Before the official start of our girl's day, I had to run back home to shower and grab a few things.
Grey hadn't responded to my messages, so I crossed my fingers that he would be home.
You couldn't imagine how bummed I was when I found out that he wasn't.
Was he that mad? I thought to myself, and my heart filled with dread and worry.
What if he wouldn't forgive me for this? What was going to happen with our relationship?
My head was spinning from thinking of all the worst-case scenarios.
When I reached Mom's house, she took one good look at my face and instantly knew something was wrong.
She mentioned that I liked to jut my bottom lip out a lot when I was upset. I also tended to murmur and avoid contact. Supposedly, that was something I've been doing since I was a kid.
Mom and Ella offered to listen if I needed to vent, but I told them not to worry about it. Right now, I needed to relax and clear my head before I drove myself crazy.
By mid-afternoon, I had rainbow-colored nails, thanks to Ella. My wavy strawberry locks had been washed, blown out, and then curled to perfection for a more dramatic effect. I forgot how awesome mom was with styling hair.
Unfortunately, she didn't pass down any of that talent. Hence, my hairstyles usually consisted of basic styles.
During all of that, we had watched Captain America parts one and two. I made fun of mom when she became all googley eyed as Steve took off his shirt. Not going to lie, I was gawking at him too, and when I tried to cover Ella's eyes as a joke, she wasn't having it. She hit me with one of the cushions. It was safe to say Steve Rogers was eye candy for women everywhere.
Every hour or so, I couldn't help but check my phone to see if Grey replied. I tried to be understanding, but it hurt like hell.
Mom and Ella cheered me up a lot, though. I was grateful to have this time with them.
"Dad, are you all done now?" Ella asked when her father walked into the room.
He nodded with a smile.
"I was thinking, we should have a BBQ, and then we can take this movie night outside to the inflatable projector." Mom suggested, looking back and forth from Ella to me.
I gasped. "I totally forgot you have one of those!"
"Yeah, it's so cool," Ella said with a huge grin.
"Yup. I'm totally on board with this plan. I'll get the stuff ready," Matt said, walking towards the kitchen.
"We'll need to set up outside." Ella eagerly launched to her feet. "Mia, you should see the string lights and tiki torches at night. They're so pretty."
"I bet." I winked. "What do you guys need me to do?" I asked mom.
"Depends... Are you still good at baking?" She smirked
I answered her with a smile.
"I like chocolate, peanut butter chips cookies!" Ella informed me.
"I'll see what I can do," I promised.
Ella opened her mouth to say something, but then her phone went off. She grinned, looking down at it. "This one of my friends back in Seoul, she just got back from a modeling gig in Japan, and I told her to call me when she got back home." Ella bit her bottom lip like she was having a hard deciding if she should answer right now or not.
I didn't want her not to talk to her friend because of me. "It's fine. Talk to your friend. We got everything covered."
She beamed. "Okay, I won't belong," she told us before skipping off.
An hour later, I had a massive amount of cookies drying on three different trays. We made Ella's favorite, and I'm sure she's going to devour them.
Mom made a huge fruit platter. She even took the time to cut them into cute little shapes. Think of the Edible arrangement's style.
Matt had all the chicken legs and burgers seasoned to perfection for ready for the grill. He also whipped together some shish kabobs and promised me that they would be one of the best things I've ever eaten.
Outside, I helped Ella set up the table and the umbrellas as mom took some time to water her rose bushes.
Ella's phone rang again, and she rushed inside to answer it.
I went over to Matt by the grill. "Um... Matt?" He glanced at me from over his shoulder. "Do you always make this much food?" I eyed the grill curiously. There was enough food to feed a small village. There's no way we could eat all of that.
He traded a look with my mom and shrugged. "We like to have leftovers."
I nodded. Okay, sure.
Ella came rushing outside with a flash drive in her hand.
She didn't say anything, but when she looked at mom, mom hurried over.
"What's going on?" I asked, noticing that they definitely weren't acting normal.
Whatever was going on, everyone was in on it but me.
I pouted, hating to be out of the loop.
"Mom, get the lights. I know they won't be as vibrant at this hour, but still." Mom flicked on all the twinkling yard lights.
Ella plugged the flash drive into the projector then turned to me with a bright smile. "You know I love you, right?" she said.
Regardless of all my questions, I nodded, waiting to see how this would play out.
"Okay, this was my idea, but some other people did put in their two cents, so I can't take all the credit," she added.
"I'm still as confused as I was three seconds." Ella went in for a hug, then mom came in, wrapping her arms around the both of us.
"Alright, I've been waiting to do this all day." Ella clicked play on the remote, and a video came up.
I sat at a park bench looking out at the pond when Greyson came and scared me. I yelped, thrusting my arms out and bringing a knee to my chest. Then his laughter echoed through the park. It was deep, hearty, and, honestly, one of my favorite sounds.
"Mia, you're such a sacredly sometimes," Grey said.
"You could have been anybody. Even a serial killer or kidnapper."
He scoffed. "As if I would ever let anyone hurt you."
And I remember how he rolled his eyes after saying that, causing me to shove him playfully. Grey broke out into laughter again before taking a seat next to me.
He turned the camera around and told me he was doing a video.
I mumbled something like, "Of course, you would want to record scaring me."
As he held it up, he asked me to smile and wave. Then he threw his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple.
"Mia, you know you're like one of my favorite people in the world, right?"
"Yes. Just like you're one of mine too."
I watched as a slow handsome grin emerged.
Gosh. That smile would give any woman heart palpitations.
The corner of my lips tipped up, thinking back to how my heart swelled. Grey always thought of himself as my protector. This was only the ninth grade, but I think that's when I noticed that I might be feeling more than friendship towards Greyson.
Then the projector started to show a series of pictures, starting from our childhood. I heard a guitar being played, but it didn't sound like it came from the slideshow. Thinking my ear must be deceiving me, I glanced behind me and saw Greyson strumming his guitar.
My jaw hit the ground, and my heart started beating wildly in my chest.
Grey was wearing a white three-quarter button-up dress shirt with these fitted pair of black jeans and his favorite black boots. He's been wearing his hair spiked up in the middle with the sides slightly trimmed. But today, his dark locks were hanging down just slightly above his eyebrows.
"Greyson," I murmured when his eyes met mine, and they transformed into glittering topaz gems.
He just smiled and started singing as he took slow strides towards me.
I didn't recognize the song at first, but it hit me the more I paid attention to the words.
He was singing the song from his notebook. The one he said was unfinished but had told me he would sing for me when it was complete.
My hands flew to my heart. I felt the beats vibrating under the palm of my hand.
Greyson walked until he was in front of me. The song's lyrics kept flowing from his lips, and I let them wash over me, feeling the emotions behind his every word. His eyes stayed laser-focused on me, but I also saw so much love in them.
I grinned hard enough to make my cheeks hurt.
The slideshow was still playing behind him, and I glanced over at it now and then, but I didn't want to miss more than a few seconds of the actual show.
I watched Grey strum the last few chords before his fingers fell from the strings and his guitar hanged loosely from his body.
I heard cheering from behind us, but I didn't dare turn around.
Grey slid the guitar behind his back, then eliminated the remaining space between us.
"Mia," he uttered my name, slipping his arms around my back and placing a tender kiss on my forehead. "Did you mean everything you said in the texts?"
I nodded. "Of course." I craned my head up to look into his eyes. "I meant every word. I'm sorry about not telling you the truth.
Most importantly, I'm sorry for holding back when it came to us. You were right. I was afraid and tiny part of me still kind of is. But I don't want that to stop me. I trust you." I brought my hands up to caress his cheeks. "I love you, Greyson."
His eyes widened, and his lips parted as he took in a sharp breath.
I stood on the tips of my toes and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "So trust me when I say, I believe in us too, and I want to make this work. No matter. I'm in it for the long haul."
Grey's eyes frantically searched mine as if he were trying to decipher if this was real.
"Mia," he spoke my name like a prayer, rested his forehead against mine, and closed his eyes. "I love you so much."
I grinned before bringing his lips to mine. It was gentle, like the last one. I wanted to pour my heart into this one.
We heard whooping and handclaps.
Crap crap crap. I forgot we had an audience, and two of the said audience members were my mom and her husband.
I reluctantly broke away from him.
Grey's face was the epitome of joy, and I couldn't be happier about that.
I felt a deep blush coming up my neck, traveling up to my cheeks at the thought of us having to turn around and face everyone who had just witnessed our little moment.
Oh gosh.
Greyson chuckled, picking up on my obvious distress.
I heard hurried footsteps before two slender arms wrapped the both of us.
"I'm so happy for you guys." Ella squealed.
Then I had a lightbulb moment thinking back to what she had said a few minutes ago. "Hold on a sec! This was your idea?" I looked down at my little sister.
She nodded with her famous grin. "Just the picture slideshow. Grey came up with the rest."
I shook my head in disbelief. My eyes flickered between the two of them.
"Thank you," Grey said, leaning over to kiss the top of Ella's head.
"Anytime, bro." she winked.
Ella's released us and faced me. "How much did you love it? We called this operation sunset serenade. Personally, I think it was a huge success." She dusted off her shoulders. "If I do say so myself."
"It was perfect," I told them. And I love that they worked together on this.
"Yay!" She started jumping up and down, clapping her hands.
Too flipping adorable.
"So now that you love birds have confessed your love, you should know that the food is getting cold!" We all turned around to the voice.
Dean stood with his hands, cupping his mouth and a massive grin on his face.
As a matter of fact, they all appeared to be grinningâMinus Freya, who was wiping a tear from her eye while Tobias patted her back.
"Dinner time!" Mom shouted, waving one of the metal tongs in the air.
"Oh, thank god!" Dean responded. Everyone broke out into a symphony of laughter.
Look at my little family, I thought. A few people are missing, but most of the gang is all here.
Ella took one hand; Greyson took the other, and together we walked side by side.
Life couldn't get any more perfect than this.