I'm All Yours Somehow

"Hey," Garrett said, squeezing my hand as we walked down the pier after dinner.

"Hmm?" I said, keeping my eyes on the waves crashing on the beach beneath us. We were walking slowly and comfortably while most people around us were walking hastily, talking on their cell phones or trying to herd their children in the right direction.

"Look at me," he instructed, standing still. I rolled my eyes before turning to face him, my eyebrows raised.

"What?" I prompted when he simply looked at me. The corners of his mouth upturned.

"You're beautiful," he told me for the umpteenth time that evening. I pursed my lips as I rolled my eyes. I walked a few steps to the edge of the pier, leaning against the railing to stare out at the skyline. "What, am I not allowed to tell you that?" He sounded rather exasperated as he joined me at the railing, standing behind me. His arms went around my waist and I sighed.

"Can we just stay here? Like, forever?" I suggested, listening to the sound of the ocean. Garrett let out a short, quiet laugh and I could tell he was smiling. "Well, can we?" I asked when he didn't respond.

"I'd love to, but the guys -" he started, but I cut him off.

"I know, I know. It's all about the guys," I said with a bit of a sad smile.

"You know it's not like that," he sighed softly, tightening his arms around my waist as thought I was going to slip away.

"I was just teasing, Gare," I assured him quietly. I wiggled in his hold enough to have room to turn to face him.

"No, you weren't," he challenged. "Not completely. You're never 'just teasing' when it comes to this sort of thing."

"What sort of thing?" I asked, sliding away from him and beginning to take steps further down the pier. Garrett was hot on my tail, taking extra steps to get in front of me.

"When it comes settling down," he answered, walking backwards to still face me as I continued to walk. He tripped over a German Shephard who barked furiously at him. Laughing, he appologized to the dog's owner, a middle-aged woman with cold stare, and we continued on.

The distraction had ended our discussion, much to my relief. The sun was setting and we found a new spot to lean against the railing. A light breeze was blowing and I caught a chill, my shoulders shook as I shivered. Garrett smiled softly as he shrugged off his jacket and handed it to me. I blushed a bit, smiling back as I put it on. It was plenty warm, and I leaned against him.

He put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him and he kissed my temple.

Once the sun had set, the pier came alive. Everything, all of the shops, the ferris wheel, and game stands, were all lit up. Elderly couples, groups of teenagers, parents with small children, and couples like Garrett and I were everywhere. I couldn't help but smile as we walked around. His jacket was still wrapped around me tightly and our fingers laced together.

After sharing some cotton candy and popcorn, we headed towards the ferris wheel, unwillingly on my part.

"Garrett, please don't make me do this," I said, my voice uneasy as I crinkled my nose. I stared up at the giant wheel.

"I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that you're not going to fall out, Tallulah," Garrett reassured me. "And if you do fall out, I'll jump out to catch you."

"Don't even say that," I said sternly, putting a hand against his chest.

"Either way, just trust me," he said with a wink, leaning down to peck me on the lips before taking my hand again and dragging me towards the ferris wheel.

The enclosed buckets that were the carts were too small for my liking. Because of my uneasiness, I wanted Garrett to sit beside me, rather than across from me, but there wasn't even room for that. Instead, I ended up in his lap, his arms tightly around my middle.

"You're warm," I told him with a quiet giggle. I leaned back against him more as he kissed my shoulder through the jacket.

"I love you," he told me with a smile, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"I love you," I repeated back, shifting in his lap to face him more. We smiled at each other as we both leaned in.

My heart pounded as our lips moved together slowly. I put my hands on the back of his neck, toying with the end of his hair. His hand moved up my hips to the curve of my waist, causing the skirt of my dress to hike up. I groaned quietly as he nipped at the skin of my neck softly. He dropped his hands for my legs, just above my knee before sliding his hands up my thighs, under my dress.

"Gare," I said, my voice breaking as I pushed his lips away from my collarbone. "We can't do this here." I laughed nervously, all of my nerves still on end.

"Sure we can," he whispered, kissing along my jawline. I groaned in frustration, my fingers gripping his shirt tightly.

"You're such a tease," I told him through clenched teeth as tried to restrain myself. He kissed me roughly, cupping my jaw in one hand.

"Like you're not," he scoffed, our lips still touching as he spoke.

"Touché." I giggled quietly, sliding my fingers up the back of his shirt, causing the fabric to ride up. He jumped, arching his back away from the cold metal of the cart, which was flush against the skin of his back now.

"Fuck, that's cold," Garrett said, laughing quietly as I traced lines on his back.

After making out like teenagers for another couple of minutes, the ride ended and we walked towards the end of the pier, back towards the car. As we walked, we past a man down on one knee in front of his girlfriend, a ring box in his hand. I glanced at Garrett who was smiling towards the couple and I pressed my lips together.

I bit down on my tongue as we stopped to watch the couple, as many other people had. The girl, a pretty red head dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt, could only nod in response to her now fiancée's question and many people clapped, Garrett included.

Something in my stomach dropped and a lump formed in my throat. "Come on," I said, breaking away from him to continue walking. I wrapped my arms around myself and walked quickly. I could hear Garrett running behind me to catch up, but I didn't slow down.

Thunder rumbled and it began to rain. The rain was cold, like the air.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked, looking up to the sky as I stepped onto the beach. We had parked a ten minute walk from the pier, where the restaurant was.

"Tallulah, hold up!" Garrett yelled from behind me. Tired of walking quickly, I stopped where I was and let him catch up. He was out of breath and his hair was wet when he caught up to me. "What's your problem?" he asked, calmly.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head and avoiding his eyes. He went to put his arm around me, but I took off walking again.

"Tallulah, come on. It's obvious there's something wrong," he said, catching up to my once again. He got in front of me, keeping me from walking more. I pursed my lips. "Is it about that couple back there?"

"Maybe," I said shortly.

Garrett rolled his eyes. "Can we not get into this now? Can you hold off your hissy fit until we at least get out of the rain?"

"Hissy fit?" I repeated with a scoff. "I should be allowed to have a hissy fit at this point!" I paused before continuing on. "I don't know what we're doing, Garrett."

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. I could still hear the irritation in his voice and that bothered me.

"We've been together for almost three years. We live together, we have a dog, you're gone all the time, I just don't know how much longer I can be introduced as your girlfriend." My throat constricted tightly and my last two words barely came out. "Mila's been married for over two years and has a beautiful daughter. Dree and Stephen are engaged and she's pregnant, and they're just so happy."

"Wait, Dree's pregnant?" Garrett asked, interrupting me.

"She just found out today." I looked down at my feet. I was cold and wet, soaked completely to the bone. When I blinked, tears mixed with the rain water.

"Well, I don't know what you want me to do about it..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, looking at the sand between us.

"You don't know what I want you to do about it?!" I yelled, all of a sudden outraged. "Maybe you just tell me where the fuck our relationship is going. If you don't want to marry me, just tell me so I can stop living this ridiculous fairytale. I'm tired of looking like an idiot and thinking 'He's going to propose any time now.' It's been two and a half years I don't even have a fucking ring on my finger. I don't know how much longer I can do this, G!"

In that moment, I wanted to smack the dumb expression off his face. I had always told myself that I'd never be "that" girl; the one who was desperate to be engaged, and gabbed to her friends about how sure she was that a ring was coming any day, but here I was, wanting a ring on my finger more than anything else. I just wanted to beat him into it.

"Are you done yelling now?" Garrett asked after a pause. He sighed and raised his eyebrows, waiting for my answer. He was just as soaked as I was. His hair was hanging in his eyes and water was streaming down the sides of his face.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "For now, yes," I responded, nodding once.

"Good," he said quickly.

He fished in his pocket. and pulled out a small, velvet box. I clasped both hands over my mouth. He smirked and got down on one knee. He let out a nervous laugh and looked up at me. The rain was still pouring down and I was shivering and freezing, but my heart was beating like crazy and my stomach was fluttering.

"The best day of my life was the day that you came back to Arizona for Mila's wedding. I've loved you since high school, and when you left, there were so many times that I nearly got on a plane to find you, just so I could see you smile.

"I've actually had this since before your mom died. I took her with me, and she picked it out. I sound like a total dumb ass, but I've seriously been waiting for two and a half years to do this. I brought you out tonight for the pure sake of proposing, but I just didn't know how to do it, so I'm just going to do it the only way I know how.

"Tallulah Mae Bishop, will you marry me?" When he said the words that I'd been waiting to hear for the longest time and flipped open the ring box, I was paralyzed. I couldn't move. I stood there in the freezing rain, Garrett in front of my on one knee with my hands locked over my mouth.

I moved my hands away from my mouth and I said the first thing that came to mind.

"You just let me stand here and scream at you about wanting a ring and look like a total ass and now you're proposing?" I demanded, still in shock.

He laughed quietly, smiling widely. "Is that a yes then?" he asked, nervously.

I couldn't hold back a smile as I nodded repeatedly. As he put the ring on my finger, for the first time I actually looked at it and my jaw dropped. The rock on the thing was huge. It made sense that my mother picked it out and I smiled. Garrett stood up and I wrapped my arms around him tightly.

"I love you," he told me as he kissed the skin of my neck.

"I love you too," I said, pulling away to kiss him. I didn't even realize I was crying until he brushed my tears away with my thumb. Blushing, I buried my face in the warmth of his neck.

"I don't want to ruin the moment, but can we go back to the car now? I'm freezing my ass off," Garrett laughed, shivering slightly.

"Yes, please!" I said, shivering as well. He took my hand and we took off running down the rain-soaked beach, tripping all over the place as we headed towards the car.

Once we got to the car, Garrett turned the heat up full blast before kissing me again, multiple times.

"Gare, just drive, please," I giggled in the split second that his lips weren't on mine.

He laughed, nodding as he put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking spot. He drove rather quickly back to the house, which was only a few minutes away thankfully.

We got into the house and it was toasty. Dree and Stephen were asleep on the sofa, her head on his chest. A blanket was pulled over the couple and the TV was still on. Ignoring it, Garrett and I hurried up the stairs, grabbed towels, and barricaded ourselves in the bathroom.

We peeled off each other's layers of clothes and stepped into the hot spray of the shower. We kissed somewhat innocently, letting the heat of the water set into our bodies.

"You know what all of this reminds me of?" Garrett asked, massaging my scalp as he washed my hair for me.

"What does this remind you of?" I responded with a relaxed sigh as I tilted my head back further.

"Fourth of July; with the rain and everything."

My stomach flipped and I nodded once. I really hated when he brought up the night that he first told me he loved me and I ran. There were similarities though. Going out together and running through the rain.

"Kind of," I said softly as he rinsed my hair of the shampoo.

"Only this time you're not going anywhere, right?" he clarified, rubbing my shoulders.

"Not a chance," I assured him, turning to face him. I kissed him softly, weaving my fingers through his hair. He smiled against my lips and I shivered again.

After the shower, Garrett managed to locate extra blankets and tossed them onto the bed as I got dressed. I layered a pair of shorts under the sweatpants I stole from Garrett and pulled on a sports bra before putting on a tank top, followed by a hoodie.

"Why are you putting on so many layers?" he asked, spreading the extra blankets over the bed.

"Because I'm freezing," I told him, fluffing my pillow as I shivered again.

"I'm just going to take them off in a few minutes anyway, so I don't see what it matters." My cheeks flushed pink and he smirked. He abandoned the blankets and walked around the bed to kiss my heatedly.

Excitement flooded through my veins as he immediately pulled the sweatshirt off over my head. He lifted me up to lay me down on the bed before climbing on top of me. He ran his hands down to my hips, sucking at the skin of my neck. I toyed with the wet hair at the back of his neck, holding him to me.

I groaned loudly as his fingers lit fire across my skin as he pushed my tank top my body. I leaned away from him, pulling his lips back to mine to kiss him roughly.

"I love you," I reminded him as I pushed down his boxers quickly.

"I love you more, I'm sure," he said, kissing my shoulder before riding my body of my remaining clothing.

An hour later, my ear was pressed against his chest and I just listened to the pounding of his heart. He was playing with my hair like he always did and I smiled, kissing the center of his chest. He laughed comfortably , running a finger up my spine. I shifted as a chill ran the course of my body.

"No fair," I said quietly, my words muffled by his skin.

"I never got the chance to ask: Do you like the ring?" he asked, kissing the top of my head.

"I love it," I assured him, looking up at him with a smile. I moved my left hand into my view and stared at the ring again.

"Good. Your mother saw it and wouldn't even look at another one."

"Sounds like her. How much did she make you pay for it?"

"You're not supposed to know how much the ring cost," he said sternly. I laughed at his stubbornness.

"I'm just curious. I know my mom had rich tastes."

"Seven thousand," he admitted after a moment.

I scoffed in shock. "Wow," I said, saying the only thing I could think of.

"You're happy though, right?" Garrett asked, sounding rather nervous.

"More than ever," I said with a smile, tears prickling in my eyes.

"Me too," he said, kissing me softly.