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His fingers remain interlocked with mine as the celebrant speaks. I don't think he'd let me drop his hand even if I wanted to.

I steal another glance at Vic. He appears to be paying attention, but there's a subtle distant look in his eyes that says otherwise, a look that only I'd notice. It takes ten years of friendship, and ten months of being lovers to be able to identify something so special.

I wonder if he's thinking about our wedding. Because I am. I have been all day. I've just been quietly planning a wedding in my head while standing here, as Jenna and Tay get married.

Maybe that's disrespectful, but I can't help it. I just want to marry Vic so bad.

I don't know how long he's going to wait to propose. Maybe he hasn't even thought about it. People usually date for a few years before getting engaged. But I've known Vic for ten years and these past ten months have been so filled with love, so magical, I feel like we're ready for the next step. But I don't know where Vic's head is at with this.

Hey, maybe I should propose to him.

I'm snapped out of my dreamy thoughts when I hear Tay say the words everyone's been waiting for.

"I do."

Tay and Jenna hold hands and grin widely as the celebrant continues.

"And do you Jenna Rachel McDougall, take Taylor Kathleen Jardine to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

"I do." Jenna beams.

Vic squeezes my hand so I glance up at him. He's just smiling down at me foldly. I want to kiss him but now isn't the right time.

"I now pronounce you married."

The church breaks into applause and cheering as Tay grabs Jenna's face and kisses her passionately.

I sigh dreamily and rest my head against Vic's shoulder.

"I love you." Vic whispers softly.

I turn my head to to him, grinning widely, then think "fuck it" and grab the back of his neck as I kiss him.

Vic cups my cheek and chuckles softly as he pulls away.

"I love you too." I giggle.

He wraps his arms around me tightly and rests his head on my shoulder as we watch Tay and Jenna walk hand in hand back down the aisle.

Jenna spots me as she passes and gives me a little wave, grinning widely. I blow her a kiss and watch her leave the church as I sink more and more into my boyfriend's embrace.

I doubt anything could ever make me feel happier than I do in this moment. Nothing could be more perfect.

--

My head rests against Vic's chest as we sway to the wedding band.

We've been dancing all night and despite my tired legs, I don't ever want to stop.

Vic lifts his chin from my shoulder so I take my head off his chest and look up at him. He's smiling down at me lovingly as he pushes a piece of hair behind my ear.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you look tonight?" he grins.

I turn my head away, blushing heavily at his sweetness, but he takes my chin between his fingertips and turns my face back to his.

He kisses me softly and much like every kiss we've shared over these past ten months, it's magical.

He then looks around and drops his hand from my hip so he can wave someone over.

I follow his gaze and see his mom coming towards us.

"I have to go talk to Jenna and Tay about something real quick, but I've seen Mama eyeing you all night. I think she wants a dance." Vic grins.

I'm about to ask him what he has to talk to Jenna and Tay about but he's gone and replaced with his mother before I can even open my mouth.

"Hey Mama." I grin, happy to see her.

I've been so entranced by Vic all night that I haven't taken the time to really speak to anyone else.

It's Jenna and Tay's wedding and I've barely said a word to them all night. But to be fair, they've been really busy too.

"How has your night been, Sweetheart?" Mama asks me as she places her hands on my shoulders and we begin dancing.

"Amazing." I sigh. "Weddings are so beautiful."

She hums in agreement, a look of wonder in her eyes.

"I remember mine." she sighs. "It's something you never forget. When you and Vic get married, you'll remember yours forever."

"You think Vic and I are going to get married?" I grin.

"Of course, sweetie." she says looking at me softly.

"I'm thinking about proposing to him." I blurt out.

She looks immediately startled and worried.

"When?" she asks.

"I'm not sure. I was thinking tonight maybe. But I'm also thinking I should get him a ring first. So maybe I should wait." I frown unsure.

"Yes." she says quickly. "You should wait. Definitely wait. I mean, you want to do this properly, don't you? Get a ring first."

I nod in agreement and make a mental decision to go look for a ring tomorrow.

Holy shit, this is actually happening. I'm going to be proposing to Vic.

But what if he thinks it's too soon? What if he says no? What if I scare him off and he breaks up with me?

"Kellin, Honey, what's wrong?" Mama asks worried, obviously noticing my sudden distress.

"Is it too soon? What if it's too soon? What if he says no? What if he doesn't like the ring? Oh god, I don't even know his ring size." I blurt out, breathless and panicked.

I can feel myself spiralling and I'm worried it's going to lead to a breakdown. I've been having those a lot lately.

Mama brings her hands to my cheeks, forcing me to look her in the eye.

"Kellin, breathe. It's fine, Sweetie. Everything is okay. You're worrying about nothing." she says soothingly. "Just breathe."

I start breathing deeply to calm myself but I still feel quite worried.

"He loves you, Kellin. More than you'll ever know. You have been incredibly close for the past eleven years so I can assure you it's definitely not too soon. And you don't need to stress about picking out a ring. You'll understand why soon." Mama explains soothingly.

I nod, catching my breath and releasing the tension from my shoulders.

The song we were dancing to finishes and I'm expecting the band to continue with another one but they don't. Then the sound of a microphone screeching gets my attention.

I look away from Mama and to the stage where I'm surprised to see Vic standing, microphone in hand.

He seems a little nervous but only I can tell. Vic has always been good at faking his confidence, but he can't hide his nerves from me. I know him too well.

"Hi everybody, I hope you're all having a good night. I just want to give a quick toast to my best friends, the brides, Jenna and Tay." he begins, grinning at them as they sit at the back of the room. "To watch you guys fall in love has been a magical experience and I couldn't be happier for you both. Here's to many years of happy marriage."

He raises his bottle of water in the air and people start toasting and clapping.

He then places his water on the stage and holds the microphone with two hands.

"I have one more thing to address and before I do so, I want to thank Jenna and Tay for allowing me to steal their spotlight for a few minutes." he says. "Um, where is Kellin?"

I'm immediately blushing as the attention of the room is on me. After scanning the crowd of people, Vic's gaze meets mine.

"Can you come up here for a sec, Kell?" he grins.

Confused and a little excited, I start making my way to the stage. Vic meets me at the side of the stage and takes my hand as I climb the steps. He looks at me grinning, the entire time he's pulling me to the middle of the stage.

"Babe, what are you doing?" I whisper just completely stunned at this gesture.

He doesn't reply, instead he hands me the microphone.

"Hold it to my mouth." he grins as he digs in his pocket for something.

I do as I'm told and hold the mic to his lips. I glance out at the crowd of people and spot Jenna next to Tay at the back of the room.

She's holding her hand over her mouth but I can tell she's grinning by the way she's looking at me.

I give her a questioning look and gesture confused.

Then suddenly there's a few gasps from the crowd of people.

I look to Vic confused, only to find myself gasping as I realize he's on one knee, holding up a beautiful ring.

I'm in shock, looking from him to the ring, and then to Jenna who looks like she can hardly contain herself. Vic takes my wrist and lowers the microphone that I had failed to follow him with.

"Holy fuck." I whisper causing him to let out a little chuckle.

"Kells," he grins. "You have been my everything for the longest time. And it saddens me to no end that I failed to tell you that for the past ten years. But I want to make it up to you, to us, by spending the rest of my life telling you that. I want you to be my everything, my forever, my husband. Will you marry me?"

"I was going to propose to you." I blurt out.

He looks at me confused but his grin doesn't falter.

"What?" he chuckles.

"I was going to look for a ring tomorrow. I was going to ask you to marry me." I explain.

"That's really sweet, Kell." Vic beams. "But I'm asking you. I've been planning this for weeks. Now I need an answer."

"Oh my god, yes. Yes of course." I grin, tears beginning to fill my eyes.

The room erupts into claps and cheers and Vic slides the ring on my finger. He then takes my hands and pushes himself up onto his feet before wrapping his arms around my waist. He pulls me close to him as he kisses me lovingly, brushing away my forever-falling tears that sit on my cheeks.

He then pulls away and I'm in a trance staring at him as he pulls out his phone.

"We have to go." he says suddenly, stuffing his phone back in his pocket.

"Where?" I frown confused as he takes my hand and pulls me off the stage.

He doesn't answer so I just follow as he drags me outside into the cold night air.

He pulls me down the beautiful garden of the wedding reception venue that is lit by solar lights, until we reach the side of the building where there's another entrance.

"Vic, where are we going?" I giggle just bewildered.

"Shush, hurry." he grins, opening the door.

He pulls me into the building and we go up some stairs which open out onto a large balcony. Vic pulls me along until we're standing at the edge of the railing, overlooking the garden.

I can faintly hear the wedding band playing but all is peaceful, until I hear a distant bang. The bang is followed by an explosion of colors as fireworks are shot into the air.

"Happy New Year, Kell." Vic whispers, glancing at me and squeezing my hand.

My heart swells as I take his cheeks in my hands. I pull his lips to mine again, creating our own fireworks as we share a loving, beautiful kiss.

I pull back to look at Vic, noticing that the sky full of colors is reflected in his glassy eyes. But beyond the colors and the joyful tears, I can see a deeply rooted look of love. And it's the same look I've seen in Vic's eyes since we were fifteen.

"Happy New Year, Vic." I whisper, then I seal our forever with one more kiss.

--

That was the end! Read the next part for info on the sequel.

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