Waking up in Vegas

When I saw John the next day and he saw that I was wearing the ring I was a little afraid of how he might react. But it was definitely a good reaction. So good of a reaction that it led to us being naked in his bed for a while.

Things were going absolutely perfect. Almost too perfect it seemed. I was waiting for the shit to hit the fan because I just wasn’t used to relationships that actually worked. Even though John had proven to me time and time again that he was a great guy and he wasn’t going to hurt me, I still had a feeling in the back of my mind that something was going to happen, that somehow this wasn’t going to work out.

Two weeks later that something did happen. Although it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be, it was still something that I wasn’t prepared for, even though I should have been.

“When do you guys leave?” I asked John after he had shared the news that his band would be heading out on tour soon.

“In two weeks. Kendall—I wanted to tell you sooner, I really did. But…” he trailed off.

“But what John?”

“I just wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening?” It sounded more like a question than a statement and I urged him to press forward when he wasn’t elaborating more than that. “I’ve always loved going on tour. I’ve waited for it and counted down the days until I could leave again. But now… with you… I love you Kendall and I love what we have and I love spending time with you. It’s going to suck so bad being away from you for that long.” He looked really sad and now I could understand why he hadn’t told me any sooner.

“How long?” I asked in a low voice.

“It’s six weeks.”

“Wow.”

It seemed so crazy to me that after being without John in my life for 22 fucking years and only having him in my life for about a year, I was this upset about him leaving for six weeks.

“You could always come with us. I’m sure the guys wouldn’t mind.”

“I can’t just leave work for that long John.”

“I know. It was worth a shot though,” he shrugged and grabbed my hand. He twisted the ring on my finger around as we sat there in silence.

After a few minutes John spoke again. “I really think we can make this work Kendall. We have to make it work.” He sounded almost desperate and his tone of voice definitely matched how I was feeling.

“We can try,” I replied in a small voice and John pulled me into his lap. “I want to try with you.” He kissed me and all the worries washed away. It felt like we could do anything we wanted to and that everything would work out in the end.

Over those next two weeks we spent almost every day together. We were trying to squeeze in six weeks’ worth of time in those two weeks that we actually had together. I knew he would be in Arizona on at least one day of the tour and he would be close in California on some other days. But there would also be days when he would be all the way across the country.

On the second to last day before John had to leave we were going to dinner at what had come to be our favorite restaurant and as I was getting ready I went to twirl my ring out of habit and started freaking out because it was not on my finger. I had absolutely no idea where it could be. I didn’t take it off for anything so I didn’t know what happened.

I frantically searched the bathroom, seeing if I had taken it off while washing my hands or something but I had no luck. I looked in my bedroom, tearing it apart, looking through everything, anywhere that it might be but to no avail. I went through every single room in my house and I came up empty and increasingly angrier with every room that I went through. I asked Dad and Daddy if they had seen it but neither of them had. I called Cassie and anyone else I had recently spent time with, asking if they had seen it or if they had any idea where it could be.

After spending hours searching for the ring I was sobbing and I didn’t know what I was going to do. How could I have lost it? John was going to be leaving and the one thing I had that linked me to him had gone missing. It couldn’t be a good sign.

By the time we were supposed to be leaving for dinner I still hadn’t found the ring and I was still frustrated and crying. I heard a knock on the front door and I knew it had to be John but I couldn’t even muster up the energy to go and answer the door. After a few more futile attempts at knocking, it finally stopped and the door to my bedroom opened a few minutes after that.

John rushed over to me as soon as he saw the state I was in.

“Kendall what’s wrong?!” he asked, clearly concerned. “Tell me what’s wrong!”

“I lost it John,” I sobbed as he wrapped his arms around me.

“Shh, it’s ok. What are you talking about baby? Lost what?”

I held my hand up to his face, not even wanting to say what I had lost out loud.

“Oh, honey, it’s ok. Shh, I’ve got you. Calm down.”

John’s soothing words and his hand rubbing across my back finally calmed me down enough to where I had stopped sobbing. Now there were just a few stray tears on my cheek and my breathing was starting to get back to normal.

“It’s not ok! You’re leaving and now I don’t even have a ring. This isn’t going to work!”

“Kendall, I promise you this is going to work. I love you. That was just a stupid ring.”

“But you gave it to me. It was our wedding ring!” My breathing hitched and I knew I was just seconds from starting to cry again.

“Come on. Stay calm, it’s fine. I swear.”

“How can you say that?”

“Well, I was going to wait until we were back from tour to give this to you. But now is as good a time as any.” John moved one of the arms that was wrapped around me and reached into the pocket of his jeans in order to pull out a small box. I gasped when he lifted the lid and I saw what was inside. “I want this to be real, this thing between us, so you deserve a real ring.”

It was absolutely beautiful. It looked similar to the one I had before, but a little less fake and a lot more perfect. I was stunned, speechless, and the tears were absolutely dry; I had no idea what to say so I just stared at John and the ring and smiled dumbly.

“Kendall Marie Andrews, will you stay married to me?” he asked with a grin on his face and I nodded emphatically before finally getting my voice back and practically screaming yes.

He kissed me quickly and wiped some of the tears from my face before slipping the new ring on my finger. It looked even better than the other one had and all of the worries that I was having completely slipped away.

I knew that John wanted to be in this for the long haul. He had bought me a real ring and it wasn’t just some stupid mistake that happened in Vegas anymore.

After dinner I stayed at John’s house and we consummated the still-marriage and cuddled and just spent time together before John had to leave.

We promised that we would text every day and try to call as often as possible. I downloaded the newest version of Skype onto my laptop and he did the same. He gave me a freaking key to his apartment so I would be able to go check up on Sully anytime I needed to or just felt like it and I tried not to think of how often I would be going over there just to sleep in a bed that smelled like John.

I would of course be going to the concert in Arizona and I was going to try to road trip up to California with my friends, just so I could spend a little more time with John. And the other guys in The Maine were really cool too so it would fun seeing them and being to hang out with everyone together like when we had first met. Plus the music was awesome so that would just be a bonus.

The day that they left I drove John to Tim’s house to meet up with the guys. We kissed for longer than we should have before we finally said goodbye and he got out of the car, waving with a smile on his face as he went.

As I drove home, sneaking glances at my new ring, even with John leaving for tour, I thought that things were really going to be ok.