Emily nervously stands next to me. I look down at her and smile at how cute she looks right now.

"Don't worry, Sonnett" I tease her, rolling my eyes. "There's only Allie and Bati in here, nothing to worry about."

She nods. "You're right, let's go."

As I open the door, I hear screams and laughter, as well as some big other noises I don't recognize. What I recognize tho is my sister, her boyfriend, and... our dad. I freeze, and so does Sonnett when she realizes she obviously is going to meet the man that raised me when my parents died. Her facial expression makes her look like she's stuck in 'please smile don't start yelling and running away' mode, and her hands are shaking.

In a very courageous moment, and as Allie is making eye-contact with me to tell me to do something brave for once, I grab Emily's hand, and walk into the house. Bati closes the door after we get here. Emily looks like she's been trapped into a prison or something, as Tobias Long is slowly advancing toward us. I set my jaw, as he is smiling widely.

Allie hugs us both, before going to Bati's side. Tobias then looks at me with pride in his eyes, before they end up on Emily.

"Emily Sonnett"he lets out in a very deep voice. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, I've heard plenty about you."

I freeze. What the hell ? Her never talks like a Game Of Thrones character. Never. Allie starts laughing silently, as Bati and her can't hold it together and prefer to go in the kitchen to 'help' our dad. I can feel Emily tensing up ; meeting the parents has always been such a step into a relationship for her. I know that because she's always been terrified about even talking to Bati because he is 'like my brother'.

Nevertheless, she mans up and manages to say in a confident voice :

"I hope Lindsey said good things about me. She said good things about you, though. Pleased to meet you."

They shake hands, as I am frowning. Then, he hugs her, and I can see him whisper something into her ear, and when they separate from each other, Tobias winks at me.

"Now, we have guests" he announces.

We follow him to the kitchen.

I totally freeze when I see Emily's mother and sister. Emma immediately laugh at our reaction, in sync with Allie and Bati. The trio seem to have become such great friends in a very tiny period of time that ti's quite terrifying. Emma immediately hugs Emily, and then me, congratulating us for the win, before she leaves her place to her mother. Mrs Sonnett does look like Emily, now that I have her in front of me.

She hugs her daughter, and I can see tears filling her eyes. "I am so proud of you, Emily. I love you."

"I love you too, mom." Emily whispers, but she is looking at me.

When the two women pull away, Mrs Sonnett's eyes fall on me. I am ready for her usual smirking face and despising eyes, but all I see in them today is gentleness and shame. She takes a step further, and smiles shyly.

"I am sorry you saw the monster in me, Lindsey. And I am sorry I treated you badly when all you were trying to do was help my amazing daughter. You truly deserve her, and I am happy for the both of you." she says in one sentence.

I exchange a look with Emily, who nods. Mrs Sonnett gives me her hand to shake, and after a very tiny hesitation, I finally shake it with a confident smile on. What she said to Emily didn't lie : she really does love her. After the death of her husband and son, it's only natural something was off in her. But now that Emma is back, everything is okay again. I smile to Mrs Sonnett, who is waiting for me to say something.

I firmly grab Emily's hand in mine, and squeeze it.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything or anyone hurt her. She's, like, my national treasure." I joke, and the old lady smiles.

"Welcome to the Sonnett family, Lindsey" Emma yells from where she is. "Now, I'm so fucking hungry, can we please eat ?"

"Sure !" Allie exclaims, and we all burst into laughter.

I look at Emily, who seems to be concerned. When I give her a defying look, she only mutters :

"We'll go for a walk after dinner, and then I'll tell you what's on my mind."

I nod.

**

We are walking by the lake, hand in hand, star surrounding our pretty little world. I am looking down at her from time to time.

"When did you fall in love with me ?" she asks me, as she stops walking. When she sees me frown, she faces me and adds ; "I mean, the exact moment ?"

I shyly look at her. Oh my God, this is so embarrassing ! I shake my head, remembering that very special moment.

"Well... uhm, I guess..." I start, but then I know what moment really made me fall for her. "When you entered that classroom that day, I knew you were trouble."

She smirks. "Yeah, when our eyes met, something definitely happened. And then, we fell in love slowly. Remember how much you hated me in the beginning ?"

"I didn't hate you, I hated the way you made me feel" I correct her.

Her smile fades. "Past tense" she murmurs.

I shake my head, before my arms surround her waist, making her look at me in the eyes. "Present tense." I whisper, before closing the gap between us.

After a few seconds, she softly pushed me away. I know she was about to say something, and she hated the fact that every time she was trying to be serious, I'd mess up everything by kissing her or talking when I am not supposed to. Her smirking eyes are now on mine, taking over my whole world by storm.

She always has.

"Listen-" she starts in a way more serious tone, and I grown worry. Her lips are drown in a shy smile, as she continues : "I know you don't believe in fairy tales, but I do, and I truly believe you are mine. I am in love with you, Lindsey, and I can't imagine my life with you in it." This time, my heart is beating hella hard in my chest, and every hence of my body is vibrating as her words slowly make their effect. She grabs both my hands and caress them slowly. She then smiles a little wider. "And I believe you feel the same way."

I try to hold a scream back when I whisper ; "I do."

She burst into laughter. When I give her a questioning look, she only answers by saying in a very deep voice :

"Great, that would have been so embarrassing." My laugh joins hers, but only for a brief moment. She then pulls it together and goes on : "Anyway, I bought you something this morning before the game, and I wanted to tell you how beautiful, selfless and prefect you are by giving it to you, and asking you one question..."

As she searches into her pocket, I have a hard time swallowing my saliva. "Emily.." I start, worried that she might ask that question that soon.

"Don't worry grandma, I'm not gonna propose ! We're too young for that shit" she exclaims, and her laugh just warms my heart. I sigh out of relief, as she is making fun of me. She takes out a very tiny box, where a black ring lies in. She then puts it on my finger, as I realize she has one as well. I start frowning, and she smirks. "Lindsey, will you-"

"Still not a proposal ?" I ask, nervously laughing.

She rolls her eyes. "Shut up, I'm trying to be romantic. So, as I was saying-" She then takes a deep breath, and the words come naturally out of her mouth : "-will you be my official girlfriend ?"

"Wait" I cut her, frowning harder than before. "Wasn't I already your girlfriend ?"

Emily rolls her eyes. "Please, make an effort. We weren't officials. I'm asking you to be officials. What do you say ?"

"Mmh" I let out, knowing that she was dying from the inside. Emily really needs to hear things to believe they're real. Instead of answering, I only say : "I'll have to think about that... I mean, weighting the proms and cons, because you obviously are cute, but you're stubborn, annoying, and pretty-"

"Lindsey" she says, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course we can be officials, Em" I happily say, rolling my eyes at her, smirking.

She jumps into my arms, and I have enough strength to hold her up as she attacks my lips with hers. After a few minutes of kissing, I put her down, but she doesn't un-wrap her arms from around my neck. I lean in a final time to press my lips against hers, before diving into her diamond eyes.

I smile.

"I love you" I then whisper.

"I love you too, Lindsey."