Chapter 2
A week later, Alex and Charlie were graduating from the University of Toronto. Alex had passed all of her exams and finally made it. No one in her family really expected her to graduate from high school let alone University, but she proved them wrong and she made it. She made it with Charlie. After a 4 hour graduation ceremony Charlie and Alex threw their hats in the air and hugged all of their friends. Charlie and Alex walked over to each other and gave a little kiss on the lips. Before they said anything Alex pulled out her camera and got another graduating student to take a quick picture of them together.
"congratulations on graduating Alex Nunez" Charlie said smiling.
"congratulations on graduating Charlie Barker" Alex said also with a smile. They linked hands and walked over to their parents who were sitting beside each other.
"congratulations" Mrs. Nunez said to both girls, hugging Alex then Charlie. Charlie's parents did the same thing. They had moved around a few more times since Charlie moved in with Alex 4 years ago. Now they were living down in Texas and had flown out to see Charlie graduate.
"I'm so proud of you" Mrs. Barker said as she wiped a tear of joy away from her face with a crumpled tissue and pulled Charlie into a tighter hug. Charlie looked up to see Alex whispering something to her mom. She just nodded and walked over towards Charlie. Alex walked up behind her but walked by Charlie and over to her parents.
"so Charlie, are you excited about going into the real world?" Mrs. Nunez asked.
"excited… scared, same thing" Charlie said, she glanced over at her parents and Alex talking. They were talking quietly so that no one else could hear them. Charlie was a little suspicious but thought nothing of it. "I'm still not sure what I plan to do as a career."
"well don't worry, I know you're going to do great things" she said as she pulled Charlie into another hug. By this time Alex had finished talking to her parents and was walking back towards her girlfriend and mother.
"so what do you two have planned for tonight?" Mr. Barker asked as he put his arm around his wife's shoulders.
"oh some friends are coming into town and we're going to have a little get together" Alex said as her fingers intertwined with Charlie's.
"alright, now have fun, but don't drink too much" Mrs. Nunez said.
"alright, you ready to go?" Alex asked putting her hand on the small of Charlie's back.
"yeah, let's go" Charlie said. And with that they gave a little wave to their parents and walked away.
On the way to Marco, Dylan, and Ellie's place Charlie decided to talk to Alex about earlier. "so what was that with my parents today?" she asked.
"what?"
"don't play dumb with me, I know you talked to my parents after graduation" Charlie said smirking like she was so sneaky.
"oh that." She said with little enthusiasm. "we just talked about graduation and they congratulated me" Alex said. Charlie knew she was lying. She could read Alex like a book, and she knew that there was something more to the story but didn't decided to press the matters further because they had already arrived at the house. They knocked on the door with two bottles of champagne in hand as a little present. The door swung open to reveal Marco and Dylan with their arms around each other.
"hey guys" Marco said as they all hugged each other and then switched.
"we got this for you" Charlie said as she held out the two bottles.
"aww thank you" Dylan said as he took the bottle from their hands and went inside. They all walked inside to see they were one of the last people to arrive. They walked in and greeted everyone, but someone was missing, Paige. Just like on queue a knock came at the door. Marco walked over and opened the door to see none other than Paige. She was wearing her favourite Banting sweater just to show off how proud she was and was carrying a paper bad in one of her hands.
"Paige!" Marco said.
"Marco" Paige said as they hugged each other.
"I've missed you so much" Marco said holding her tightly.
"you to hun. It seems like it's been forever" The two broke apart and let Paige walk over to everyone else to say hi and share hugs. Paige made her way around everyone and finally saw Charlie and Alex sitting beside each other on the couch.
"now how is my favourite lesbian couple doing?" Paige asked the two girls. Charlie instantly jumped up from her seat to hug Paige.
"Paige. I've missed you so much!" she said as she gave Paige a quick peck on the cheek and hugged her.
"oh me too. I've missed my little fashion guru" Paige said jokingly. One thing Charlie and Paige had in common was their interest in fashion. Alex stood up making her self known.
"Alex, how are you doing?" Paige asked as she gave Alex a quick peck on the cheek as well. Of course these types of kisses meant nothing between them.
"I'm great, how are you?" Alex asked with her arms still on Paige's shoulders.
"great, great. You know we're finally done school!" Paige yelled the last part, allowing everyone else in the room to hear. They all noticed and gave a "woot" as a cheer. Alex and Paige laughed a little at how immature their friends could be some time. Paige pulled Alex a few feet away from Charlie and whispered something in her ear as she handed the paper bag to Alex. Charlie caught a glimpse of it and knew something was up. Paige walked away from Alex and Alex put the bag down beside the couch.
"what's that?" Charlie said excitedly.
"nothing…" Alex said with a smile.
"oh come on, just tell me" Charlie said putting her arms around Alex's waist.
"no" Alex said still smiling.
"will you tell me if I do… this?" Charlie asked slyly as she went to kiss Alex's neck all over. Alex's breathing became shorter and more shallow but she didn't respond to Alex's question.
"alright time for a toast" Marco said as he poured some champagne into several flute glasses on the table. Alex quickly walked over to the table knowing that if she let Charlie continue her secret would be out. Charlie sighed and walked over to the table and picked up a glass with everyone else.
Marco decided to make his speech first. "Alright over the years we've been through so much, some of us have been friends, lovers, classmates, and today we can finally say we are graduates because after 18 long ass years of education we are finally done and ready to start our lives. And let me tell you now, it's going to be a roller coaster, but together we will make it and become successful. To the graduating class of 2010" Marco raised his glass with everyone else.
"cheers" everyone said at once. After a couple of hours of drinks and laughter and memories everyone gathered in the living room.
"alright guys, now I have something that I want to show you. More specifically Charlie." Alex said looking down at her girlfriend, then back at Paige. Paige just smiled and nodded towards Alex.
"me?" Charlie asked slightly surprised.
"yes you. I got you something" Alex said as she walked over to get the paper bag Paige brought. Everyone sat down beside Charlie, and some people even stood behind her so they could see what she was getting. Alex handed the bag to Charlie, her hands were shaking like crazy. But she gave Charlie the bag and sat down on the coffee table in front of her, just so she could see the reaction on her face. Charlie pulled what seems to be a book out of the bag. But it was more than a book, it was a photo album. Charlie opened it up to see a photo of her and Alex on the first page. It was a picture of them from when they first started dating. The caption underneath read "my girlfriend". Charlie smiled sweetly and kept flipping the pages and reading out the captions for everyone to hear. Most of the photos had been taken while Charlie wasn't even paying attention, hell she didn't even know Alex was taking them.
"a weekend get away" Charlie read looking at the silly picture of Charlie in the car.
"I Never…" read another caption for a photo of their friends around a campfire sipping beer.
"I have now…" the next photo read as you could see the two pictures of the girls who had just finished skinny dipping. Everyone started laughing when as they remembered the actual memory behind the photo.
"a peaceful slumber" Charlie said as she saw a picture of her sleeping peacefully. Obviously Alex had taken a picture of Charlie one day.
"the surprise of my life" was along with a picture on Alex's 18th birthday with Aerosmith. The next few pictures were mostly from the last 4 years of their relationship together when finally Charlie reached the last few pages.
"the love of my life" Charlie said as she saw a picture of her and Alex on the merry go round from Marco's cottage. They were sitting in each other's arms and the sun was setting, it just seemed like the perfect moment. Every one of their friends let out an "awww" and Charlie held the book up a little to show everyone. Charlie was laughing a little at how cute and corny Alex could be that was until she flipped the page. On the second last page was an empty slot, but it had a caption.
"will you… marry me" Charlie said aloud not realizing right away what it said. She looked back down at the book to check to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. "oh my god!" Charlie said completely shocked. She slowly lowered the book to see Alex. Alex snapped a picture of her to add to the book. She saw that Alex had pushed the coffee table back a little and was on one knee with a diamond ring in a velvet box sitting atop her hands.
"oh my god" Charlie said again. Alex just smiled, everyone else around them couldn't help but smile. Charlie started to tear up when she saw the ring in Alex's hand.
"Charlie Barker, will you marry me?" Alex asked trying not to cry her self. Charlie sat there frozen in her seat.
"OH MY GOD! YES! YES! YES!" Charlie said, Alex took another picture right before Charlie jumped into Alex's arms. She started kissing Alex over and over again, mostly missing her lips but she didn't care. She was so in love with this girl. All their friends were surrounding them clapping and most of the girls were crying, even Marco was crying a little.
"I can't believe this!" Charlie said nearly screaming in Alex's ear. Alex took Charlie's hand and put the ring on her finger.
"what's second picture for?" Charlie asked.
"flip the page" Charlie turned the page to see another empty slot but with the caption 'her answer'
"I love you" Alex said.
"I love you too" Charlie said back.
"see I told you there was nothing to be worried about" Marco said patting Alex on the back.
"wait, you knew?" Charlie asked in shock. Marco just nodded. "who else knew?" Charlie asked everyone and turned around to face them. Everyone in the room started to put their hands up. Everyone but spinner.
"what?!" Spinner asked slightly angered.
"sorry hun, you know we can't trust you with secrets" Paige said trying to comfort Spinner.
"yeah, I guess that's true" Spinner said with a cute smile on his face. Everyone laughed and congratulated the two girls.
"so wait, if this was all of your idea, why did Paige have the bag?" Charlie asked Alex, but loud enough so everyone could hear.
"Paige, printed the pictures and got the book for me. I mean how was I supposed to surprise you if I was making the book in front of you" Alex said with a goofy smile. She was still high off of happiness from Charlie's answer.
"okay, we have to call everyone we know!" Charlie said over excitedly.
"what are you talking about? Everyone we know is here" Alex said looking around the room.
"oh yeah, well I have to call my parents!" Charlie said as she flipped out her cell phone and hit the speed dial to call her parents who were staying at a hotel somewhere in Toronto. They agreed to stay in a hotel until the wedding so they could help out when ever. They didn't really care about the costs, but they didn't want to go through the hassle of searching for an apartment.
"uh Charlie…" Alex said but Charlie held up a finger for her to be quiet.
"daddy? GUESS WHAT!" Charlie started.
"you're engaged" he asked
"how did you know?" Charlie asked slightly disappointed, she really wanted to tell someone the big news, but apparently it wasn't that easy.
"honey, Alex has been talking about this for weeks with your mother and me"
"how did I not know?" she asked herself.
"well sweety, Alex has put a lot of effort into this" he said.
"alright daddy, I'm going to go now." Charlie said.
"alright sweety, congratulations" And with that they hung up. Charlie walked back up to Alex.
"so everyone knew, but me" Charlie said sighing in her arms.
"… and spinner" Alex said jokingly, Charlie just gave a little chuckle. About an hour later, everyone was completely drunk and tired so they went home. But this time Charlie and Alex were the first ones to go home. They wanted to spend a little time together.
"alright, bye guys" Alex said holding Charlie's hands.
"bye! Thanks for everything" Charlie said. "but I need sometime to spend alone with my FIANCEE" she gloated. Twenty minutes later Charlie and Alex arrived back at their apartment in downtown Toronto. They were surprised that they made it all the way home with out having sex, but they some how made it. In the elevator up Charlie and Alex were all over each other. There was something about being newly engaged that made everything that much hotter. After fumbling with the door keys Alex finally swung the door open and had Charlie jump up on her and swing her legs around Alex's waist, so that she wasn't even touching the floor. They took off their coats and made it to the bedroom, finally. They were about to start to take off the rest of their clothes when Charlie pulled back for a second.
"what?" Alex asked nearly out of breath.
"I just wanted to say… thank you" Charlie said.
"for what?" Alex asked. Charlie was straddling Alex at the waist and sitting on top of her.
"for everything, for always being there, for making everything better, for proposing to me…" Charlie said.
"I love you so much" Alex said.
"I love you too, fiancée" Charlie said as she bent back down to continue kissing Alex.