The Happiest I've Ever Been

There was another reason why Meg was up at 3 AM that night besides being unable to sleep and it was something she had been meaning to talk to Alex about. Something big had happened and she had rehearsed over and over again how she’d bring it up to him. All she had to do was sit him down and tell him all about this life-changing and surprising subject. It was simple and seemed easy in her head, but whenever it came to the moment she was supposed to speak up, she couldn’t get the words to come out. It wasn’t because she was scared, but rather she was overwhelmed by other big things that had inadvertently gotten in the way.

She first tried talking to him the day before. When she got home, she planned to get to the point immediately only to find that he was waiting for her outside in the backyard. Once she went outside, she was met with not only her boyfriend but a romantic dinner as well. Alex had set up a table near the pool with candlelight and a delicious meal that he never even told her that he knew how to make. Not that she was complaining anyway. Though she didn’t know what his reasoning was for setting this up, she brushed it off and assumed he was doing something nice for the both of them since he had recently come back from tour. Because really, when was the last time they had been able to sit down and eat together?

After dinner, she kept reminding herself that she still had to talk to him. As soon as they were both done eating, she looked up at him and leaned in closer toward the table.

“Alex,” she began. “I need to tell you-”

He put a hand up. “First, can I just say something?”

There was a hint of eagerness in his voice and she could tell from the look in his eyes that whatever he had to say, he couldn’t wait. Not wanting to make him hold in his excitement, she relaxed in her chair and nodded. “Okay.”

“Alright, here we go.” Grinning, he sat up and cleared his throat. “You’re probably wondering why I did all this for you and it’s not because I’m doing a random act of kindness. Wait, n-not that I wouldn’t do that, too, because I totally would but I have a reason this time and it’s a really good reason-”

“You’re nervous,” Meg observed.

“What, m-me?” Alex stuttered. “Psh, what makes you think I’m nervous?”

“You usually ramble when you’re nervous,” she pointed out, laughing a little. “This has been pretty obvious ever since I met you. But go on with what your reason is. I’m listening.”

“Well, anyway,” he continued. “As I was saying, there’s a reason why I did this and you’re right. I am nervous because I wanted everything to be perfect. Also, I’ve been planning this night for a while and I might have practiced what I was going to say. Now that I mentioned it, I probably should’ve wrote it down because I forgot what I wanted to say and-”

“Alex, you’re rambling again.”

“I am? Shit, I need to stop.” He shook his head and stood up. “Okay, you know what? Fuck it, I don’t need some pre-written speech. Enough messing around; I need to just get on with it.”

He walked around the table to where she was sitting, held both of her hands, and took a deep breath. “Meg, I wanted tonight to be perfect because I have something I want to ask you and I’ve been thinking about this for a while. In fact, it’s something I’ve been thinking about ever since we got together and though I thought I was just some stupid kid who couldn’t control his hormones back then, I’ve come to realize that it’s one of the few things I’m absolutely positively sure about. I love you and you’ve made my life so much better and so much happier. I seriously don’t know what I’d do without you, which is why I have this.”

Slowly, he got down on one knee and despite Meg having a feeling this was what he was going to do, it still was a surprise that it was actually happening. She gasped and gave him her own wide grin as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box.

“Oh my God,” she said as she put her hands over her mouth. He was doing it. He was really doing it.

At her reaction, he chuckled and opened the box to reveal a diamond ring. “I originally envisioned me doing this in Vegas, but as long as I’m with you, then anywhere is fine. That’s all I want. I just want to be with you for the rest of my life. So will you marry-”

“Yes!” she exclaimed before he could even finish.

“You really mean it?” Alex’s heart started pounding while he gazed at her. “You really just said that you want to marry-”

“Yes, you idiot. Of course I want to marry you, now come here!” She got up from her chair and pulled him off the ground to wrap her arms around him. As soon as her arms encircled him, she leaned in to kiss him.

Meg deepened the kiss and Alex nearly forgot that he was still holding the ring. He pulled away from her so they could both catch their breath and he took that moment as an opportunity to slip the ring on her finger.

“Now what was it that you wanted to tell me?” he asked.

She could’ve told him right then and there. But she wanted to savor the moment a little bit longer, so she decided she could wait a little to tell him. “I wanted to say thank you for making this such an amazing night.”

It didn’t take that long for her lips to meet his again.

Later that night was when she woke up at three in the morning and it was another chance for her tell him. Because she was having trouble sleeping and because she couldn’t stop thinking about how she should’ve told him already, she tried to make herself relax by sitting outside on the porch swing.

I really should’ve told him, she thought as she wrapped the blanket around her.

Maybe she was a little scared of what he would think. But she thought she was ridiculous for being scared because it wasn’t like he was going to react negatively. He wasn’t that kind of person to respond to this that way. Still, she was kind of nervous to tell him and she didn’t know why, which sucked.

Just as she was getting sleepy, she heard the front door open and out came Alex. When asked why he was also awake at this hour, he told her how he panicked at finding that she wasn’t in bed. This, of course, broke her heart to see how her leaving him all those years ago still haunted him. That was something she regretted ever doing and it pained her to see how much this affected him. Apparently, deep down he still believed she would want to leave him and now that they were engaged that increased his worries because he couldn’t get over the fact that she actually said yes. Even with her saying that she wanted to marry him, he still didn’t think he was worth her time.

So she assured him she never wanted to leave him. Ever. As they sat on their porch together late (or early) at night, she wanted to let him know that she loved him more than anyone and helped him get rid of those horrible thoughts once and for all. Yeah, she didn’t end up telling him once again, but at least she was able to get Alex to overcome his fear of being all alone.


The next day, Dia came down to visit since she was no longer busy and she missed everyone. Meg, mostly, but Cassadee as well. Ever since Cass started dating Rian she had formed a close friendship with Meg and Dia to the point where they even considered her a sister. Which made it even funnier when Dia and Cass both got involved with The Voice and surprised Blake by telling him they already knew each other. Of course, other than Cassadee they were also close to Tay Jardine of We Are the In Crowd, who had won Jack’s heart three years ago when her band toured with All Time Low.

Everyone came over not long after Dia arrived since Alex and Meg wanted to tell everyone the news. It was a nice day for all of them to hang out anyway, so why let it go to waste? They were all in the living room, each of them congratulating the couple on their engagement.

“It’s about time you finally put a ring on it,” Jack mused. He was sitting against couch on the floor with his arm around Tay as she rested her head on his shoulder. “I called it. Told you guys he was gonna propose soon.”

“You said that last year,” Zack retorted, leaning back on the armchair. “And the year before that. And the year before that...”

“Basically, you’ve been saying it ever since they started dating, dude,” Rian said. “So you can’t really say you told us so.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Jack rolled his eyes. “The point is that I called it when nobody else did.”

“Not out loud, at least,” Dia corrected him. “I’m pretty sure everyone in this room expected him to ask her soon. You were just the most vocal about it.”

“But really,” Tay said, ignoring the pout Jack was giving Dia. “We’re all really happy for you guys. We’ve been waiting for Alex to pop the question and I’m glad he finally did it.”

“Our little Alex is all grown up,” Cass teased.

Rian smiled. “Look at you guys, all engaged and stuff. First you’re getting married and the next thing you know, you’re gonna be starting a family or something.”

His words made Meg bite her lip and she looked down into her glass of water to avoid making any eye contact. She couldn’t keep this secret anymore and it actually never should’ve become a secret in the first place. The day it happened, she was supposed to tell Alex and so far she had been pushing it back. That couldn’t keep happening and she knew the more she waited, the more she’d hesitate.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear. “Alex, can we go somewhere that’s away from everybody?”

He turned to her. “What is it? What’s up?”

“I need to tell you something,” she said. “And I need to tell you right now.”

“Really? Right now?” Alex raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, right now.” Meg nodded. “So can I please talk to you alone?”

“Okay.” His fingers intertwined with hers and he faced everyone else again. “Can you guys excuse us for a minute? Meg and I need to talk in private.”

“Does that mean you guys are gonna ditch us to have sex?” Jack asked, which earned him an elbow in the ribs from Tay. “Ah, I was kidding!”

“Nah, we would’ve kicked you guys out before doing that,” Alex joked. “But no, we’re really just only talking. We’ll be right back.”

While everyone continued to chat, they headed out to the backyard and closed the sliding door behind them.

“Well, we’re alone now,” Alex told her. “What is it that you have to tell me?”

This was it. She was going to say it. “Something happened yesterday and I really meant to tell you earlier but with the engagement and that whole thing last night, I kept waiting and told myself I’d tell you later. Honestly, a part of me was even a little nervous because I wasn’t sure what you would say to this after I tell you.”

“Tell me what it is,” he urged. “Wait, you were nervous to tell me? Is it bad? Is it about this whole marriage thing? Are you not ready? Am I pressuring you too much? Because I told myself I wouldn’t pressure you too much and I know that whole freak out I had about you leaving was me overreacting. Or maybe it’s the ring. It’s not big enough, huh? That’s okay, I can buy you a bigger one-”

She interrupted him with a finger to his lips, giggling at the things he was saying. “No, it’s none of that! I love the ring and I thought I already made it clear that I’m more than ready to marry you.”

“I overreacted again, okay?” He scratched his head and laughed nervously. “I’ll calm down now.”

“You did nothing wrong, Alex.” She smiled at him and grabbed one of his hands. Keeping her eyes locked with his, she placed his hand on her stomach. “You did something amazing.”

He looked down and it didn’t take him long to put the pieces together. Once he figured it all out, his eyes widened and he looked up at her again. “You mean...”

“I’m pregnant.”

They were both silent after she finally spit it out. She couldn’t stop looking at him, trying her best to read his face and practically held her breath until he opened his mouth. That’s when his mouth twisted into a wide grin and he looked so happy that he was close to crying. Alex then put his arms around her and picked her up, spinning her around.

“I can’t believe it, that’s awesome!” he yelled. Eventually, he put her down and pulled her in for a kiss and Meg couldn’t get the image of his blissful response out of her head. Seeing how excited he was at the news made her just as happy and she was glad she no longer had to be afraid of what he thought. Turned out she was worrying for nothing because they wanted this. They were starting a family.

After they parted, she noticed in the corner of her eye that Jack was standing behind the sliding door and Alex turned around to glare at his friend. The others were also coming from the living room and stood behind him, obviously being just as nosy. Jack saw his face and slowly opened the sliding door, poking his head out.

“Uh, hi,” he said in a low voice. “I just, uh, came to check on you guys to see if you two were okay. Looks like you are.”

“We’re more than okay.” Alex looked at all of them with the biggest smile on his face and put his arm around Meg. “We’re going to have a baby.”

Everyone gaped at them while Dia was the first one to go up to them. “No way, that’s great!”

She hugged her sister and one by one they all got a hold of themselves and joined her in congratulating them yet again. Two big things had happened in the past twenty-four hours and as they hugged each other and went on and on about the future wedding and the fact that there was going to be a new addition to their little family, Alex and Meg weren’t sure how much happiness they could take. But it didn’t matter. They were perfectly fine with all of that because it was the happiest they ever were.

So far.