POV: Ryan
"Courtney! I'm back from—"
She stepped into the hallway with nothing on but a towel. My body tensed up, and sentences suddenly became hard to form. The only thing on my mind was Savannah, and knowing that Courtney was naked underneath that towel wasn't helping. I forced myself to focus elsewhere.
"I uh— I bought you a dress," I insisted, holding it out for her.
"Thanks," she said cheerfully, walking towards me and grabbing the dress from my hand.
I remained standing with my eyes fixated on the floor, and walked past her into the living room area, where I sat on the couch and tried to keep myself calm, but certain areas of my body refused to cooperate.
"Are you ok?"
"What? Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't I be?"
There were obvious signs of nervousness in my voice.
"You sound a little on edge," she insisted, sitting down beside me.
I shifted over some in the opposite direction of her and she looked at me with confusion.
"Go put some clothes on..."
"Excuse me?" She retorted, "I'm sorry, am I bothering you?"
"Please Courtney—"
"Ok Ryan, sorry I'm so disgusting," She claimed.
I sighed and glanced at her from the corner of my eye as she angrily walked away.
"Why are you being so damn sensitive—"
"It's okay Ryan! I'm going!" She
I rolled my eyes and followed behind her.
"That's not at all what I meant," I insisted, standing in the doorway, "You're beautiful, but I just can't look at you right now—"
"Yeah, that makes sense," she said sarcastically, walking over to shut the door, "Now will you please get out so that I can put some clothes on and be attractive to you again?"
"Courtney I love you... I really do, but my last relationship meant a whole lot to me. I can't look at you because if I do..." I trailed off and looked into her eyes, "She was the only one I've actually ever had meaningful sex with, and I thought we were good together, but that ended terribly, so I just can't look at you right now—"
"Why not? I'm not understanding what that has to do with me—"
"Because I'm afraid that I'll mess up what we have Courtney!"
"Sex won't mess anything up except the sheets!" She said defensively.
I smiled and reached out for her hand.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm just not ready yet... I don't want to rush things between us... If I learned anything from my last relationship it was that if things are going to be serious, don't involve your brother, and don't take things too fast—"
"I'm not even going to ask how your brother was involved," she joked, "but I understand what you're going through Ryan... I'll be out in a few seconds..."
She closed the door in my face, and I leaned my forehead against it.
"I'm sorry Courtney," I whispered under my breath, turning around and walking away.
I had just made it to the bedroom when I saw her appear from the corner of my eye.
"I want a baby..."
"Excuse me?" I retorted, quickly turning around and looking into her eyes.
"You heard me," she insisted, "I want a baby, I want to grow old with you, but at the same time I want to live forever... I'm really fine with anything, as long as its with you..."
"Why are you saying this?"
"Because Ryan... I know that you aren't as fully committed to this relationship as I am. I can tell your breakup obviously wasn't the easiest, and she'll always be in the back of your mind, but I want you to know that I love you, and no matter what I'm always here for you... Whenever you do decide you want me..."
"I want you now," I insisted, walking closer to her, "I love you too, and yeah I'm having some commitment issues, but I will get over Savannah... Some things have happened here recently that have lead me to believe that she'll never be—"
"Savannah... That's her name?"
I nodded and wrapped my arms around her.
"I guess I was just holding on to hope that we could be together for so long that I was completely blinded from the fact that I've found someone who loves me just as much as I love them..."
She smiled and kissed my cheek.
"I hope that's true Ryan," she insisted, "but on that note, the dress you bought... It seriously looks like a wedding dress—"
"Whaaattt?" I asked in a high pitched voice, holding back the grin that was attempting to plaster itself on my face.
"Yeah," she laughed, "Where the heck did you go to get that? I mean if we aren't the fanciest ones there then I dont know who will be!"
I chuckled and squeezed her hand.
"Trust me, you'll be the main attraction babe..."
She walked out of the room and I followed her down the hall, into the living room. She snuggled into my arms and we laid together on the couch until it was time to load into the car to meet my parents.
POV: Savannah
"Ok!" Colin announced, "Let's get ready to go! Savannah, who are you riding with?"
I looked over to Tony and then back to Colin.
"I mean I'll go with whoever—"
"Ride with me then," Colin insisted, "I still don't trust him driving to drive on the right side of the road—"
"I thought it was the left side!" Tony exclaimed.
"He meant the 'correct' side Tony," I replied, "Yeah, I think I'll ride with you Colin..."
He smiled and walked into the kitchen area while I I went over to unzip the bag Tony had laid down on the couch that my dress was inside of.
"Tony! This dress is beautiful! I didn't expect you to buy something that fit me so accurately—"
"I had a little help from Ryan!"
Colin immediately stopped what he was doing and looked over at me.
"Ryan was there?" He asked concernedly, "Why did he feel the need to help you pick out her dress?"
"He claimed I didn't know her body like he did..."
Colin walked over to me and sat down to my right. I spread the dress across our laps, and he examined every detail.
"It's nice I guess," he shrugged, "I could've done better..."
I rolled my eyes and stood up.
"You're still so jealous of him..."
Colin opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated and decided it was best not to reply.
"Anyway, we should get going," Tony insisted, breaking the silence, "Don't wanna be late meeting your parents at the Guinness place!"
I nodded and we all made our way to the front door.
"This should be great," I sighed.
——————————————————————
Ryan and Courtney
( Andre Hamann and Thalia Ayala )