Several Months Later...
For the week of Christmas, we're all off for the exciting holiday to spend with family and close friends. Since my mother has been gone for over two years now, I don't have much immediate family left. My father returned in my life, but I didn't feel like interrupting his Christmas with his new family.
So, to make me feel better, Seth has taken me to spend Christmas with him and his family. They already knew me, of course, but it was nice already being apart of the family. They did all the traditional stuff when it came down to Christmas. The singing of the carols to drinking egg-nog out on the balcony to watching all the old Christmas movies from when our parents were kids. It was really nice.
"You two should name your daughter Caroline Christmas," Seth's mother was saying, already on her fifth glass of wine all night. She was buzzed. "Wouldn't that be cute? Because of the caroling and it just goes with Christmas."
"We get it, Mom," Seth bluntly said, laughing it off. "But we're not thinking of kids right now, though."
"Oh," she whispered, obviously very disappointed. Then, she seen Freddie run by with a plate of finger-foods. "Alrighty, then!"
She went to running after him to get ahold of the small foods while Seth and I turned our backs on them. "We're not thinking of kids right now?" I asked of him, curiously.
He smiled at me and claimed, "Well, I had to tell her that, so she wouldn't stick around to ask any more questions."
I giggled and said, "Yeah, well, we talk about it a lot." That was the truth. Ever since a few months ago, all we talk about is marriage and kids of our own one day. I don't know when we will, but I'm hoping some day soon.
"We do talk about it a lot," he recounted, nodding. "If she knew that, though, she wouldn't have left us alone."
I nodded and replied, "That's true. Very true." I sighed, then continued: "Yet, we're still not officially alone."
He nodded and claimed, "I suppose you're right." He started to lead me away by holding the small of my back. "Let's go out to the balcony... Shall we?"
"Sure," I smiled and allowed him to lead me out to the balcony. He was all slow and smooth about it. As we came out to the balcony, his random family members went inside. It was weird...
We faced out from the balcony into the colorful streets downstairs as I could faintly hear Christmas music playing from somewhere down there. It was a beautiful, with the dark sky and bright stars. It was almost the perfect night. Almost.
"This is way beautiful," I said, complimenting the sky. "Don't you think so?"
"Of course," he smiled, softly rubbing my back. "But you're way more beautiful than any sky or any star ever."
That made me giggle as I said: "No way. Nothing is more beautiful than God's work."
He smirked and sighed, "Yeah, but you're God's work and you're pretty amazing to gaze at for a while, too." I blushed, looking like a schoolgirl with a crush. "You're amazing, El."
"Thank you," I whispered, looking away for a moment.
"So, about that marriage...," Seth began to say and I felt something in my throat harden. My heart fell, yet it made me happy, though.
Before, I imagined marrying somebody like Baron. But, since being with Seth, all I see is him and our future together. It's all that I ever want to see, too. I just want to see him and me, our future children together, and our unlimited wild future with one another. Then, there'll be times where we can relax and go to the beach, not worrying about anybody else but our little family together. Lillie and Enzo will get married, have their little family together. We'll have family vacations together. It'll be perfect.
"What would happen if we got married?" he asked, his eyes drawing towards mine.
I grinned and shrugged, sighing. "It'll be prefect," I claimed, looking right in his eyes. "We'll have the life that we've always wanted. We'll be wondering who ever guessed that we would be the ones that would end up together..." My voice trailed off as I faced him with another sigh. "I hope my dad just lives the rest of his life in peace, you know? I've thought that me and you would have a baby – or two. Wherever you want. And my dad would get to be a grandpa. We'll have birthdays and holidays and summer picnics. And he'd get really old. And it'd happen, but it'd be quiet. It'd be okay. He'd be surrounded by people he loves the most."
Seth smiled and agreed, "That's beautiful, El. I love that."
"Sounds stupid, huh?" I squeaked out, looking away to take a big swig of my drink.
I felt him rubbing my back, shaking his head, before he choked out: "No, of course not, baby. It's beautiful."
"Lillie and Enzo will get married, have their own kids. Cass and Carmella, too. We'll all be friends and our kids will be, too, since they'll be born all around the same time," I continued to say, looking into the future. "Everything will be okay and everybody will be happy."
"I like that," Seth said, gulping.
I turned towards him now and looked into his eyes. "We will be okay, though," I assured him.
"I know," he softly said before we both looked forward again at the night sky. "We'll always be okay, though, El."
I nodded and wiped away a slow tear coming from my eye. "I know. We always will. I worry 'bout Lillie and Enzo, though..."
Then, out of nowhere, my phone started to ring and I picked it up without looking at the Caller ID. "Hello?"
"Hey, El! What you doing?" It appeared to be Lillie...
"I'm actually out here on the balcony with Seth," I said to her, hearing some noise in the background on her side. "What 'bout you?"
"I'm with Enzo," she simply said, sighing. I could practically see her smiling. "Now, Ellie, what I'm about to tell you is... It's important. So, you're listening, right?"
I gulped, not even paying attention to Seth anymore as I've already turned my back on him. I nodded, even though she couldn't see that, and replied: "Of course! What's wrong?" My heart was already being ninety to nothing.
"Nothing is wrong, Ellie," she tried telling me, laughing it off. "What I'm about to tell you, Ellie, is something beautiful. It's something that should've happened a long time ago. Okay, first things first, remember when Stephanie gave you the job of being Seth's on-screen girlfriend and you told me that you would never fall for Seth Rollins?"
Embarrassingly enough, I began to giggle as I tried to hold it together. "Yeah, I remember," I rolled my eyes. "Why?"
"Look to your right, Ellie," she said and I blinked a couple of times before I did as she said to do.
Slowly, as if it were a movie playing through my own eyes, I looked to my left and had to almost look twice to realize what was happening. To my right was Lillie, Enzo, my dad, Cass and Carmella. They were inside of Seth's parents' house right through the window, looking at me with smiles while Lillie cried.
Then, I looked forward and seen the ultimate scene right in front of my eyes playing out in slow motion. Seth was down on one-knee with a box in one of his hands with the ring popping out as well. He was smiling, but I was emotionless. Completely numb.
I blinked frantically, trying my best to gather my surroundings. I placed a hand over my heart and felt it going crazy. It had never been so frantic before in my life. I felt the tears hitting my eyes, demanding to come out for a sneak peek. Most of all, I felt my mother there with me. It was like she was standing directly behind me, placing a light hand on my shoulder and smiling all while tears fell down her cheeks out of happiness. She was there.
"Ellie," Seth's voice broke as he reached for my hand with his free one. "In the beginning of all this, I promised myself, too, that I wouldn't fall for you, either. I repeatedly told myself not to look at you, especially when you're weren't looking at me. Chances are, you would look back. I've been in love with you for such a long time now. I don't remember quite when I finally admitted to myself, but I remember right when the pieces began to click. It was before the bad and even the good. I seen you with him and that's when jealously rose within me, proving to myself that you were the one for me."
Again, I held my breath and looked passed Seth. I looked passed him and looked only to the stars. I remembered the first time that I met him, how mad he would easily get about the littlest things. I remembered how rude he was and how he got under my skin so easily. I remembered how I would call him names and how he smirked at me every time that I did.
I remembered our first kiss, somewhere in a hotel room, and how I pushed him off of me immediately. I remembered how jealous he used to be and every story that he's ever told me about himself. I remembered when he first said that he loved me and when I finally admitted to myself that I loved him, too.
I remembered the first time that we made love and how angry we were with each other afterwards. I remembered how many times that I cried over him and how close we became after everything was said and done. And, now, I can see perfectly what I have to do...
"Ellie, baby... Will you marry me?"
• And... That's it! 😭 #RIPBP 💛 •