We Change, We Wait

One Month Later

I woke up like any other morning and got ready. I spent the day watching movies and working on new material until around five thirty. Cage and I had decided to meet at a little diner for dinner at six. We had practice in three days but we had taken a week off while Tyler went to visit his family. I miss seeing them everyday, oddly enough, so Cage and I decided to hang out. When I got to the diner that night he was sitting in a corner. We sat and talked and laughed while we ate, it was a good time. Cage asked our waitress for the check and when she came back with it she turned to me.

“You’re Annie, right?” she asked with a smile.

“That’s me,” I nodded.

“I was told to give you this. Um, when you get done here open it,” she explained with a smile, handing me a small envelope. Annie was written across it in handwriting that I easily recognized as John’s. I smiled and shook my head. When Cage and I were done I hugged him and he left. I stayed sitting down and opened the envelope.

Meet me here, was written in the same hand as the front of the envelope. There was a picture of me and John two years ago. He had his arms around, pinning mine to my sides, and we were both smiling hugely. We were standing on the waterfront with our backs to the river. I smiled and went out to my car. It was a twenty minute drive to the river but it seemed shorter. It was dark when I pulled up and got out of my car to walk to the water. Garrett was there smiling at me and laughed when he saw my confused face. He handed me a cell phone, hugged me, and then left. I stared after him, dumbfounded, until the phone in my hand went off. I looked down and the screen read new message. I frowned and opened it, it was a video. I hit ok and the video started to play.

“Hey Annie, I know you were confused as hell when Garrett was there and not me but you’ll see me soon,” John promised. He was outside and the wind was blowing his hair in his eyes and it was still daylight, I smiled. He turned the phone around and my heart skipped a beat. “Remember how to get here? 8123 Skylar Avenue, see you soon, I love you,” he said and the video stopped with him smiling at me. I sighed and just looked out at the water for a minute. John and I came here after our very first date, that’s why he brought me here; at least I think it is. We had a lot of great times out here, with the guys, with just the two of us. This place meant a lot. I smiled and then went back to my car. I found the house easily and it was still abandoned. There were two strings of lights making a pathway around the house and to the backyard. I cut the engine and got out. I rounded the house and smiled when I saw him. He stood leaning against the tree under the old roofless tree house smiling at me. When I was about five feet away from him he pushed away from the tree and met me two feet away. He took me in his arms and kissed my lips.

“Got my video, huh?” he smirked. I rolled my eyes and hit his chest.

“What’s all this about John?”

“Come on,” he smiled; I sighed and followed him up into the open tree house. There was a blanket on the ground and candles on the floor. I smiled at the sight, John knew I loved candles. He sat down and reached in a paper bag on the floor next to him. He pulled out two cans of soda and handed one to me, I laughed a little bit and took it from him popping it open.

“You’re so cheesy, you know that right?” I laughed, he just smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, but you love it.”

“I do, very much,” I smiled. He leaned over kissed me. We sat and joked around for a little bit, like we always did when we were together. “Are you ever going to tell me why you brought me here?” I asked a little while later. It was around ten o’clock and the stars were shining.

“You don’t know what today is?” he asked.

“Should I?”

“If we hadn’t broken up, today would have been five years,” he murmured.

“You remembered that?” He nodded and I couldn’t help the flood of emotion that washed through me. I started to cry and I think that scared him. He pulled me over to him and cradled me to his chest.

“Honey, what’s wrong? Are you ok?” he asked anxiously.

“I’m fine, it’s just- I can’t believe you remembered that. It’s just really sweet is all,” I told him after I wiped my eyes.

“You scared me,” he laughed.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized and kissed his lips lightly.

“That’s not the only reason I brought you here,” he told me, I smiled signaling him to go on. “I was gonna take you out to this nice expensive restaurant on the waterfront but I canceled our reservations at the last minute. I wanted tonight to be special and I guess I though it would be more special if I took you to the places that actually meant something to us…” He took a deep breath and reached back into the paper bag behind him. He pulled something small out of it and closed his fist around it. “Annie, I love you more than anything else on the planet. I’ve lived without you and I don’t ever want to do that again.” He looked down at his hand and I followed his gaze. He had his hand open and lying in his palm was a little diamond ring. “Marry me, Annie?” he asked softly. I couldn’t make my mouth form words so I only nodded and cried as he slid the ring onto the third finger of my left hand… and then he was kissing me.

-

I woke up the sun shining hot on my bare back. I was laid across John’s chest and his arms were around me. Our legs were intertwined under the extra blankets that he’d brought. I took in a deep breath and lifted my head to look at him. His face was away from me but I knew he was still asleep. His mouth was open a little bit and his hair was a mess. I smiled and kissed his jaw where I could reach it. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second before opening them and smiling sleepily down at me. He ran his hand up and down my spine and I shivered a little. He bent his head to kiss my lips but his phone went off in the corner.

“Damn it,” he muttered and sighed heavily before reaching behind him to grab his phone. I rolled off his chest and pulled the blanket up under my arms. “What?” He was quiet for a few minutes listening to whoever it was talking. “Alright, we’ll be there at noon… Because we both need clothes and shit… Alright bye,” he spoke and then flipped his phone shut.

“Who was that?”

“Garrett, we’re going to his house at noon. All the guys are coming and your band too apparently. Tim and Eric have something to tell us,” he explained. I sighed and looked around for my clothes. We both got dressed and then got in my car because Garrett dropped John off last night. We went to my house first and I grabbed a change of clothes, then we headed over to John’s apartment. We both showered there and changed and such before heading to Garrett’s. We were late but so was Kenny so it didn’t really make a difference.

“Alright so we have super exciting news,” Garrett started. “Matt Flyzik just called and All Time Low wants The Maine and Midnight Sunrise to open for them on their next tour,” he told us.

“Holy shit that’s awesome! You better have told him yes!” I told Eric, he nodded with a huge grin.

“We all leave for tour in about three months,” Tim told us with a huge grin.

“I can’t wait,” I said excitedly. Looking around at the faces of my friends I knew they couldn’t wait either.