Chapter Thirty-Five

Movie Night

Ryan was recovering very well and the nurses said that he would be back to his normal self in two to three weeks. But until then we should be taking advantage of his lack of sarcasm and his quietness before he fully comes to. I laughed at the thought. Ryan was another person when he was quiet and non-sarcastic. It was funny to me.

"What is my lovely fiancee laughing at?" Chris asked moving closer to me on the couch.

"Just something about Ryan"

"He looks awful. I mean I looked amazing while I was in the hospital"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night"

"Well you help me sleep at night so what's your point?" he smirked with a stupid grin on his face.

"Stop trying to make yourself look attractive it's not working"

"You are gonna get it now Nicole" he threatened jokingly as I sprang from the couch and began trying to run away from him.

He caught me easily and began tickling my sides.

"Chris!! Stop!! You know I'm ticklish!!" I screamed/laughed.

"Hence why I do it" he said while bringing his hands away from my sides and making a dumb hand gesture.

When he did this, I quickly jumped up and ran out the front door and into the backyard which happened to be a few yards from the beach. I ran out to the shoreline and ran along it with Chris hot on my heels. I felt his strong hands on my waist and his touch still gave me butterflies. He yanked me back and continued to tickle me. I kicked my legs and flailed my arms in the air which did nothing for me. When I had finally stopped laughing, Chris turned me around in the air and brought me to his chest in a tight, warming hug. I loved his hugs. He could completely enclose me from the world around us and make me forget about any issue or problem I'm having.

He set me down and walked into the water a little bit. Since I was wearing shorts, I wasn't going to get my clothes wet or anything so I followed him. He stopped when the water was about halfway up his calves but of course, was up to my knees. He held out his hand and I took it gladly. He put his free hand on my waist and I put my free hand on his shoulder. We began happily dancing in the ocean water. It was one of those things that you see in a movie but you never expect anyone to actually do it in real life. I laughed with him as our clothes were pretty much soaked at this point. We weren't slow dancing. We were jumping around like crazy people during happy hour. Chris dipped me a little too far and my hair was submerged in the water. I screamed slightly at the cold water on my head but quickly grew used to it. We danced for probably a half hour before we decided that we should go back home. But before he could get far, I snuck up behind Chris and shoved him; causing him to fall into the cold water. He screamed a little before yanking me down with him. I shrieked and immediately began shivering. He pulled me into his arms and attempted to warm me up. He rubbed my arms but it wasn't doing much. After I was finally used to the cold, we sat in the waves in comfortable silence. I was leaning my back up against his chest and he rested his chin on the top of my head. He now had his arms behind him for support but the water seemed to be getting warmer as time went on.

My mind wandered to my dad. He still wasn't home. I tried calling him and he never answered. I left him a ton of messages but he never replied. His things were gone. He apparently had time to get them since we had stayed the night at the hospital with Ryan. He left us. Again. How could I think that he wouldn't? People don't exactly change. Even if it had been nine years. How could I have thought that I had my daddy back? Maybe it was the speech he made the night Chris and I announced our engagement. "Rebecca brought us back together again and I couldn't be more grateful for that." What a load of crap that was. I don't know why he could've come back if he didn't care about mum or I in the first place. Get my hopes up and lie to me all for a silly game he plays. Whatever. I had made it through half my life without him what's another seventy years to me right? I thought he had changed, but it turns out he is still the same sick person he was nine years ago.

Chris must have felt me tense up because before I knew it, I was wrapped up in his familiar arms again. I know I'm only twenty and I just got engaged but, I'm engaged to the one I love. It isn't some shotgun wedding we are going to have, it's going to be what a wedding should be. Two people announcing their love and commitment to each other in front of their family and friends. I know that I'm young and Chris is only twenty-two but, we share a love that rarely happens. Where we literally cross oceans for the other because we can't imagine life without them. They're all you have. They're your family, your rock, your soulmate, the one who keeps you going when you want to fall. He's my everything and all that I have. Without him, I would have nobody. Lena and Kara are gone, I never would have met Addison or Ryan, Kyle is dead and frankly, Jay probably would have killed me by now. As much as I may have saved him, he saved me from much much worse.

"Let's go back home honey" Chris whispered bringing me away from my wandering thoughts.

Before I said anything, I kissed him. With all of the strength and love I had in me, I kissed him. His hand moved from my waist to the back of my neck and the other on the small of my back as I held my hands on either side of his face. We pulled away and I wrapped my arms around his neck holding him close. He fully wrapped his arms around my waist.

A tear slipped down my cheek at the thought of living without him. It sounds immature I know, but it scared me. Jay would've either had his way with me or killed me trying. I would have no one, literally no one.

We stayed like that for what felt like forever, but in a good way. I gave him a quick kiss and stood up. I took his hands and attempted to help him up which, as per usual did not work. He stood and wrapped his warm hand around my cold one and we walked back to the house together. It was getting late, so we just decided to put in some movies and enjoy each others company. After we got changed of course.

I was freezing cold again as soon as the night air hit me so Chris got me some comfy yoga pants and one of his sweatshirts to wear and I went to have a shower. He went down to the other bathroom and showered as well. I must have stayed in the hot shower for forty minutes before I decided to get out. I reached outside of the shower curtain and grabbed my towel quickly making sure not to let any cold air in. I dried off and put on the clothes Chris had gotten me. Why were men's sweaters so much warmer than women's?? It's really not fair.

I headed to my room after hanging my wet clothes on the side of the bathtub to get a pair of my fuzzy socks. I walked out of the bathroom door to see Chris standing picking through his drawer with nothing but a towel around his waist. His hair was only slightly wet unlike mine which was tied into a wet bun on top of my head. I walked over to him, needing to get into that dresser as well, and wrapped each of my arms around his. His tense arms relaxed and I kissed his shoulder, where his scar happened to be. He turned around and hugged me and I saw the slightest bit of the scar on his hip. I moved the towel a little and revealed the entire thing. It was fading, but it was still a bad scar. I ran my finger along it a few times.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" I asked snuggling into his chest.

"Because I didn't want you to shut me out like Addison did three years ago" he sighed.

"Oh" I said. I reached into the dresser drawer and pulled out a Hollister hoodie and a pair of sweats.

"Wear these and we can be bums together" I laughed.

"Okie dokie" he giggled. I gave him a quick peck before grabbing my socks and heading downstairs to get the first movie set up.

I grabbed Bambi and put it into the DVD player. A while back I went out with mum and we bought all of the old Disney movies on DVD we could find. We had them all on video but our VCR broke and they were hard to find. So, we bought about fifty Disney DVDs and I never regretted spending about three-hundred dollars on those movies.

Chris came waltzing down the stairs just as I was walking back to the couch. He plopped into the corner of my L-shaped couch and patted the spot beside him. I grabbed the remote and walked over to him. I lied down and rested my head and the top of my shoulders in his lap. He had one arm playing with my hair and the other on the back of the couch behind me. He took my hair out of its bun and continued playing with it as the movie started. Bambi was one of my favourite Disney movies. The animals were absolutely adorable.

"Hey Chris" I said looking up at his now sideways face.

"Yeah darlin?" he asked looking down at me. It had been a while since he called me that and I had missed it.

"Can you find me Thumper? I want him for a pet" I smiled at him.

"I'll see what I can do alright?"

"Okay" I said childishly and we continued to watch the movie in silence.

After it was done, I put in Chris's pick Peter Pan which happened to be another one of my favourites. Well, they were all my favourite.

"Good pick honey" I said putting the DVD into the player.

"Thanks. It's my favourite Disney film" he smiled.

"I couldn't pick just one favourite but this is definitely one of them" I said as I made my way back to the couch. We resumed our positions and watched the movie. Disney had a special ability to make every single one of the good characters absolutely adorable and every villain make you want to kill them.

We watched Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians, Babes in Toyland, Mary Poppins, and another one of my top five Disney movies the Jungle Book.

By then it was about three in the morning and Chris and I just decided to camp out on the couch. I ran to my room and grabbed a fuzzy blanket and was walking downstairs when I stopped in front of mum's room. I walked in and grabbed the blanket I had got her for her birthday one year. I held it close to me as I walked back downstairs. I gave Chris my blanket and I used mum's. It smelled like her and I loved it. I just held it tight to my chest before Chris clued in as to who's blanket it was.

"Aw darlin" he sighed "c'mere" he patted my spot.

I sat on the other side of him right up against the back of the couch on the other side of the L. I moved the pillow behind me to give me a little more room and I snuggled into Chris's side. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer so my head was on the inside of his shoulder and my stomach to his side. I moved around a little and brought my legs closer to my chest. Chris grabbed under my knees and pulled my legs across his stomach. He rested his other hand on top of my legs with his one hand still on my hip, holding me close to him. I grabbed mum's blanket and spread it over the two of us. Now I smelled a mixture of mum and Chris which comforted me and caused me to quickly doze off.

"I love you" I whispered before I fell asleep.

"I love you too baby doll" he replied kissing my forehead.

I smiled and lifted my head from his shoulder. I lovingly kissed him once again. I pulled away but Chris pulled me back and kissed me a second time. This time, I felt it in my toes. I smiled and pulled away, resuming my original position on his shoulder. Chris and I fell asleep not long after that, safely in each other's arms.

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Aw this chapter is so cute. I loved writing it.

What do you think about Everett leaving again? Good or bad?

Tell me in the comments and don't forget to vote as well!!

Happy reading!

Eagle_Eye_13 xx