Always

“Wanna go for a drive?” Matt asked his girlfriend as she lay underneath him on the hammock that they had rigged up on the back porch. Living in the city meant that trees lacked greatly, making a real hammock undoable. But this was the one part of country life that Mia enjoyed. She was convinced that air had to have a drug of sorts in it that kept her happy. Just being out in her backyard, as small as it was, brought a smile to her face. The hustle and bustle was all around her and she was in the arms of the man she loved, it was borderline heaven.

“Yeah. Where are we going?” She asked, running his hands along his arms before lacing her fingers with his rough ones.

“Wherever,” He said with a shrug. The pair did this every now and then, just drove until they made it to a half tank of gas and then returned back the way they came. They never went too far but they never stayed too close. And it’s not like Mia didn’t have something that she wanted to tell Matt anyway.

Her boys would leave next week for their summer in the United States and it wasn’t the ideal time to share her news, but she knew it would be the only time she would have to share it for a few weeks at least. She, herself, was more than excited. But she was worried about what Matt’s reaction would be. She could only hope for the best, really. And she would be. And if Matt took this the wrong way, she would be strong enough to handle herself. She had to be, there was no other choice.

So they got in the car. And they drove until they made it to somewhere in the middle of nowhere. These were the trips that Mia could stand. The ones where they went out and then they came back in the same day. The countryside was great from the outside looking in. But the truth was that Mia had gotten more and more nervous as the drive went on.

“What’s up?” Matt asked as he parked on the shoulder and they both got out of the car in front of one of the most picturesque fields Mia had ever had the pleasure of looking at. It was wonderful and so blatantly cliché that she couldn’t have written a story better than this.

“What do you mean?” She asked, taking a deep breath as she reached down to pull a buttercup from a stem and twirl it between her fingers before Matt stole it from her. She smiled up at him as he placed it behind her ear, making her remember everything that she loved about him.

“You’re scared about something, I can see it here,” He said, taping the corners of her eyes. She looked at him with a tearful expression as she realized it was now or never, “Whatever it is, it’ll be fine.”

“I…uh. Damn this is harder than I thought it would be,” She muttered as Matt laughed, she had to crack a small smile as the tears threatened her defense line.

“Just tell me. Whatever it is, I’m not going to be mad. Have some faith in me, babe,” He said, taking her face in his hands.

“I’m pregnant,” She muttered, looking at the ground as she heard his quick intake of breath.

“Say that again,” He said softly, his hands falling to her hips quickly.

“We’re having a baby, Matt. And if you don’t want it, I understand, but I’m going to raise it…,” She was cut off by Matt’s lips roughly finding her own.

“You’re not lying, right? You aren’t just testing me or something?” He asked and at the shake of her head Matt let out of a happy laugh as he thought of what his girlfriend had just told him, “Baby, I would run to the end of the Earth for you. Having a baby with you just makes it sweeter. Jesus.”

Matt was so excited that he couldn’t even find the right words to talk to his girlfriend so he just scooped her petite frame into his arms and kissed her like his life depended.

“I have never, in these twenty three years of life, been as excited about the future as right now. Are you going to be alright while I’m gone though? Because I’m sure Tom can figure it out and drum for me,” He said in a rush.

“The last thing you’re going to do is sit around at home when you’re going to be on the tour of a lifetime,” She told him, “I’m pregnant, not a fucking invalid. And besides, I’m only about a month now anyway. We have a few months before we have to worry about anything.”

“So. I guess now would be the time to tell you that I’m going to marry you someday, which is what I had planned on telling you by bringing you out here anyway. But I don’t want to rush it just because we’re having a child together. We’ll take our time and plan everything out. But please, please always believe in me,” He told her, his hands back on her cheeks as he pressed his forehead to hers.

“Only if you do the exact same to me. I’ll run to the end of time for you, Matt. Don’t ever leave me. I’m gonna trip and stumble through this entire experience and I don’t know what kind of mom I’m even going to be, but if you’re there I have no doubt that I’ll figure out a way to get through all of this,” She whispered, pressing her lips to his softly.

“You are three times the girl I deserve. I’ll probably blunder and screw everything up and it’ll cry every time I hold it, but we’ll get through it together. I have a little bit of faith in us,” Matt said and he realized that he had never meant something more in his entire life.

“Let’s go home and tell the entire world,” He said and wrapped her into his arms as they walked back to the car