All of us were moving around the kitchen, trying to put everything together as fast as we could.

"Do you think we should have done this?" She huffed, leaning against the counter while I threw the oven mitts off.

"No," I mumbled, grabbing the tray and taking it to the dining table, setting everything up for the Christmas dinner.

"Exactly. Then please tell me why we're doing this," she laughed, helping me and setting all the glasses for each person.

"Because it's our first Christmas as a married couple and we're hosting dinner."

"We shouldn't be the ones hosting because this is our first Christmas as a married couple."

I sighed, glad that we set everything up before our families arrived. I turned to her, taking in her light, soft pink dress that had see-through mesh sleeves. "Because it's our first Christmas as a married couple, we should be the hosts. So we can celebrate Christmas and our recent wedding at the same time."

"Our wedding is more important than Christmas," she smirked. She enjoys winding me up, I just know she does.

I walked over, putting my hands on the chair she was leaning against, caging her in. "Of course our wedding is more important. But we didn't go big on it, now did we?"

She shook her head, grinning, and put her arms around my neck.

"So we're going big tonight."

"Hmm," she nodded. "Calling both our parents and then also the extended family. I'd say that's pretty big."

"We got married..."

"Six months ago."

"Ha, six months and twelve days," I smirked.

She chuckled, rolling her eyes, and pecked my lips.

Our relationship changed completely after we finally worked through my issues of commitment. I surprised myself in our relationship a lot. I stayed loyal the entire time, in fact, the thought of being or getting with another girl actually disgusted me instead of inviting me.

Indie and I kept our relationship quiet at first. Only Chloe and Caleb knew and that too because they were always around us. We didn't tell our families or anybody else either, and at parties or on campus, we would just act like we always did. Dare I say, we acted like friends. And then after one year, we became more publicly open and obvious with our relationship. Some people, mostly the people who knew me and Landon, were very surprised. Because they knew that she was his ex-girlfriend and I was his friend and the two of us didn't get along. But then we came out and said we were together.

During the summer break of our second year being together, we went to see my parents. Because my mom was coming home too and I really wanted Indie to meet her, I convinced Indie to come home with me that summer. And my mother absolutely loved her, as I expected, and Indie loves my mom too. In fact, Indie's been calling my mom 'mom' since we got engaged.

We waited eight months between our engagement and wedding. And even before that, at our graduation, everybody guessed that we would stay together.

I suppose it became obvious then that our relationship wasn't just a college romance that somehow ended up lasting throughout, but it was a full-blown, committed, serious relationship. I proposed to her when we went on a trip together to London. It was around the time that our college gave their fall break to the students and because we had just graduated that year, we both decided to plan a trip together and go.

London was picked with no apparent reason but it ended up being the best trip of my life when I proposed to her and she ended up saying yes. I didn't plan to propose on that trip, but just a few days into it, I wanted to. I knew that I would marry her, that much became obvious to me within the first year of our relationship.

But on that trip, I proposed impulsively. When she was sleeping in the middle of the night, I snuck out of our hotel and went to the nearest jewelry shop with the best reviews. There, I got her a ring, keeping her taste in mind. When I got back to the hotel that night, I found her wide awake. I remember it so damn vividly.

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

I winced and cringed as the door beeped with my key card. I quietly pushed the handle and then tiptoed into the room. I closed it behind me, holding my breath, releasing it when I saw that the room was still dark, which meant she was probably still sleeping. I started walking to the bed, freezing when she turned the lamp on.

She was sitting up against the headboard with her hair in a high ponytail and a pout on her face. She folded her arms across her chest, looking at me expectantly.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hi?" she asked incredulously. She huffed, looking at me sternly. "Where the hell were you in the middle of the night?"

"How are you awake?" I asked, shrugging my jacket off, knowing that the box was in my pocket and I was about to do it right now. I was going to propose in the middle of the night in our hotel room in London. Not what I had planned but I hate lying to her, which is also why I never do it unless it's a white lie, and that too if it's for a good reason.

Like giving her a surprise or buying her something behind her back. And if I couldn't lie, I would have to tell her that I went to buy a ring for her and she would figure it out. So I might as well surprise her and just propose right now.

"Reece, I'm asking you. Where were you?" she whined, throwing her arms up and letting them fall back into her lap.

"I went out," I mumbled, walking over to her and sitting by her legs.

"Out where? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you wake me up? We could have gone together," she frowned, sticking her bottom lip out. Still, my clingy girlfriend that I love.

"I went to buy something."

"Drugs?"

"What?"

"Cigarettes?"

"No," I laughed.

"Then why couldn't you just take me with you?" She kicked me gently.

"You were sleeping, I didn't want to disturb you so I just went by myself."

"Where?" she demanded. "Tell me where you went."

I watched her silently for a minute, smiling to myself before I pulled out the box. "To buy this."

"What's that?"

"A question in a box."

She frowned in confusion for a short while before her eyes lit up with realization and excitement. "If it's the question I think it is, I'm going to die."

"You won't."

"I might."

"No," I chuckled, opening it and showing her the ring.

She took in a sharp breath, staring at the ring. She grinned, "It's so pretty. But what are you doing?" She looked up at me.

"Marry me."

"Really? You're not drunk?"

I rolled my eyes while smiling and grabbed her waist, pulling her forward. "I'm not drunk. I'm as sober as I can be and I am asking you, Indigo Bloom Easton, to marry me. Will you marry me, Indie?"

She smiled and watched me quietly for a minute before sticking her hand out. "Of course, I'll marry you," she laughed.

I leaned forward and kissed her while pulling the ring out of the box. I slipped it onto her finger and then we both broke off the kiss, looking down at the ring that was sparkling on her finger.

"I love you," she sang, scooting even closer and throwing her arms around my neck, hugging me.

I put my arms around her waist and she didn't wait for a second to move closer and straddle me. I lay down and she fell on top of me, pulling away to look down at me. "Did you plan to propose on this trip?"

I shook my head. "I want to marry you, I've known that for a while. And this trip seemed like a really good opportunity to propose, I couldn't let it go to waste. It's just us, that's how I wanted it. And I'm sorry if you wanted a bigger proposal."

She shook her head, still grinning. "Are you crazy? No. I love that it's just us." She leaned in, kissing me again.

"I love you," I mumbled against her lips.

"I love you more," she chuckled.

Sometimes I fight her on that and say that I love her more. Sometimes I don't fight her on it. Because sometimes I think she's right. She really does love me more. She never left, always stayed, and she waited for me, no matter how long it took.

"I still love you though. More than anything," I whispered.

She smiled, her cheeks flushing pink before she hugged me again, burying her face in the crook of my neck.

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

The bell rang and we broke up the kiss, both of us sighing in disappointment. "Ready?" She sang, fixing my hair while I fixed hers.

"No, but yes."

She chuckled and then we went and answered the door, seeing that both our parents were here at the same time. "Merry Christmas!" They yelled in unison.

"Merry Christmas!" We laughed, stepping aside and letting them in, all of us exchanging hugs and greetings.

One Christmas down as a married couple, many more to go.

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