How The Hell Did You Ever Pick Me?

He chuckled lightly before saying "This isn't what you think it is. I know you don't want to get married this young and I respect that. This is a promise ring. I promise to be a better boyfriend than I have been these past couple months. I promise to always be the reason behind your smile. I promise to always love you unconditionally. When I saw this ring I immediately thought of you. It's beautiful and magnificent and so are you. I love you, Stephanie." By the time he was done with his speech my mouth was agape and my cheeks were stained with tears. "Kellin, I...I don't know what to say. That was beautiful." I choked out. He took my left hand in his and carefully placed the ring on my finger. He placed the velvet box on the coffee table and stood up. I wrapped my arms around him and he held me tightly. "I love you too, Kellin." I stated. He gently placed his lips on mine. We pulled away after a couple seconds. “So, in addition to the ring, I also bought you your favorite candy. I want you to have a relaxing night since you have to go back to work tomorrow.” He said as he dragged me over to the couch to sit down. I picked out the movie “Remember Me” to watch first. After Kellin placed the movie in the DVD player we cuddled up to each other.

In the middle of the movie, Kellin broke the silence by saying “I want to take a picture of the ring on your finger for Twitter. I want everyone to know what a lucky guy I am.” “Don’t you mean what a lucky girl I am?” I smiled at him before holding out my hand. He snapped the picture and quickly tapped the letters on his phone before setting it down. He kissed the top of my head and mumbled “Nah, I’m the lucky one.”

The next morning my phone’s alarm went off and I quickly turned it off so it wouldn’t wake up Kellin. I slipped out of bed and looked in the dresser for clothes I could wear to work. I quietly opened the bedroom door and walked down the hallway to get ready in the bathroom. I had a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee for breakfast before gathering up my things and leaving for work.

I parked in my reserved parking spot. I stepped out of my truck and looked up at the massive office building. I smiled to myself. It’s kind of nice to be back. As I walked to the front door my phone buzzed in my hand. I stopped right outside the door and answered it without thinking to look at the caller ID.

“Are you engaged to him?” Mike asked, clearly pissed off. I sighed. “No Mike, it’s a promise ring.” I replied softly. I heard him sigh a sigh of relief through the receiver. “Thank fucking god. I thought you were marrying the asshole.” He mumbled. I giggled and replied “I’m not. How did you find out about the ring anyways?” “Twitter…how else? The ring is pretty damn impressive. I’ll give him that. He must have spent his whole Warped Tour earnings on it.” Mike remarked. I looked at the ring on my finger. It was impressive. I can’t believe Kellin would spend all that money on me. I then reached up and stroked the diamond heart necklace he gave me for Christmas. He shouldn’t be spending all this money on me, we’ve only been together for a little less than eleven months. “Steph? Steeeeph?” Mike semi yelled through the phone which caused me to snap out of my thoughts. “Sorry Mike. I was just thinking about some things.” I apologized. “It’s fine, Doll.” He replied. “What are you doing up so early?” I asked, surely he would be sleeping until noon since he’s not touring. “Well… I woke up earlier to take a piss and then I checked my Twitter randomly. I saw the picture and had to call you.” He confessed. I laughed and said “I’m sorry you thought it was an engagement ring. I made it clear to him I don’t want to get married for a while.” He yawned and mumbled. “Well, that’s good…same here. Imma go back to sleep, Babe. Text me or something.” “Okay, Mike. I have to head into work anyways. Goodnight.” I replied before disconnecting.

Around lunch time my dad walked into my office. “It’s so nice to have you back!” my dad smiled. “It’s good to be back. Warped was fucking rough.” I replied. My dad looked down. “I know. You’re uh…brother was on Tumblr and saw a lot of stuff being said about you.” He mumbled before taking a sip out of his coffee cup. I looked down at my laptop. I knew about the stuff that was being said about me on there. I just didn’t think it would show up on my little brother’s dashboard. A few things I saw that upset me were the remarks about Kellin deserving better because I’m ugly, or how I am using him, but the one that disturbed me the most was the rumor that was going around that Mike and I were sleeping together. I guess Mike and I uploaded one too many twitpics of us together. “What is that?” my dad asked while pointing to the ring on my finger. I blushed before saying “It’s definitely not what you think it is. Kellin bought me this promise ring yesterday.” I raised my hand up to give my dad a closer look. My dad smiled. “I always liked Kellin. He’s a good kid and he takes care of you. I’m happy you kept him around.” My dad chuckled. “Yeah…me too.” I said softly before continuing to type up a report.

“I’m home!” I shouted as I walked into the apartment at 5:25. The apartment was quiet. I set my keys and phone down on the kitchen counter. A random sticky note stuck to the fridge caught my eye. It’s a note from Kellin. “Went to Justin’s house. I’ll be back around eight. Love, Kellin” it read. My stomach dropped a little. I was hoping he was going to be home. I wanted to cook him a nice dinner and cuddle like we usually do after I got home from work. I should stop being so selfish. Kellin can do whatever he wants. It shouldn’t bother me like it is, but something just doesn’t seem right.

I wrapped up Kellin’s plate of pasta and placed it in the fridge for when he got home. I grabbed my plate and cup of soda and sat at the dining room table. It felt very unsettling to be alone after two and a half months of constantly being around someone. I looked at my phone and picked it up. I guess I could always text Mike to keep me company.

It’s now ten and Kellin still isn’t home. I left a sticky note on the fridge to tell him where his dinner is. I texted him five times and every time I got no reply. How come Mike of all people finds the time to text me, but Kellin couldn’t even text me to tell me he was going to be late? I laid in bed while texting Mike. He tried to cheer me up about the Kellin situation, but it wasn’t really working. It’s not that I’m mad. I’m just driving myself crazy because I have this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach that something’s going on. But what could it be?

I felt Kellin wrap his arms around me ,carefully, trying not to wake me up. My eyes shot open instantly. “What time is it?” I mumbled. I heard him sigh. “It’s midnight, Babe.” He said softly. “Where were you?” I asked thru a lump in my throat. “At Justin’s. I already told you.” He stated. It was silent for a couple minutes before I asked “Why didn’t you text me?” “I left my phone in the car. Steph, go to sleep. You have work in the morning.” He whispered gently in my ear. I grabbed his arm that was around me and slid it off. “Why don’t you want me to hold you?” he asked. I ignored his question as I forced myself to fall back asleep. I didn’t want to think of the possibility of him lying to me.