you. I don't want to wait to marry you any more than I already have."
"Well, planning takes time. Don't you want to-"
"I don't care. We could get married in a cardboard box and have Kirstie and Jeremy as our only guests in my opinion. All I care about is becoming your husband."
"You mean that?"
"With all my heart."
"You know I've never been much for grand gestures." I nod, smiling. "I think...if we wanted, we could be married in a few days." I grin wider, unable to stop myself from rushing forward to catch his lips with my own. "Tonight we can talk about who we want to be there and where it will be, and obviously who will perform the ceremony so we are actually married, but other than that I don't really think there are any other necessary details."
"Agreed. And I think that after we should all go to dinner instead of having a reception."
"Sounds good to me, darling." He pecks my lips again once before starting to car and driving home.
****
"I'll light the fireplace and then I'm gonna change, and then let's meet up back at the couch to talk weddings." Scott says.
"Okay, I'm gonna go change, too."
"I'll be there in a minute." I skip to our bedroom, too excited to just walk. I stand in front of the dresser with a drawer pulled open, staring at my stack of shirts and sweatpants.
"Scotty?" I call, hoping he will hear me.
"Yeah?"
"Can I wear one of your shirts? Please?" There is a short silence, and I imagine him chuckling and shaking his head fondly. The thought brings a smile to my face.
"Of course." he calls back. I immediately grab a pair of sweatpants and open a different drawer, grabbing the first shirt I find. It is his old Martin shirt. Even back then it was huge on me. I slip it over my head and change into my sweatpants, feeling extremely comfortable and happy despite the recent events. I sit Indian style on the bed, flipping on the TV while I wait for Scott to come up. I immediately turn the volume all the way up when I see Alex and Jake on the news, which just happened to be the first channel I come to. I recognize the newscaster too; he is a friend of mine from high school. Kyle. We haven't talked in a while.
"So, yeah. We're just really happy for them, that they could finally tie the knot. Mitch and Scott, if you're watching this, we love you!" Jake says.
"How the hell...?" I mutter, grinning. "Scott, c'mere!"
"Hi, right here." He jumps onto the bed and sits behind me, wrapping his arms around me as his attention turns to the TV.
"I didn't think they were actually gonna do that." he laughs.
"You knew about that?"
"Yeah, Alex called me yesterday and told me they were paying someone important to let Kyle be the newscaster for tonight so they could give us a shoutout."
"Wait, so are they here? This is the local channel."
"I guess so."
"Where's my phone?" I look around frantically and spot in behind Scott, nearly tackling him to get to it.
"Ow!" he says jokingly when my elbow lands lightly on his chest. I lay draped over his lap, not bothering to move as I dial Jake's number. On the TV, I hear him say, "I guess you're watching it." He picks up.
"How the hell did you get here?" I scream, laughing uncontrollably.
"I took a plane, dumbass." he says, laughing too. Tears start streaming down my face as my laughter picks up when I hear his voice echo from the TV to my phone. "We brought someone else, too. Look at the TV." I turn around and watch for a second before Peyton comes trotting on screen, waving his arms wildly and yelling, "Hi, Uncle Mitchy!" Kirstie walks up behind him and blows a kiss.
"How much did you pay for this?" I ask Jake.
"A lot. But you're worth it." A second later, Scott's parents and sisters join the forming crowd and say, "We're so happy for you guys!"
"How does everyone know? We only told Kirstie." I wonder aloud.
"She can't keep her mouth shut." Jake says, jabbing Kirstie lightly in the side. I grin even wider than I knew possible when Todrick and Dominic shove their way into the middle of the group.
"Mitch, I brought Kevy but he didn't want to come on camera, but he's here. I promise." Todrick says, glancing away from the camera for just a second.
"How many people did you bring? Give the phone to Alex. I wanna talk to him." I watch as Jake hands the phone off.
"Surprise."
"No shit."
"There's only one more person, I swear."
"Who's left? You brought everyone already."
"Not everyone." He motions for someone to come and my heart stops when Anna pushes her way to the middle of the group, so that she is directly in the middle of the screen. Scott wraps his arms around my waist, seeming to know that it is what I need at this moment.
"Oh. You brought Anna." I say quietly, my smile now gone and all the joy drained from me.
"Yeah. She somehow found out that we were doing this and..." I stop listening to what he is saying and focus on my sister, how much different she looks than the last time I saw her. How much older. She looks like life swallowed her and then spit her back out again. As I stare at the screen and the sudden calmness of everyone waiting for her to say something, do something, I see tears collect in her eyes as she raises her hand in a slight wave.
"Al." I cut him off.
"Yeah?"
"Give her the phone."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? On TV?"
"You're the one who brought her here. Just do it." I watch as Alex hesitates to hand Anna the phone.
"Hey little brother." she says with a small smile, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.
"Hey."
"I just...I wanted to say that I'm happy for you."
"So I'm not a 'disgusting piece of boy-loving trash' to you anymore?" I say quietly, regretting the words as soon as they come out. I always tried not to hold resentment against her for saying that to me all those years ago.
"I'm so sorry. I was just mad. I was scared, and I acted on instinct. I was just reacting. It was my mom's birthday and I was just so sad and you were there and I just had to take it out on someone. I'm so, so sorry. Please." I have only seen her cry once, and it was when she thought we were gonna be split up. Now she is crying harder than I have ever seen anyone cry in my life.
"Anna." She sniffles and wipes at her tears again.
"Yeah?"
"It's okay. I forgave you a long time ago." Scott hugs me against his chest as I start to tear up, too. "Well get through this together, okay? We can be close again."
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
"I love you, Mitch." I sigh, taking a long time before answering.
"I love you, too."
****