Two weeks after graduation, Shawn and I were on the tour bus going to my hometown to pick up some of my things before going to Canada for a little bit. I have decided to live with Shawn for the next couple of months, not permanently, but a period of time to allow us to decide if this is what we wanted. We agreed that we were going to buy a little house somewhere when the time was right.

I looked out the bus window, the expansive land rushing behind us into the little town that I have lived in my whole life. A knock on the door distracted me from my thoughts as I turned around to see who it was. Brian, Shawn's best friend, slowly poked his head into the room, raising his eyebrows. "Hey, Alana" He allowed himself further into the room, plopping himself onto the edge of the bed. "Where's Shawn?"

"Using the bathroom" I smiled, kindly at him. "What's up?" I said, sitting down on the blue couch under the window.

He nodded his head. "I just wanted to say goodbye to you two lovebirds before going back to Canada. Also, I just wanted to see how you're doing with all the change. Moving in with the idiot, marrying him, whatnot"

"I'm sorry. Did you say marrying him?" I asked, confused.

Something changed in Brian after I said this, mainly his facial expression, almost as if he were hiding something. There was a short pause until he pointed. "That ring on your finger. Isn't it an engagement ring?" He scratched the back of his head.

I looked down at my left finger, the diamond sparkling under the light coming from the window. "This?" I lifted up my hand to show him. "This is the promise ring. I thought I told you when you asked the first time"

"Oh. I must have forgot. I uh. Have to go. Have a great rest of your day" He said this quickly, jumping up from the bed and running out of the room.

I turned off the light switch, before opening the door and walking out of the bathroom, my towel draped over my t-shirt covered shoulder. I was soon hit by a large figure that was running towards me at full speed. I stumbled back a bit but the figure, Brian, fell to the floor.

"What the hell, man?" I outstretched my hand for him to take. He took it, getting up, and scratching the back of his head.

"You didn't propose to Alana yet?"

"No. I told you yesterday that I had a plan that was going to go into effect tomorrow"

He gave me a guilty look. My eyes widened as I said, "You didn't mention it, did you?"

"I uh. May have said something"

"Brian!"

"It's fine though. I covered it up, she has no idea"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive" His voice hitched. "Either way, I think you should go in there and convince her otherwise"

"Yeah" I nodded my head, walking towards the room's door. "No worries" I walked to the door at the end of the hall, slowly opening it to reveal Alana on the bed, scrolling on her phone. She looked up from the screen and smiled at me. "Hey, lovebug"

"I swear you give me a new nickname every week" I smiled at the name she gave me.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm trying things out. Which ones are your favorites?"

"Hmm" I thought a little to myself. "I have to go with the classic, love. I also like handsome, silly goose, muffin, the list goes on and on"

She chuckled as I sat down at the foot of the bed. "I saw that Brian went in here?"

"Yeah. He did. It was pretty weird. He wanted to say goodbye to us before he left. And he also wanted to see how I was doing, with everything changing and all"

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah. It was funny. He thought we were getting married because of the ring on my finger. But he knew that it was a promise ring so I don't know why he said that"

I scrunched my eyebrows together, trying to act casual. "You know Brian. He was out late last night. Probably still hungover"

"Oh" She said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Yeah, I guess that's it" She looked down at her phone, looking at her wallpaper, a picture of her and I on one of the beaches in Hawaii. Her eyes widened along with her smile. She looked over at me, delight displayed on her face.

"What is it, honey?"

"Do you know what day it is today?"

"I may have a small idea" I smiled.

"And that is?"

"A year since the day we first met?"

Her smile doubled in size as she outstretched her arms, motioning me to go to her. I placed myself into her arms as she placed her chin on top of my head, moving her fingers through my hair, then moved her right hand to my cheek lifting it up to face her. I leaned forward, placing a kiss onto her nose.

"Can you believe that it's been a whole year?" She said.

"It honestly has only felt like a couple of weeks. Which reminds me that tomorrow is the anniversary of the day you first took me out on a date"

She snorted. "That wasn't a date"

"Uh. Yeah it was"

"No it wasn't. It was literally me showing you around the city. And I know for a fact that it wasn't a date because our first date was after your concert in Oakland"

My eyebrows lifted. "Oh. Right. Anyways, I have a plan tomorrow to celebrate"

"Really?" She said, intrigued and excited.

"Mhm. We're going to replicate the first time you took me out, getting ramen, coffee, sitting at that random park with the garden and the gazebo"

Her face lit up with excitement. "I can't wait!"

The Next Day . . .

I knocked on the bathroom door, trying to get Shawn's attention. "Shawn! What's taking you so long?" Silence. Then the sound of the doorknob moving. The door opened and there stood Shawn, in a Harvard hoodie and black pants, with a gold face mask on.

I snorted, enlightened by his appearance. "What?" He asked.

"I hate to interrupt your spa day but we need to get ready to go, the restaurant is opening soon"

"But I just put this on" He pouted.

I jokingly pouted along with him, going on my tip toes to wrap my arms around his neck. "Aww, my princess. Your face mask can wait"

Shawn rolled his eyes, pulling away to go to the bathroom counter, and took off his face mask. "Alana. As I've said a million times before, face masks are also manly things"

"Alright, alright. I understand. Can we please just go in the car?"

"Wait. I need to change"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What's wrong with what you're wearing right now?"

"It's not formal enough" He said, going to my closet and grabbing a white velvet shirt.

"We're going to a little ramen shop. It's not like we're going to the Met Gala"

He looked at me as if I were insane. "Today is a special day, honey. I want to dress for the occasion"

I looked down at what I was wearing, casual jeans and a hoodie. "Now you're making me feel underdressed" I walked over next to him, grabbing a black bodysuit and my black, red and white striped flowy dress pants.

Shawn wrapped his bare arms around me, swiftly lifting me up and twirling me. "You look perfect just the way you are. You don't need to change"

He put me down, smiling down at me, then put on his clothing.

After five minutes, Shawn and I successfully made it into the car and on the freeway. I brought my hand to the cup holder, grabbing my phone, and passing it to Shawn. "Since you're the guest" I said, keeping my eyes on the road. "would you like the honors of picking the music?"

"I'd be honored to" He grabbed the phone from my hands, turning it on and scrolling through my music. "Alana?"

"Hmm?" I asked, taking a quick glance at him.

"Where's the 'A Wholesome Bean' Playlist?"

I smiled, mostly to myself. "It should be under My Wholesome Bean"

"Ahh" I felt his smile by the tone of his voice. He pressed shuffle and 'Where Were You in the Morning' began playing.

"You said I wanna get to know ya" He sang.

"Why you gotta get my hopes up" I sang along.

We spent the next hour like this, singing his songs and screaming the lyrics. We finally got to our destination, the small ramen restaurant we all know and love. I turned off the engine of the car and we walked in, being greeted by one of the waitresses.

"How many?"

"Two, please" I said to her, looking around the room and seeing that the booth Shawn and I sat at last time was unoccupied. She started leading us to a different table until I said, "Would it be okay if we sat over there?" I pointed to the booth next to the big window.

"Of course" She smiled, leading us to the table. We sat down and started looking at the menu. "Same thing?" Shawn looked at me from the top of his menu.

"Mhm" I was going to get the spicy pork-based soup with vegetables, meat, and noodles. Shawn, was going to get the same meal but without the spice. We ordered our food and waited for it to arrive. I placed my elbow on the table, resting my head on my right hand. Shawn motioned for my other arm.

I extended it and he placed his right hand on top of my left. "I love you"

"I love you more" I smiled at him. He started twisting my promise ring, watching it shine due to the sun coming through the window. I watched him in awe, relaxation shown on his face. He stared up at me and grinned. "What is it?" He asked.

"Huh?" I asked, being taken out of my trance.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're watching your son walk for the first time"

I chuckled at his comment. "I'd like to think that I'm watching my handsome boyfriend being in a calm environment where he doesn't have to worry about other people watching"

He squeezed my hand then brought it to his lips. The moment was broken though when I heard giggling at the table next to ours. "Spoke too soon?"

He snorted, nodding his head. "Maybe just a little"

I looked over at the noise and saw that it was the same exact girls from last year. I looked back at Shawn and saw that he was standing up. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"I. Am going to the bathroom"

"No. Not this again" I pleaded. "They were really annoying last time" I whisper yelled.

"We want to recreate today, right?"

I took a deep breath, shaking my head. "Fine. Go ahead"

He smirked, seeing that he got his way, and walked towards the bathroom. I took a sip of my water, waiting for the girls to say something. I was looking out the window until the same girl who asked me to give her number to Shawn last time, sat down on the booth across from me.

"Hi" She said, her voice abnormally high-pitched.

"Hi" I replied, throwing her a smile.

"What a coincidence that we are at the same restaurant around the same time. Am I right?"

"Yup" I nodded my head.

"So. I see that you never gave Shawn my number. And you guys are dating, right?"

I nodded my head some more. "Yeah. We are dating. And no. I did give him your number"

"Then why didn't he ever call me? I mean, not to be rude or anything but. I think I'm way more prettier than you"

"Oh" I said, shocked by her boldness. "I don't know"

"Hm. Well. You should do me a favor and put his number on my phone" She slid her phone towards me, accidentally showing me her lock screen. It was one of Shawn's pictures from his Calvin Klein campaign.

She quickly got her phone, unlocking it. "Oops. Sorry about that"

"Nice wallpaper" I smiled, finding humor in her choice to have him displayed on her phone.

"Thanks" She gave me a fake smile. "I need any chance I get to see Shawn in only his underwear" She handed me the phone and opened to a new contact.

I grabbed it and mumbled, "And I get to see him without it"

"I'm sorry. What was that?"

I moved my eyes away from the screen, raising them. "Oh. It's nothing" I put in a fake number onto her phone and handed it back.

"Thank you so much" She said, standing up and going back to her friends.

Shawn came back minutes later, in time for our ramen noodles to arrive. "So. How was it?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"You really want to know?"

"Of course" He nodded his head. I told him the story and he laughed the whole time.

"You just love seeing me suffer, don't you?"

"No. Of course not. You just always have the best fan experiences"

"Yeah. I guess. I just hate how they think that I don't exist. Like I'm not your girlfriend. Like I'm just someone who holds your hand for a living"

"You're jealous"

"I am not jealous" I snapped back at him.

He smirked. "You're jealous. You're jealous that girls constantly look at me and you don't have control over it"

"I'm not"

"You are" He chuckled.

I looked at him taking a bite out of my noodles. "Okay. Maybe I'm a little jealous"

"You're cute" He squished my cheeks with his left hand. "There's no reason for you to be. Besides, like you said, you get to see me without the underwear" He winked at me with his right eye.

I playfully punched his arm. "Shhh. We're in public" We continued to eat our soup and talked about how much our lives have changed in the past year, reminiscing the old times and the new.