“I like it.”
“That I’m a stalker?” I laughed at him. My hands rested on his chest and then my forehead followed. His arms were wrapped around me tightly, not letting go, even though I wanted to run from the shame that was screaming inside of me.
“Are these it?”
His voice was low now and his question strained, like he had to know everything about these photos. There was one more photo, though, but I didn’t want to tell him about it, but it was either now, or sometime later when Chase wanted to go upstairs to my room.
“There’s one more,” I whispered my words into his chest. I pushed away from him, placing my hands in my pocket, hunching my shoulders forward in a way to put up some sort of wall between us. I shouldn’t be ashamed of it, especially with how open Chase and I were together. We had no boundaries and said and did what we wanted to. It was like we were one soul together, rather than two hearts living as one. It felt like the years we weren’t together hadn’t even happened, but this photo that was in my room was the epitome of those lost years.
“Show me.”
Chase was still standing in front of me. His features were pulled tight on his face as a smirk graced his lips. He could tell I was uncomfortable, but that wasn’t stopping him from getting what he wanted. I grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs, steering him in the direction toward my room. My hand rested on the doorknob, and I hesitated. Once I opened this door, that was it, everything was all out there.
The door hinge creaked with how slow I pushed the door open. I flipped the light switch and pulled Chase inside. I knew he saw it the second the lights turned on. He stood at the end of my bed, having released my hand. I stood behind him as I watched him stare at the photo canvas above my bed, a young Chase staring back at us.
Chase turned to look at me, an unknown look in his eyes. Moisture filled my own, but I straightened myself and cleared my throat, not letting him see how much this moment affected me.
“Peaches.” My nickname floated off his lips and I took a step toward him, reaching my hand out to his. His fingers intertwined with mine and Chase pulled me toward him, my chest slamming against his and his lips crashing to mine. The kiss was fast but said everything I needed to hear. He loved this. He loved all of this that involved us and I melted instantly into him, all worry gone out the window. “Marry me.”
I pulled back from Chase slowly, shock running through my whole body at his sudden words. My eyes were wide as they stared Chase down, thinking I might not have heard him correctly.
“What?”
“You heard me.” Chase tightened his arm around my waist and pulled me back against him. He was calling my bluff, but still repeated himself. “Marry me.”
This time after he said the words, my heart melted and so did I. My body relaxed into his and I swooned at the way his lips curled up in a smile because he knew I couldn’t say no, but I had to. We had only just been together for a month.
We needed more time.
Didn’t we?
“Chase.” I placed a hand on his chest, but didn’t push him away. “Let’s be realistic.”
“I am.”
“We’ve only been together one month.”
“But our souls have been together a lifetime.”
I placed a hand over my mouth as the tears that had been forming before pooled over and spilled down my cheeks. He was right. In my heart I knew his words were the truest I had ever heard. That no matter how long Chase and I had spent apart growing up, our souls had somehow stayed together.
“What if I’m willing to compromise?” he questioned me.
I lowered my hand, ready to listen to whatever Chase had to say.
“I promise to do a proper proposal one day. When we decide to tell everyone in our lives, but when you’re with me, peaches, you’re my wife. In all ways. Paper or not.”
“Wife.” The word felt foreign against my lips.
“Wife,” Chase whispered the word against my lips, before seizing them with his own. My hands wrapped around his neck, pulling me closer to him, deepening the kiss until Chase had to pull away first, his panting breaths matching my own.
“Let’s order pizza and head downstairs before I get any other ideas.” It felt like Chase was trying to tell himself the game plan he had for the night, rather than tell me what he wanted to do. Chase ordered the pizza for us and I grabbed a random DVD and popped it in. It really didn’t matter what was on the television, because as long as I was with Chase, I knew it would be a good night.
Just as he landed on the couch next to me, my phone buzzed on the coffee table. I snatched it up, seeing a text from Lilly.
“I need to call Lilly real quick,” I told Chase immediately after checking the message.
“Everything okay?”
