5 1/2 years later...
I coudn't believe it's been almost 6 years.
It's been almost 6 years since the day I first stepped foot through those college doors. It's been almost 6 years since the very first day my life changed forever. It's been almost 6 years since I learned the true meaning of my life. And it's been almost 6 years since I accidentally - yet purposely - fell in love with the boy I least expected to fall in love with...
It's been almost 6 years, yet the love between me and Alvin is as strong as it was the moment we held each other for the first time in the pouring rain, and realizing that we were excruciatingly in love with each other.
The remaining 4 years of college for Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Jeanette, Eleanor and myself were absolutely perfect. We all graduated with a degree that was sure to take us far in life, and in the future. I have to admit, I did shed a couple of tears the moment I knew we were done with college, but again, it was the start of a new step in my life. But just knowing that we already graduated college was just too surreal.
But it's been a year since we graduated from college. We are all 25 years old now. I couldn't believe how fast everything went. But it was over. It's hard to believe that preschool, elementary, high school and college were finished for all of us. But the day after we graduated, we all packed up our stuff, said a final goodbye to our dorm rooms, stepped out of the college building one last time, and returned back home to our hometown neighborhood where we began to fulfill our dreams.
The year after we graduated was perfect. Alvin continued to play football, of course. He also got accepted into the Los Angeles Football Program, which was starting this summer. Simon continued with his science studies, while Theodore got a job as an assistant chef at a gourmet restaurant downtown. Jeanette got a job at the Science Dome, and Eleanor is now a pastry chef. And me? Well, I take a fashion designing class, and I work part time at a fashion clothing shop.
And during the summer after we graduated, Simon and Theodore finally got the guts to ask my sisters out. And of course Jeanette and Eleanor said yes. It was so cute seeing my sisters with them. I mean, it's about time! Simon and Jeanette have a more sweet and friendly relationship, while Theodore and Eleanor have a more playful and bestfriend-type one. Mine and Alvin's relationship is more romantic and intimate, of course.
It's now January of 2012. With everyone so busy with their jobs, we hardly hung out as much as we did before when we were still in college. But the 6 of us still managed to find time to hang out with each other on weekends. Despite how limited our social schedules were nowadays, we were all still best friends with each other, like how we were the moment we met each other 20 years ago.
Today was a cool Winter morning. But I spent most of my morning sitting in Alvin's car. Why? Well, honestly, I don't know. But yesterday, he told me he was taking me somewhere. I knew there was no point in asking him where he was taking me because I knew he would never tell, so I had no choice than to just listen to him. I looked over at the clock on the car's radio, and saw that it was almost noon. I was starting to get impatient.
"Alvin, just tell me. Where are we going?" I asked.
"Just be patient." He said, keeping his eyes on the road.
"But I have been patient - for 4 damn hours already!" I groaned.
He sighed. "Can you just wait 5 more minutes? I swear, we're almost there." Alvin said.
"God, I hate it when you do this to me. I mean, you're taking me somewhere, and not telling me where! It pisses me off." I muttered, slouching in my seat.
Alvin sighed deeply, but said nothing more. I rolled my eyes and I turned back to look out the window. I barely got any sleep last night, and I was starting to feel incredibly tired. And without knowing, my eyes slowly drifted close. But what seemed like two seconds later, I felt someone touch my arm, and shake me. I groaned as I groggily opened up my eyes.
"What?" I grumbled.
"We're here." Alvin said.
"Where?" I asked crankily.
"Look." He said.
I sighed and sat up straight to look out the car window. And once I saw all the familiar buildings, I soon realized where we were. I gasped. We were back at the place where it all began, the place where everything started, the place where feelings were realized, where hearts were broken, tears were shed, and love was connected, the place we haven't been in over a year - we were back at college.
"Alvin, why are we here?" I asked, turning to him.
He shrugged. "I figured that since it's been a year and a half since we were last here, that we should come back and visit the school. I think it's nice to visit. I mean, memories upon memories were made here."
I smiled when he said that. "I still can't believe that it's been more than a year since we graduated. It seems so unreal."
He sighed. "I know what you mean. Sometimes, I wish that we can just live through all our college years again, and make them right. Like, redo all the mistakes we made in the past."
I nodded, but looked down and stared at my lap. "Me too. But...But it wouldn't really make a difference, because at the end, we ended up together. We've been dating for almost 6 years now. And despite what almost happened to us in our first year of college, it brought us together at the end."
Alvin looked at me and smiled. He sighed then said, "Yeah, I know. But still..."
I looked into his eyes. "Mistakes or not, they happened in the past. They won't happen anymore."
He nodded. It was silent between us for a moment before Alvin spoke up again. "Here, let's go outside."
We both got out of the car. Alvin wrapped an arm around my waist as we walked towards the college doors. I sighed as I stared at the big white doors of the building, and the big stone sign that had the words 'The sky isn't the limit. Reach beyond your dreams' engraved in it. I can remember the day I first came here. And now, 6 years later, I'm back again, now with the boy who means the world to me.
For the past 5 years, this school was like my second home. It was hard to even accept that now, we were never stepping foot inside the building again. This was the place where my life truly changed forever, where I learned the meaning on my life, Alvin's life - our life...
I don't know how long Alvin and I have been standing here, looking at the school. 5 minutes maybe? But within that time, hundreds of memories flew back into my eyes, my mind, and my heart. Even though it's hard to think back about some things, I knew that all the heartbreaks I went through, all the tears I shed, all the mistakes I made, and all the other hardships I've endured, it was somehow worth it because I've learned and realized things about myself that I have never knew before.
"Do you remember our first day here?" Alvin asked quietly.
I looked up at him, then looked back down. I smiled to myself and sighed. "Yeah, of course I do."
"Remember how Simon, Theo and I surprised you and your sisters?" He asked.
I laughed lightly. After we graduated high school, the boys said they were going to a different university. But the day my sisters and I settled into our dorm room for the first time, the boys came over and surprised us, saying how all of that 'Going to a university' stuff was just a joke, and that they were attending this college with us as well.
"How could I forget?" I laughed.
Alvin laughed to himself. "I will never forget your reaction when I told you we were lying about going to another school."
I playfully rolled my eyes before looking up at him. "You were such an ass."
He smiled mischievously. "But...?
I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder. "But I'm glad it happened. I don't know what I'd do without you."
He kissed the top of my head, as I closed my eyes. Our first year at college was one to remember, despite how many things were meant to be forgotten. In that one year, I fell for my best friend, got my heart shattered when I saw my best friend fall for someone else, broke hearts, spilled tears, said lies, admitted truths, said goodbye to my mother, made impossible choices, made mistakes, realized that the impossible is possible...the list is endless.
I sighed deeply as I opened up my eyes. "It's hard to believe what you and I have been through to get here. It's hard to believe what we put each other through, just to be with each other."
Alvin lightly shrugged. "I don't think it's hard to believe that those things happened. But do you know what I think is hard to believe?"
"What?" I asked.
Alvin let go my my waist, and turned to me. He delicately held my cheeks between his palms and whispered, "It's hard to believe that I'm with someone as beautiful and amazing as you. I don't know what I did to deserve someone as perfect as you, Britt. But whatever I did, I will never do anything to let you go."
If it were possible, I would have melted into a pool of infatuation. Just hearing Alvin say those words to me in such a smooth, gentle and sincere voice made me feel like I was worth a trillion bucks. And like I mentioned before, no amount of words can ever express how much he means to me. Not only because he treats me like I'm the most important thing to him, but because of how he's changed me as a girl. I would do anything for him. He means the world to me. He's my life.
I nuzzled my face into his chest and said, "And what did I do to deserve someone like you? Someone who loves me, someone who cares about me. I feel like the luckiest girl alive when I'm with you, Alvin."
He kissed the top of my head again before pulling away to look at me in the eyes for a long moment. The cool Winter breeze flew past our faces, but that didn't compare to the warm gazes Alvin and I were giving each other. Even though I've known Alvin for 20 years now, I still get those soft tumbling feelings in my stomach whenever I look at him. His eyes were so full of protectiveness over me, that it just looked magical. His eyes were like a pool of liquid gold, that they seemed to be able to pierce into my soul.
"Brittany..." He whispered. "As much as I love you, I can't help but think that I wasn't enough for you. You deserve everything, but I can't stop myself from thinking that I didn't fulfill what you wanted in a relationship."
I froze and gaped at him for about 10 seconds. I blinked once more saying, "Alvin, you gave me more than I ever wanted. All I ever needed was you, and you gave me more than that. You will always be enough for me, and you went beyond what I wanted in a relationship. I never want anyone else but you."
He smiled softly.
"So don't ever think that you weren't enough for me, because you are. You always will be." I said.
He sighed. "I know. But I still can't help but think of what I've done to you 5 years ago, when we first began to notice our feelings for each other."
I looked at him and sighed. "What do you mean?"
He sighed deeply. "I admit I was never the perfect one for you, I was never always there when you needed me, I wasn't there to help you when you needed it. But there is one thing I do admit that I did...I was the best person I could be for you."
I closed my eyes and stepped towards him, filling the gap between us. I wrapped my arms around him and said, "You were always the perfect one for me because somehow, fate brought us together. You were always there for me, because we spent 20 years as best friends. You were always there to help me because I knew I would be nothing without you. And you have always been the best person you could be for me, yourself, our siblings, Dave, Miss Miller, our friends...everyone."
He laughed gently. "You're saying that as if I'm the best person in the world."
I looked up at him and smiled. "To me, you are the best person in the world."
He gave me a light kiss on the lips before I unwrapped my arms from his body. He held me close and sighed. We both returned our gaze to the college building and remained quiet for at least another 30 seconds. "You know, college was just a small portion of our lives. But even though, I still can't believe we accomplished it."
I smiled. "Yeah, I know." I whispered.
He turned and faced me. He sighed, looked down for a bit, then looked up to meet my gaze again. "Miss Miller would have been so proud of you."
I felt myself freeze. It's been 5 years since Miss Miller's unexpected death. And though I've slowly learned to let it go, and accept the fact that my mother is dead, it still hurts to know that she's gone forever. But throughout the years, I've learned to be strong, and how to let things you love, go.
I looked into Alvin's eyes and said, "She would have been proud of all of us."
Alvin smiled gently again. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. His face turned serious, while his eyes turned to the cemented ground. He sighed deeply, but said nothing. I waited a few seconds, expecting him to say something, but he didn't. He continued to gaze at the floor with a face that was hard to understand.
"Alvin? What's wrong?" I asked.
He finally looked up at me, and sighed. He smiled softly and said, "Nothing's wrong, Britt. It's just, well..." He took a deep breath and said, "From the moment we met in 1991, I knew there would be a connection between us that would make us best friends. And I was right. But we also became worst enemies at the same time."
I laughed lightly.
He sighed and looked into my eyes. "It's hard to believe that we've known each other for 20 years now. It's amazing how far we've gone."
"It seems like yesterday when we first went to preschool, and how you bullied me for wearing too much pink." I said, smiling.
Alvin chuckled. "You still remember that, huh."
I laughed and nodded. "Yeah. Gosh, how I hated you." I teased.
He laughed lightly, then cleared his throat. He sighed and gulped nervously. He looked away from me for at least 10 seconds before gazing back into my eyes. "Well, Britt, what I'm trying to say is, I...I-I think that 20 years isn't enough."
At first, I had no clue to what he was saying. "What do you mean?"
Alvin said nothing for the longest time. I looked at him, confused. He looked like an absolute nervous wreck! But after a moment, he took a deep breath, and whispered, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
And that's when I understood everything. And before I knew it, my heart suddenly escaladed into a chorus of beats, and tears began to stream down my face. I thought I was losing my mind with all the tears I was suddenly spilling, and with all the emotions that were exploding inside of me. I almost collapsed with joy when I saw Alvin reach into his pocket, before getting down on one knee in front of me.
"Brittany Miller, I love you so much. I never want to be with anyone else but you. The moment we met each other when we were 5 was the very start of this. And here we are, 20 years later..." He whispered.
"A-Alvin..." I squeaked, while I cupped one trembling hand over my mouth.
He opened up the little velvet box in his hands, which revealed the most gorgeous diamond ring I have ever seen, and finally said those 4 breathtaking words. "Will you marry me?"
I knew I didn't have to think it over. I automatically nodded, while tears streamed out of my eyes. I pulled my hand away from my mouth. "Yes! Yes, of course I will!" I whispered behind tears.
Alvin beamed as he got up, took my left hand, and slipped the ring onto my finger. After he did, he stepped back as I examined the glimmering stone on my finger. I squealed in happiness as my heart fluttered and overflooded with love. The tears came endlessly. Alvin chuckled lightly as I admired the ring, but nothing can ever compare to the feelings I feel for the boy who gave me this ring. I was speechless, but I was trembling with love and excitement. I just couldn't believe it...
I looked up at Alvin with eyes that told him I loved him. He watched me with a huge smile on his face. I walked over to him, and instantly reached up to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around me as he kissed me back. I have kissed him when he was my best friend, my boyfriend and now...my fiance. He pulled away and sighed deeply, studying me with his soft gaze.
"You've made me the happiest guy alive right now." He whispered. "But..."
I smiled. "What?"
He sighed and smiled. "Nothing. It's just...I can't believe you're my...finacee. I mean, all our lives we've grown up as best friends. And now, we're engaged to each other."
I melted when he said the words 'Fiancee' and 'Engaged'. I smiled as I pulled myself closer to his body, where I wrapped my arms around his torso. "You better get use to it." I teased softly.
"Don't worry, I will..." He leaned down towards my ear and whispered, "...Mrs. Seville."
Tears rose up, and fell again once he said that. It felt so surreal. I mean, I know that Alvin loves me, but I would have never thought that he would propose to me so soon. I truly felt like the luckiest girl in the universe. Just moments ago, I got proposed to, and now, I'm engaged. And soon enough, I would become Mrs. Seville to the boy I've known since I was 5.
I laughed gently as I pulled his lips back to mine. But as we kissed, I was thinking about something else. I knew I had one more thing to do. I had to tell him something. I knew this was the perfect chance to tell him, and I knew I had to tell him now. I've known about this thing for a while, but I never had the chance to tell him. But I had to tell him today, right here, right now.
I pulled away from him and unwrapped my arms from his body and looked at him. I took a deep breath as my heart started to speed up again and said, "Well, since we're here right now, I think this is the perfect time to tell you."
"Tell me what?" He asked.
But instead of words, I laughed softly and took both of his hands in mine. I took another deep breath, and placed them on my stomach.
Alvin froze.
"Alvin?" I asked.
He blinked once and looked at me, looking absolutely lost for words. "W-Wait. Are you telling me that you're..."
I smiled. "Yup."
He continued to look at me. "A-Are you serious?"
I nodded and sighed. "2 months along..." I said softly.
"2 months..." Alvin repeated slowly.
"I didn't tell you earlier because, well, I was nervous." I laughed awkwardly.
"Wow..." He whispered, still frozen.
I smiled and looked into his eyes. "Alvin Seville is gonna be a daddy." I said gently and sweetly.
And right after I said that, he gleamed with joy, picked me up, and twirled me off of my feet. I laughed and squealed before he set me back on my feet to give me a long kiss.
"I can't believe we're going to be parents." He whispered.
I smiled and nodded. "I know. I couldn't believe it either."
Then he gave me that famous little smirk of his and said, "Well, I guess that means we're going to have to plan our wedding earlier if we wanna get married before our baby arrives."
I sighed in affection when he said 'Our baby'. I smiled and said, "Whatever works for you. I just wanna be with you forever, Alvin."
He lightly rubbed my stomach before cradling one of my cheeks in his hand. "And you will be. We'll always be together."
I smiled before reaching up to kiss him once more. "I will always love you."
He smiled and whispered, "And I will always love you. I loved you yesterday, today, tomorrow, and for the rest of our lives."
And I knew he was right. This was the start of the rest of our lives. But this wasn't the end. There will never be an end between us. This is just the start of mine and Alvin's new beginning.
How was that for a chapter? I truly had such a hard time writing it because I really don't want this story to end...But I thought that the last half of this chapter was beautiful :)
My friend Polkadotmunk wrote this to me, and wanted me to share it:
I LOVE your work, every bit of it! Alvin and Brittany are destined to be together, and you just made it even MORE wonderful! I remember the first time reading this story...about...3 months ago? :P I started on chapter one, and stopped on like chapter 25+ in a whole night! I was ADDICTED to it! I remember the suspense when Alvin found out bout Daniel, and how my heart was racing. So, there's only one more thing I need to get out...I love your work, and it is AH-MAZING!
Thanks so much! I'm happy that you love this story!
OMG CHIPWRECKED WAS SO GOOOOOOOOOOD OMG OMG OMG! *Deep breath* I already watched it twice, and I'm planning to watch it again and again :)
Thanks SO much for reading, and PLEEEASE review! 2 chapters left!
