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My heart was beating out of my chest and even though I didn't show it on the outside, every part of my body on the inside was squirming around and turning.

"My intrusive thoughts are speaking to me again." Thalia says, fisting her hands to her sides.

"What are you thinking?" I ask her, trying to act how I usually would.

I didn't realize before how real what I was about to do actually is, I was more nervous of what she'd say.

"To stick my head out the window while you drive at full speed." She tells me, I think that's just her way of thinking and not the intrusive thoughts she says it is.

"Go ahead. If you want your head chopped off by a truck." I don't hold back on the details just to refrain her from even thinking about sticking her head out the window.

"Well when you put it that way, I don't wanna do it anymore." She slouches in her seat.

"But then again if I did get my head chopped off we wouldn't be able to make out like we just did back at that parking lot." She thinks out loud, smirking at me.

"Think about that whenever your intrusive thoughts take over." I tell her and she nods, agreeing with me.

"Okay, I will." She taps her fingers on her lap as she looks out the window. Shortly free she's putting her right arm out the window, she couldn't stay still to save her life.

The sound my phone makes of a new notification gets her attention and she reaches for my phone in the cup holder before I could even do anything about it.

"Why is Duke blowing up your phone?" She asks, her brows furrowed in curiosity.

I try snatching it away from her as I try keeping my eyes on the road at the same time but she moves her hand back.

"Thalia." My voice comes out more annoyed than I intended. I'm just nervous and her being so close to finding out why isn't helping me.

"Heather." I'm sure she only calls me this to annoy me. It works but I'll let it pass today.

I reach for the phone again at a red light and manage to snatch it out of her hands. I look down at my phone only to see Dukes dumbass texting me every five minutes.

I told the idiot not to until after I texted him first but he just doesn't listen to me. I already have one person in my life that doesn't listen to me, I don't need two.

Did the mission happen yet?

Did you ask her yet?

Dude, are you not understanding my secret code? Did you propose yet?

Answer

Alright, I get it.

Send a 1 if she says yes or a 2 if she said no.

3 is for she pointed and laughed at your face in front of everybody and left you in the middle of no where, stealing all your money.

I manage to quickly read through all of his messages and I roll my eyes before turning it off and putting my phone back in my pocket. He better hope Thalia didn't read any of that or I swear I'll kill him when I see him.

My eyes focus back on the road and I think to myself while driving before realizing it was too quiet in a car Thalia was in. I look over at her only to see her biting her lip and side eyeing me,

"So... what did Duke want?" She asks again and I make something up to tell her.

"He wants us to bring him a souvenir." I lie. I can only assume she believed it because she remains quiet the rest of the way there.

By the time we arrive at the restaurant, the sun was setting just as I had guessed it would. Thalia basically jumps out of her seat when she sees her surroundings. I watch her reaction before doing anything else.

I didn't drive all this way for nothing, the least I can do is take time to watch her reaction unfold. This took months of planning and it's been shit trying to keep a secret from her, that and not letting anyone else spoil the secret for her.

"It's on a beach?!? You didn't tell me that part." She's left completely stunned as she walks around the car, staring contently at the orange sunset across the large ocean.

"Come on, I want to show you something else." I nod my head motioning for her to follow me and luckily she does with a smile on her face.

She reaches for my hand which after a year with her in my life, I've grown to love that simple gesture. It makes me feel comfortable and safe.

"Are you feeling okay?" She stops, pulling my arm and looking up at me.

"Yes, why?" I look down at her.

"Your hand is sweaty." She chuckles lightly. I was feeling anxious before and I was gripping tightly onto the wheel I'm not surprise it's fucking sweaty now.

"Yeah, I'm hot." I tell her and she shrugs it off not putting anymore thought into it before gripping my hand and walking with me.

I take her inside the restaurant, it was much better to look at in person. There were lights everywhere there could be on the outside and inside, white decorated the walls in the inside and it had an elegant vibe to it.

"I feel like I'm rich being here, little do these people know I've got $30 in my bank account after this trip." She whispers in my ear and laughs at herself.

"It's so pretty in here. You always know the perfect spots." She comments.

"We're not eating here." I tell her, making her confused.

"Oh" she says. I let go of her hand for a second to talk with one of the waiters and shortly after we're following behind the waiter up a flight of stairs.

"Y'know I liked the downstairs area but I'm sure wherever you're taking me is-" she stops talking once she takes in everything in front of her.

"Yeah, this place is so much better." She tells me, happily swinging out interlocked hands together.

I purposely asked for the roof because it's obviously the best view to the sunset and ocean, which I know Thalia loves. And I had to get everything she loves in one place for her tonight.

Me and sunsets.

I'm sure there's more things to her lists of things she loves but the most important one is here so she'll love it either way. Luckily Thalia wasn't hard to impress and would simply appreciate the gesture but I love her and I want to give her the best.

The young waiter walks towards the table for two and proceeds to pull out a chair for Thalia even though nobody told him to. Thalia takes her seat and smiles politely as she thanked him.

I roll my eyes and glare at him as he walks to the corner of the roof and places his hands together, standing there. Clearly he couldn't take a fucking hint because this was a dinner for two.

"If there is anything else you will need, please do not hesitate to ask me. Enjoy." His Italian accent was peaking through, I thought this would make him walk away but he just stood there closer than before.

"K. Bye." I shoo him away, being the most polite I could without having Thalia scold me for it later.

"Ciao." The waiter says bowing lightly before looking at Thalia then back at me.

"Ciao Javier!" Thalia waves goodbye to him until he's out of view.

"Did he tell you his name?" I confront her when he's gone.

"No, he had a name tag on." She said carelessly. If she doesn't care, I really shouldn't either.

"Oh my god, I think he was flirting with me though." She slammed her hands on the table, without meaning too as she leaned over to tell me.

This gets my attention and I completely listen and wait for her to tell me what he did.

"He pushed my chair out for me. And then he said 'you're welcome' when I thanked him. Can you believe that?" She gasps dramatically before laughing.

I roll my eyes at her, realizing she's teasing me.

"You're joking." I nod my head, she was making fun of me for having an attitude with him.

"Nah, he wanted me so bad." She giggled and I watched her laugh.

"Stop." I tell her before I end up actually getting mad at the guy who was actually innocent in all this.

"Fine. But only cause I want to." She tilts her head, staring at me now.

I'm the one being stared at now and although I used to feel uncomfortable at the fact that she'd stare, I fell in love with that too. Because the look on her face when she'd stare at me was enough to tell me how she felt about me.

I like to think that her eyes sparkle more and her whole face completely changes when she stares at me, I also like to think to myself that it's because she sees something beautiful in me that one day I'd like to see too.

I haven't gotten too far in that aspect but I've gotten closer to the point where I don't pick at everything I used to hate about myself. She's helped me with that every time she tells me she loves something about me.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask her, letting my curiosity get the best of me and ask my wonders.

"Just about how perfect you are. I like that I got to see you grow for the better. I like seeing you happy. I love it, actually."

"Because you deserve it." This wasn't the first time she's said that to me and I appreciate that it wasn't the first or the last because little does she know how much I need to remember that.

"I used to think I didn't deserve to be happy. But then I met you and you showed me how beautiful life can be when you live it happy." I wasn't expecting to open up so early into our dinner but it was actually perfect timing.

She's silent for a while as she stares at me but then she turns her head to face the beach and she stares at the colors of the sky.

"Did I ever tell you why I love sunsets?" She asks me, leaning into the table as if she was about to tell me a big secret.

I shake my head no, I'm completely ready to listen to her reason wondering why something so simple as the colors of the sky is on the top of her love list.

"Because even at the end of a bad day, there's always something beautiful to come out of it. Each day is different but there's always a prettier side to look at." She looks over at the beach again.

The sun was closer to going down by the second but it still left a huge impact on the sky. The colors were now more pinkish leaving the orange sun to set at it's due time.

I get it now, what she means. I wish I had met her a long time ago. At the point in my life when I was going through fucked up shit. Maybe she could've prevented a lot of things from happening or maybe she could've healed me. But there's no way to know that.

The fortunate part is that I did meet her, and if it I hadn't met her when I did I wouldn't even be sitting here with her. I would've never found her or kissed her or even loved her and because she did find me when she did I will always see her as my hero.

"Heath?" Her voice is soft spoken and I can hear a slight concern in it.

"Are you crying?" She asks despite knowing the answer. I hadn't even properly allowed myself or even prepared to cry but it just happened.

That's never happened before.

I've never cried without allowing the tears down. I looked up at her to meet her light eyes. Her face softened, she stood up and made her way across the table.

She held my face in her hands and sat on my lap. She didn't say anything but let me cry in her arms. I didn't even think about needing to cry before now.

I hadn't realized how much I had kept to myself. That's probably what led to my shitty thoughts in the first place. I felt the tears stream down my face, although I thought this was fucking embarrassing I let myself cry because it was a long overdue cry.

"It's okay. You can let it all out." She soothed, running her fingers through my hair as I held her in my arms.

"I love you so much." She whispered into my ear, kissing my cheek right after.

I hold on to her waist as I still the crying and let myself breath. I focus in on her to help me relax, she smells just as good as the first day I met her. I think I'll always think of her whenever I smell a peach. Her scent is familiar and soothing, it reminds me of the feeling of her touch.

I hadn't cried in front of her ever so I'm surprised she knows how to comfort me and what to do. She's cried a good handful of times in the last year we've been together but even then, I'm never used to seeing her cry. It hurts me, causing me pain to see her in pain too.

I can only imagine how she felt when she heard my story of the night we met, I had never really considered her feelings about that night. I didn't assume she'd even care, but at the moment that's all I could think about.

How could she have possibly felt after hearing something like that? I know that's something haunting enough to break her soft heart. I can't believe I did that to her.

"I love you more than anything else, Thalia." I hug her tightly in my arms.

I wanted to ask her right here, I didn't even care about the grand speech I was about to do before or bother kneeling down on one knee. This is perfect enough.

"Will you marry me, Thalia?" I ask her, finally looking up to see her looking surprised.

"Wait what?"

"Please say you will. I want you to see me grow into the better man I know I can grow to be. For me, for you and eventually for our kids. I want a life with you." I tell her, backing up to look at her face.

My hands remain on her waist and her silent response makes me nervous.

"So would you say you're begging me to marry you?" She starts teasing again, at this point I'd willingly admit to that just to get her to say the word yes.

"Aren't you supposed to be down on one knee?" She initiated and I let go of her before kneeling down on the ground.

"Please Thalia, will you marry me?" I ask again, taking this chance to pull out the ring from the inside of my pocket.

She stands and looks at the ring, inspecting it for a few seconds. If only she'd answer, I'm eager here.

"Yes, I'll marry you." She finally answers and I get back on my two feet.

"Since y'know, you practically insisted and begged me to." She chuckles and I roughly pull her in before kissing her hard on the lips.

"I love you." I tell her before taking her lips against mine again.

"Excuse me" I hear an annoying nagging voice, grunting as Thalia moves her head to take a look.

"Hi Javier, I'm an engaged woman now so no more pulling out chairs and saying you're welcome." Thalia pointed her finger at the guy.

"Erm, no problems miss." Javier quickly leaves the bottle of wine at the table before scurrying off.

"That surely scared him off." She scoffed and held up her hand.

"I can't wait to show this to Lola. Is it real?" She asks, looking at the diamond on her finger.

"No, I got it at some flea market." I joke but she doesn't get it until she sees my face and lightly punches me.

"Does this means I'm gonna be Mrs.Jackson or are you gonna be Mr.Kennedy?" She asks, I knew the answer but knowing her she'd think about keeping her last name.

"We'll talk about it." I decide to leave it at that.

"Yes we will." She says before looking at the ring again.

"I can't believe you asked me, I mean I read the message but I didn't think it was true!" She gave herself away before regretting what she admitted to.

"You saw the text?!" I ask her and prepare myself to yell at Duke when I see him again.

"What? Me? No, I didn't." She turns her head and slaps her forehead.

"How could I be so stupid." She muttered under her breath.

I should've known her nosy ass would've read my messages. It didn't really bother be though because either way I still got her to say yes. And I'll get her to be my wife.

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A/N

THANK YOU GUYS for reading this

Omg I think this was my favorite chapter to write because of how motivated I was to write it.

I hope you guys loved and felt the emotion behind this chapter 😞♥️

And Happy holidays or Merry Christmas if u celebrate it (here's a present for sticking around 🎁)

Consider this chapter a present too.

I was actually very motivated to write surprisingly so that's awesome. I think there's like 1 chapter left after this one but don't expect it until after New Years because I'm lazy (😀💀) to write atm.

But with all that being said I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) bye for now

12/23/22