I have really been feeling inspired! I've known where I wanted this story to go since I've started but sometimes the writing bug isn't always there. I want to give a shout out to "November Rain" by luvcali, I loved the story so much and if you haven't has a chance to read it you should! It really gave me some inspiration to start back up again. Also I've been listening to the band Greta van Fleet, they are amazing and feed my love for 70s rock. So check them out if you're into that style! Hope you all enjoy this story and I hope to have more up soon, please let me know what you think!

Chapter 8: Immigrant Song

We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
W'ell drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, and sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming!

On we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore

Jackie's eyes shifted to the framed dollar bill. She smiled with pride and gratitude, remembering the feeling when the first sale had been made. The whole idea was a shot in the dark and Jackie had bet everything on it working. She would be putting aside her job at the boutique where she had become a manager. Plus the whole plan banked on Steven and her working out. Committing to one another.

Steven had always been skittish when it came to talk of the future, of getting married. He typically got irritated if she mentioned it and only had brought it up a few times himself, making sure to only mention in when it couldn't lead to a future discussion… like when he was walking her down the isle at their friend's weddings. But she wasn't asking him for marriage but this seemed almost as big of a commitment.

But that night gave her the courage to ask him. Following the wedding, her plan was in full motion. She finally had the last part she needed. She had confirmed her graduation date and she thought she finally knew what he wanted.

As she walked home she kept chewing on her lip, trying to figure how exactly she could present her plan. She stopped at the liquor store on the corner and bought a bottle of wine and when she got home she made the nicest meal she knew how… spaghetti with bread and butter.

She had everything planned. Dinner on the table. A candle burning. The wine opened, just waiting to be poured. Jackie could still remember the look on his face when he walked in the door and pulled his shades off hooking them into the collar of his shirt.

Less than a year later, Jackie was riding shotgun. The windows were rolled down and her perfectly manicured feet hung out the window. The world opened up before her and her dark aviators colored the landscape sepia. She had always imagined herself in New York or Chicago or Dallas, never for a second giving a thought to west. It was desolate country, few people, few cars, flat land with mountains far in the distance.

She loved it, every minute. She loved the boy next to her even more. She hadn't seen Steven this happy in years. A grin spread across his face, his lips whispering the words to the song coming through the radio. Her glasses matched his for the first time, letting their worlds be colored the same hue. She caught him out of the corner of her eye stealing glances at her and the corners of his mouth turning up even more every time.

For the first time they were on the same page, looking at the same things, with the same goal. She thought that this could even be better than a proposal, a wedding, a husband. And if this is what she would get she would take it. She wouldn't let Steven go again. She didn't think she could survive a second time without him.