"Marry me Jayla Lynn. I love you and I've known that since the first time I saw you sitting in that lecture room a year ago. This past year has been the best year of my life. You have made me life better, you have made me a better person. If you agreed to marry me, you'd make me the happiest man on earth." Will said getting down on one knee. I shook my head tears streaming down my face. I pulled him up and wrapped me arms around his neck. He moved so he could slip the ring on my finger. It was absolutely beautiful. I kissed him.

I heard clapping and cheering erupt all around us and I broke the kiss feeling my cheeks heat up. Chelsea came over to me and we squealed and she threw her arms around me. "You're getting married!" She screamed. "I'm getting married!" I screamed back. People around us laughed and we did too. My parents came over along with his to congratulate us and give each of us a hug. The group of people started intermixing and talking. Ben and Lexie came over when our parents walked away to go talk to the grandparents. Lexie was grinning from ear to ear. She threw her arms around me. "I'm so excited! I don't have to keep it a secret anymore!" She said happily. "You knew?" I asked surprised. She nodded. "Me and Chelsea helped Will set the whole thing up." She said with a wink. "Well thank you!" I exclaimed. She hugged Will as he came over to where we were talking. Ben walked forward towards me with a smile but I knew Ben's real smile and I knew this wasn't it. "Congratulations Jay." He whispered wrapping his arms around me. I wrapped my arms around him. "Thank you." I answered. "I see you still have your necklace." He said softly sounding surprised. "Yeah..I never take it off." I croaked. He kissed my cheek letting me go and moving to shake Will's hand in congratulations.

Some more people came to congratulate us and look at the ring. I didn't really pay attention. The rest of the night I spent sharing looks with Ben from across the room. Once it felt like we had talked to everybody here at least once we moved from the center of the patio and went over to the deck to grab some drinks and I found a spot on the swing to sit. One of Will's friends from college caught him and he was now off somewhere with them. My grandma came over and sat down beside me on the swing. We sat in silence for a few minutes before she spoke. "Will is a nice boy." She said. I nodded in agreement. "He's a nice choice for a husband. Comes from a respectable family, promising career in business, and he's pretty nice on the eyes." She went on. "Yeah he is. He's great." I answered taking a sip of my wine. She turned to look at me. "Then why aren't you happy baby?" She asked. I looked over at her and knew there was no sense in lying she knew the truth before I told her. "There's someone else." She answered for me. I looked away from her ashamed. "There's the idea of someone else." I answered still not looking at her. She gave a slight nod. "Are you sure about the wedding?" She asked. I looked back up at her. "I love him gram I really do. Like you said he'll make a fine husband." I answered unsure. "Oh I'm sure he will, but is he right for you?" She asked. I shrugged. "Sometimes that isn't all that matters grandma." I answered quietly looking out into the backyard filled with our family and friends. My eyes locked with Ben's but I quickly looked away.

"Oh honey that's everything. Don't marry this boy to make everyone else happy. Marry him because you can't imagine a world where you and him aren't together." She said. Tears filled my eyes and I looked back at Ben letting a tear slip from my eye. I quickly wiped it away. "Grandma I'm happy...I really am." I tried to sound sure and steady, but I could tell I didn't at all. She patted my leg before getting up and walking away. I saw Ben start to head towards me. "Hey you. I was wondering where you got off too." Will said walking up to me. I faked a smile. "Just sitting here taking it all in." I answered trying to recover and steady my voice. "Are you okay babe?" He asked sounding worried. I nodded and smiled. "Yeah I'm fine." I answered trying to sound convincing. He nodded clearly not believing me. "You wanna get out of here?" He asked sticking his hand out. I nodded and took it getting up. I grabbed my wine glass and started towards the end of the deck and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Ben standing at the bottom of them. He stopped to look at me. I let my glass slip from my hand. Will scrambled to clean it up but I didn't even notice. My hand instinctively found my necklace and wrapped it's fingers around the heart and rubbed my thumb across the engraving on the back. "I'll be right back." I mumbled to Will and headed off of the deck and made my way through the clusters of people and made it out and walked around the house into the front yard. I found myself sitting on the front steps of the porch. Ben walked up and sat beside me a few minutes later. "I love you." He whispered. "I can't." I whispered back my voice breaking tears falling from my eyes. My throat burned like I had just downed a bottle of tequila.