Guides for the Pre-Engagement Life

Before my Mom officially gave me her blessing to move in with Michael, she said that it would be good for us because then we would really be testing our compatibility, since it could be just our young minds wanting to take the next step so fast, but in reality, we weren't even ready at all. She also told me that when a man gives up their personal space to a woman, it meant that they have big hopes for their relationship. She approved of the idea the moment Michael and I asked her, and she agreed without a fuss.

While my Dad, on the other hand, took a while to be okay with the idea. His decision delayed the moving to two weeks later, because he made us think harder about the idea of moving in together. He also gave me a very long lecture about why we were rushing into things when we were still under 25 with big futures ahead of us, and asked why we were so determined to be together. He also decided to give Michael and I - the ever so awkward - Birds and the Bees talk over the phone, and it sounded embarrassing because I was already 23 - and he was kind of, uh, well, too late, but I didn't tell him that! No freaking way!
Nonetheless, he approved.

Michael's Mom wanted us to move in together since Beijing, she explained that we've been together for a while and there was bound to be something that wanted to push it further, and when the Olympian made headlines, she advised us to live together for a certain amount of time and really test our relationship. Hilary instantly agreed to the idea, though she made a very awkward statement about making sure we were using protection. However, Whitney wasn't for it, but after much persuasion from the persistent Michael, she gave an uneasy nod and warned us that it may seem perfect at first, but sweet things have the tendency to go sour.

So around November 2009, I moved to Baltimore.

I didn't have many things to bring with me to Baltimore. There weren't a lot of furniture because Lia and I sold most of it to the new owners of our apartment in Ann Arbor, while she took most of the necessary things like the dining table, utensils and what not. The only things I took with me to New York were my bed, the desk, two lazy boy chairs, a lamp, a bean bag, a shoe rack and drawer.
Yeah, I know, what would I do with all those things?
Michael didn't really need to sell some of his things away, neither did I. We just merged them into one solemn and minimal arrangement, and he had a spare bedroom, so my things were arranged properly in there. Herman slept in the living room, there was only one bathroom, but there was a back yard - reasonable size - and a one-car garage.
I guess it was perfect for a young couple like Michael and I.
The good thing was that Derek and Lia lived ten minutes away from us, and if I wanted to, I could visit them without having to drive, since I didn't even have a car. My car was sold to Brunette B in Ann Arbor, and in New York, there was no space for me to own a car, I always took the bus or train to my destinations, or a quick cab ride if I was in a hurry. That or Fulton Jr. gave me a ride, and he had a fancy car that his Dad bought him for his birthday, but Michael didn't like that, which made me resort to going on public transport for most of the year.

"Future Mrs Phelps," Lia called as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders as we finished putting away my clothes into the closet. I tossed the last pair of socks into the drawer that Michael happily gave up for me. He was so sweet to give up half his closet and two drawers for me, but he said that he didn't need a lot because he was a simple man and I had more things than he did.
"Mrs Fitzgerald," I chuckled. "Wow, I can't get used to calling you that."
"I haven't gotten used to it either, and I've even practiced changing my signature, but I can't use it until five years from now," She added as she pulled her arm away from me and she pushed the drawer shut. She clapped her hands together and asked, "How did you get the man to give you half his space? Seriously! Derek took a long time just to agree to give me some of his space!"
"It's because Pig's secretly a woman inside," I commented quite loudly as soon as I caught a glimpse of my best friend's husband walking by.
"And you're a man, Cow," Derek responded without a second thought.
I laughed and turned to my best friend, she seemed rather annoyed again. "Sorry, Lia, anyway, I don't know why Michael gave me his space so quickly," I answered her previous question. I didn't want to annoy the hell out of her because she's been under a lot of pressure lately, and a small push would make a large explosion from her - and no one would dare to see that again.
"Let's unpack your underwear, Anne." Lia smirked as she tugged on a smaller box that was clearly labelled to have been my lingerie. I blushed the moment I heard someone clear their throat and I looked towards the door, where Michael stood with a grin and his arms crossed over his chest. I shook my head and pointed for him to go away, but before he left, he winked and said, "I know I'll see all of them anyway."
"Oooh!" Lia suddenly exclaimed as she pulled out a laced white strapless bra with matching white underwear, there were stockings wrapped around the small wings that came with it. There was a huge smile on my best friend's face and she looked really surprised to see that I would own such a thing. It took me a while to realize that it was the Naughty Angel that I wore on my first Anniversary with Michael. I nagged for her to give it, and eventually, I managed to snatch it away before she ran out to go show the boys what she found. I hugged onto the lingerie set tightly and heard Lia say in her loud voice, "My God, Anne, there's two more in here!"
I narrowed my eyes and knew exactly what she was talking about.

Freaking hell...

After a good day spent unpacking and arranging and throwing the boxes away, I tossed myself on the bed that I officially shared with Michael. He joined me not too long after and lay down on his usual side and exhaled, his eyes were closed and his arms on either side of him as he lay so calmly. I couldn't help but stare at him and his side profile, from his forehead to the tip of his nose, along the curves of his kissable lips, his chin, down his jawline and his neck...
Michael was really attractive.
How did I get so lucky?

"Stop looking at me like that. I'm too tired..." He whined.
I pushed myself up and leaned against my arm to turn my body to face him. "And you think that I'm not tired too?" I teased. "Besides, I'm officially living with you. Are you happy now?"
Michael nodded. His eyes slowly opened with a smile curved on his lips.
"So, Mr Phelps, are you ready to say goodbye to your bachelor pad?"
He smirked. "I told you, it's not a bachelor pad!" He debated and rolled on top of me, his arms on both sides of me and his forehead leaned against mine. I slithered my hands up his forearm, to his shoulders and around his neck before giving him a smooch.
"Now that we finally live together, I get to see you every morning when I wake up," He whispered between kisses. "And cuddle next to you every night," He added. "And take a shower with you," He continued as his lips left mine and went down the side of my neck. "And because this is our place, we can do it anywhere." He mischievously went on as he kept going further down until his lips arrived by my stomach, his arms were wrapped around me and hugged me tight as though he didn't want me to go anywhere far from him.
But before things got steamy, the doorbell rang.
"Ignore it," Michael mumbled as he nipped the hem of my sweats.
The doorbell kept going.
His head then fell and leaned flat on my stomach as I let out a laugh. I combed my fingers through his hair and said, "I think it's important."
"I hope it is," He groaned as he slid off the edge of the bed, he fixed his shirt and pants before he scuffled his hair about in frustration while making his way out of the bedroom. I followed after him not too long after. I made sure my hair and clothes were fixed so whoever decided to visit - at eight o'clock in the evening - wouldn't assume anything, since people have been on our case that we were still a bit too young to be exploring each other's bodies.

They should actually check out what really went on at the Olympic Village. Some of the athletes were younger and they already knew how to rock out their stuff. It was intimidating, really, and I once got worried about the whole thing after Ryan Lochte decided to tell me some stories on the first night in Beijing, but Michael scolded him not to scare me and assured me that there was nothing to be worried about - and that was one of the reasons why he either snuck out or snuck me into the Village. And after what I saw and heard through the walls, I always teased Michael about what he may have gotten himself up to when he was still single and went to the Olympics. He said that it was before he met me, so whatever he was up to, he claimed that it didn't count.
Well, I had a gist of what Michael may have been up to, and I couldn't blame him.
The Olympic Village were filled with very attractive athletes...
But I shouldn't get into that.

Anyway, when we reached the front door, Michael clutched the door knob tight while stealing a glance my way. He adjusted the expression on his face before he turned to the door, which only made me giggle at his frustration. I crossed my arms over my chest as he twisted the knob and opened the door slowly, and it only made me anticipate who was on the other side. But as soon as I heard the cheerful hello, I knew instantly knew that it had to be either his Mom or Sisters.
"Anne!" Hilary Phelps greeted with her arms open and pulling me into a hug. I embraced her before she gave me a peck on the cheek. And yes, she called me by my nickname. "I needed to make sure that you were actually here," She brightly said.
"Safe and sound," I added as I noticed Michael close the door with a face that seemed to me like he knew that there wasn't going to be anything going on in the bedroom that night.
"So, you came all the way here to see Anne, at this time?" He asked as he took her jacket.
Hilary brushed her hair to the side as she nodded. "Of course I did, why wouldn't I? I mean, Anne finally moves to Baltimore, that's big news, MP," She answered as she lifted the bag up for her Brother to hold. She tapped onto the top of it and instructed him to serve it. "I assumed the two of you haven't eaten, so I brought some take outs."
Michael was always happy to see his Family, but that night, he seemed like he wasn't too pleased with the sudden visit. Hilary watched her Brother disappear to the kitchen as she turned to me and revealed, "I've got a few hours to spare before my friend picks me up, and because I heard that you moved in today, I decided that I should just come visit my baby Brother and his lovely Girlfriend. And from the looks of MP's face, he's either tired or wasn't too pleased with a guest. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."
"Oh, oh no, you didn't- We just-" I nervously mumbled on and nearly choked on my saliva. Hilary only smiled at me as though she knew. I cleared my throat a couple of times before I decided to lead her into the kitchen to where Michael was taking out the take-out boxes from the bag.
I figured it was going to be a long night.

Officially Living Together

Hilary left half an hour before midnight, when her friend picked her up and they were headed to the friend's place before going to her Mom's home the following morning. Michael didn't understand why his Sister visited in the later hours, but once she was gone, he turned his attention to me.
Though we couldn't sleep until two in the morning, well, it was partially his fault, since he was the one who thought it was a good idea to watch a movie and cuddle on the sofa with Herman on the other side. He told me that he had an early training the next day so that we could spend the afternoon sorting out some things around the house. It wasn't important, but he said that we needed to sort it out before it was too late, and he didn't want arguments over it in the future. He sounded like he thought about a lot of things before I actually merged into his bachelor pad.

It was roughly 1:45am when we finished up with preparing for bed.

I stretched when I entered the bedroom in my pyjama pants and loose sweater. "Your Sister had me thinking about something," I pointed out while I watched Michael take off his shirt and tossed it on top of the basket. "Once I sleep in this bed and wake up tomorrow morning... That would mean that we actually took the next step in our funny romance."
"Our funny romance is pretty serious, you know." He smirked. "Ah, before I forget." He suddenly exclaimed and went to the drawer where he rummaged through the smaller one on the top left, and he pulled out his wallet and reached into one of the pockets. He turned his back towards me so that I couldn't see what he was up to before he put everything back and he walked my way.
"Honey, I just moved in. You're not going to propose are you?" I joked.
Michael chuckled. "Not yet," He shook his head as he grasped my hand and made me open my palm. He lifted his hand from behind him, and there on his finger, dangled the key to the house that we both lived in. The keychain had the first letter of my name, and the key was gold.
"Does this mean that I'm officially your roommate?"
"More like bed-mate," He corrected me. He placed the key onto my palm and closed my fingers into a fist. He pressed his lips on the top of my fingers before placing them onto my lips. I felt the key pressed against my skin and I knew that it was real.
"You trust me with this?"
"Of course, you live here."
"That's right." I playfully gave him a slap on the arm as I made my way to the drawer to where our phones and wallets and other things were scattered about. Just staring at all those things mixed together made me realize more that we were sharing our personal space, and that we had to be considerate of the other person and make decisions together. I looked at the key as I placed it on the empty spot beside Michael's car keys.
"Bob's going to kill me if I'm late tomorrow." My dear boyfriend sighed took his spot on his side of bed. He beckoned me to the empty spot to which I slowly entered and sat there beneath the blanket, his hand on my thigh and stroking it with his thumb.
"Well, who was the one who said that watching a movie was a good idea?" I loved to torment him, he was so easy to tease, and he seemed to love it to. I lifted his hand from me and playfully nipped at his thumb which caused him to react by quickly - but gently - pulling me down to my back and he wrapped his arms around me into a tight hug.
Michael was so cuddly.
"Ah, this feels right," He whispered.
I leaned my head against his chest and cuddled up to him. My arms were around his torso, I could hear his calm heartbeat, and his breathing warmed the top of my head as he gave me a peck on the forehead. I closed my eyes and smiled.

It definitely felt right.

"Say goodbye to your bachelor pad, honey."
"It's not a- ah, alright, goodbye bachelor pad." He said in defeat. "But hello love nest."

We officially had our own love nest.