-six months later-
"Happy one year, baby," I heard Josh whisper in my ear.
I rolled over to look at him. "Happy one year."
"If you would've told me a year ago that this is where we would be today, I wouldn't have believed you."
"Me either," I agreed. "A year ago, you were still with Nessa, and all we did was fight all the time."
Josh laughed. "Yeah, well, you were hooking up with Tayler."
"That's fair. I deserved that," I replied, laughing. "Let's go make breakfast. We have to be at Sway at noon."
I walked down our hallway to the kitchen. Our apartment was small, but it was cute, and it was all ours. Josh followed me. "What are you gonna make?"
I laughed, knowing that his help only consisted of sitting and watching me. "Well, what do you want, my love?"
Josh put a finger to his chin, thinking. "Pancakes?"
I nodded and began getting the ingredients together. "What are you looking at?"
"You," he replied. "You're just so beautiful. How did I get so lucky?"
I chuckled softly. "I think that I'm the lucky one," I whispered, crossing the kitchen to kiss him lightly. I finished making breakfast, and we sat in a comfortable silence as we ate.
"I'm gonna go take a shower, Mr. Richards. Care to join me?" I asked, teasing him.
Josh didn't hesitate. "Absolutely, Miss Hall. Lead the way."
I felt the water cascade over our bodies, relishing the warmth. Josh's finger traced my collarbone from behind me as he kissed my neck. "No, sir. As much fun as that sounds, we have a deadline here." I turned to see Josh pouting. I laughed at him, reaching behind him to turn the water off.
I got out, roughly drying my hair with the towel. As I looked in the mirror, I decided on a simple French braid. When I left the bathroom, Josh was laying on the bed in a hoodie and jeans. "What took you so long?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Hair has to look good. You know how it is." I picked out a hoodie from Bryce's new PAU launch and some distressed jeans, dressing quickly. "Can we go?"
"You did not just ask that impatiently like I'm the one who took forever," Josh joked, standing up.
Our apartment wasn't far from Sway, so the drive was short. The feeling of Josh's hand in mine was something that I had grown used to, but the feeling was new and exciting every time.
"We're here!" Josh called out as we walked into the house.
Bryce came running. "How are you guys? I feel like I haven't seen you guys in ages!"
I wrapped him in a hug. "We're good, bubs. What's going on today?"
"I have a surprise, and I wanted us to all be together for it," he said, not revealing much more than that.
I nodded, completely lost. Bryce was one to want to include everyone in the surprise without telling everyone the surprise, so this wasn't anything new. I looked at Josh, hoping that he knew something, but he shrugged as we followed Bryce into the kitchen.
"Bailey!" Jaden shouted, hugging me quickly. "I missed you, girl."
Josh feigned disappointment. "You didn't miss me, babe?"
Jaden laughed at him. "You know I did, man."
Everyone greeted us as if they hadn't seen us in months. In reality, it hadn't been more than a few days, but I guess, when you live with all of your other friends, a few days can feel like a lifetime.
Addison excused herself to go upstairs, and Bryce went into action. He quickly explained his plan to us, and we all nodded in understanding. We all dispersed quickly as Addison descended the stairs.
"Where are y'all going?" she asked, walking past us.
"Josh asked us to film a bit for his vlog," Blake said nervously. His excuse was kind of lame, and the execution definitely needed work, but Addison seemed to have bought it.
We all headed towards the beach. Bryce had loaded all of the supplies into Griffin's car the night before, so we were just in charge of making sure that everything was set up and looked great.
"Nope, that sign needs to go a little bit to the right," I said, standing back to look at the setup. Griffin moved it quickly, checking for my approval. This was my older brother, so I needed to make sure that everything was perfect for him. I nodded, walking towards Blake and Amelie, who were hanging lights. "That looks really good, you guys. I think that they're both going to love it."
Josh called out from a few yards away. "Bryce said that they're going to be here in five! Let's wrap this up, people!"
We put the finishing touches on everything, and we all went to our assigned places.
We watched as Bryce walked around the car to get the door for Addison, taking her hand and helping her out.
Blake and Amelie stood at the first sign that simply read her name. Wordlessly, Amelie handed her a purple rose. Addison looked at Bryce, confused, but he didn't explain as they made their way to the next sign that stated one of Bryce's favorite things about her. She planted a kiss on his cheek as Anthony and Avani handed her another rose.
Griffin stood at the next sign. This one held the story of their first date. Addison laughed as Griffin handed her yet another rose. Quinton and Cynthia stood without a sign, handing Addison two roses instead. I could see the happiness in her face as she got closer to Josh and me.
Noah and Dixie were next. They hugged both Bryce and Addison before giving Addison more roses. I stood anxiously, watching their every move as Kio handed Addison another rose. Jaden and Mads were their last stop before us, and I watched them each hand Addison a single rose.
As the two of them approached us, Josh held our sign, facing away from them. I handed Addison two more roses, hugging her, while Josh handed Bryce a small box. When I saw that Bryce was ready, I let her out of the hug, and Josh flipped the sign around. It read, "Will you marry me?"
Addison didn't hesitate. "Yes! Yes! A million times yes!" The excitement in her eyes was evident, and I found myself tearing up.
The two of them hugged, and Josh put his arm around me as we watched. As they pulled apart, Bryce turned to look at us. I hugged him tightly. "Congratulations, bubs. I'm so happy for you." Addison had always been such a good influence on him, and I think that Bryce genuinely liked who he was when he was with her.
As we all gathered around, congratulating them, Bryce started to speak. "I cannot thank you guys enough. I wouldn't have been able to pull this off without you guys. There are no other people in this world that I would rather share this moment with."
We all hugged, laughing and talking for what felt like a lifetime. "Guys, we've been here for, like, five hours. We should probably get this cleaned up and head home," Kio suggested. We all agreed and began taking down the signs and lights. I couldn't help but think about how much all of our lives were changing at that moment. Josh and I lived together. Addison and Bryce were getting married. Griffin was finally over Dixie and was talking to a new girl. Jaden and Mads had just gotten a dog together. The last year had been absolutely insane, but I had been so lucky to have all of these people be apart of it. "
I watched Addison and Bryce as they joked together. I felt an arm wrap around me. "They look happy, don't they?" Josh asked, pulling me closer to him.
I nodded. "They really do."
"That could be us one day," Josh murmured absentmindedly.
"What?"
"It's no secret that I love you. I wouldn't mind standing in front of everyone we love and making it all official," he responded, shrugging.
I turned to hug him, nuzzling my head into his chest. "I love you, Josh."
We all headed back to Sway in silence. I couldn't get Josh's words out of my head. Were we really far enough in our relationship that marriage was something that he considered with me?
We sat around the island in the kitchen, with Addison admiring her ring. Bryce had pulled out al the stops, and the ring was gorgeous.
"It's one of a kind," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her. "Just like you."
Kio sighed. "That called me single in so many different languages."
The kitchen erupted in laughter. It was just like old times. The last few months living with Josh had been amazing, but sometimes, I missed when we all lived within steps of each other.
I yawned. "Tired, baby?" Josh asked. I nodded, resting my head on his shoulder. We quickly said our goodbyes, congratulating Bryce and Addison again, and headed out to the car.
"Josh?"
"Yes?" he responded, backing out of the driveway.
"You know that I really love you, right?"
Josh sighed. "What's going on?"
It was my turn to sigh. "With everything that just happened, I want you to know that I love you no matter what."
Josh chuckled. "Did I scare you when I said that earlier?"
I nodded. "A little."
"I love you, Bailey, but I didn't mean right now. I don't want us to rush anything. I am just fine with how things are going. We'll get to marriage, but we need to wait until both of us are ready."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I was worried that you were thinking of getting married right now, and I've never been so nervous in my life."
"I'm sorry that being married to me would be so horrible," Josh joked.
I laughed, taking his hand in mine. "We're too young to be thinking about anything that serious. With marriage comes talking about families and fighting over bills, and I don't want that for us yet."
We pulled into our apartment complex, and Josh parked, pulling the key from the ignition. "I agree one hundred percent, baby. Don't stress about it." I kissed him. I was completely in love with everything about this man, and the fact that he was reassuring me over something that he should be upset about made it all that much better. He pulled away slowly. "Let's go inside. The neighbors have complained about our 'excessive use of PDA' before," he said, chuckling softly.
It was getting close to midnight, and we had a meeting at eight o'clock the next morning, so we headed in, getting ready for bed quickly.
"We should get Addi and Bryce an engagement present," I whispered after a while.
"Not to be that person, but can you stop thinking about them and go to sleep?" Josh replied, rolling over to look at me.
"I can't help it," I said. "One thousand thoughts are going through my mind right now."
Josh pulled me closer to him. "What can I do to help?"
I shrugged into his embrace. "I don't know. I think I need to just calm down."
Josh chuckled. "Tell me a story, Bails. That always puts you to sleep."
I sighed. "I don't have any stories, Josh."
"I know. By the time you think of one, you'll be fast asleep."
I hit him playfully. "You suck."
The next morning, Josh and I woke up early, heading to Starbucks for our daily coffee. I sipped my cold brew as we headed to Sway to meet with Talent X.
"Good morning," one of the managers said. They never really talked to me, so their names were all a blur. "Sit. We'll get started right away so that we don't keep you too long."
Josh and I sat in two of the chairs in the conference room. Another manager stood, pulling up our follower statistics.
"We never go over that," Josh said. "Is there something that I should know?"
Another manager stood, looking back and forth between us and his colleagues. "Josh, you two need to break up."