Clare and I rounded the corner, and I immediately heard her gasp. Just as I had hoped, Alli came through with the horse and carriage.
"Eli, I don't think Zig was serious when he said he was expecting you to bring one of these things out. You, you didn't have to." Clare held her hand over her heart, her mouth hung slightly open.
I walked up behind her wrapping my arms around her shoulders. Alli did good, it was like a carriage out of a fairy tale, with white lights all around it. Even the horses gseemed to be glowing. "I had this planned way before what's his face showed up, but I did have a little help from Alli."
Clare turned around to face me, keeping herself in my arms. "Elijah. It's beautiful, you really didn't have to."
"If you seem to recall a certain high school prom, you should remember that I'm fond of the whole horse and carriage thing. I just want to show you that this is our second chance, to give our fairytale a happy ending, and there's nothing in the world that I'm going to let get in the way of that. For tnight, I just want to be those two teenagers again, who despite their differences, loved each other more than anything in the world." I reached into the carriage and pulled out Clare's crown from prom, holding it out for her to take. "What do you say, my queen?"
Clare looked up at me, smiling wide. "Eli no, you didn't. How do you still have this?"
"You left it in the first carriage, so I'm bringing it back to you in this one."
"I can't believe you kept this." She took the crown from me, and placed it on her head. "How do I look?"
I held her gaze for a moment before speaking, taking in every enchanting feature of her face. "Beautiful, you look so beautiful. Almost like a dream."
Clare looked down blushing, and smirked. "Yeah, well I bet I sure do look a lot older."
I put my index finger under her chin and lifted her head back up. "Clare Edwards you look the same wearing that crown now, as you did then. The only difference is I love you more now."
Clare kissed me lightly on the cheek, "Well shall we go, my king?"
I opened the carriage door motioning for Clare to get in, and I sat down next to her closing the door. The first few minutes of the ride were silent, and I could tell Clare had something on her mind. "What are you thinking blue eyes, honest truth."
"I cant stop thinking about everything that's changed since, well ironically prom. That was the last night that things were somewhat normal, ever since then everything has been crazy. We haven't had a moment to just breathe, to just be happy together. Even now, we have Zig trying to fight us over Adam."
I pulled Clare closer to me, throwing my coat over her. "None of that right now, ok? That night, the night we made love for the first time, it was one of the best nights of my life, and even though things have happened since then, I still love you Clare. Do I have to drive a hearse into a wall to prove it to you?"
Clare's eyes widened. "Eli no."
I smoothed her hair back laughing. "You know I'm kidding."
"I do, of course I do. So, is there a stop on this ride at any point?"
I smirked, "I thought you'd never ask."
I stopped the carriage, and Clare sat up looking around. "Eli, I don't understand? Where is our stop exactly?"
I lifted my eye brows, "It isn't obvious? Our bench."
"I know this is our bench, of course, but why are we at it exactly?"
"Because tonight, we're the old Eli and Clare. The old me took you here a lot for coffee dates." Clare raised an eye brow, causing my excitement to deflate. "Which after all these years Im now realizing is a really lame date, I'm sorry Clare. This was dumb."
She grabbed my hand, flashing me her famous half smile. "No, it wasn't, and it isn't. This is perfect. I would love to sit on this bench with you, more than anything." I smiled, opening the carriage door for her. I tied the carriage to the light pole and We both sat down in silence, taking our surroundings in. Clare lightly punched my shoulder, "So, what's next? Are you going to make me scream at the top of my lungs again?"
I laughed, "No, this time I'm just going to enjoy you, besides there aren't any people around to embarrass you with anyways."
Clare smiled leaning her head on my shoulder, "This is all I want. Forever."
"You know, this is where I first knew I loved you. I mean I loved you from the moment I ran over your glasses, but here, this is where I realized it. That's why I wanted to sit here with you, because it validates everything that I knew in the moment I sat here, watching you scream at the top of your lungs all those years ago. I promised myself then that in 5, 10, 20, well really that until we died I'd always bring you here to remind myself why I fell in love with you. I realize now though I don't need to bring you here for that, I know now that no matter what I'm all in, until we stop breathing Clare."
Clare let go of my hand, and looked down at the floor. "Thats what I'm afraid of."
"What do you mean by that?" Clare stood up and started walking down the sidewalk. I ran after her, grabbing her arm and spinning her back around. "Clare!"
"Eli, calm down. I didn't mean anything, well I mean I do. I just don't want to mean anything right now, tonight is special, and I don't want to ruin it."
"There isn't anything in the world that can ruin this, besides running away right now. Tell me what's on your mind please, that's what I'm here for, always." A tear ran down her cheek, and I wiped it away with my thumb. "Clare, don't cry, what's going on? You have to tell me, right now."
"That's just it, nothing is going on, I just think it is. I'm being paranoid, and I don't know why I'm saying Eli, but I know that I'm afraid. Eli I'm afraid that I'm sick again."
I took a step back from her, trying to let my mind catch up. "What do you mean that you're sick again? You're not, you're fine. Look at you, you're healthy as can be, you just went to the doctor, everything is fine." I could feel myself starting to panic, and my throat slowly starting to close. "Don't say it isn't fine."
Clare closed the space between us, grabbing my hand. "I haven't been feeling good, so I made the appointment, it wasn't an annual one. I didn't want to tell you, because everything has been so amazing. It's like as soon as I get you back God smacks me in the face again, it's like I don't deserve to be happy."
I pulled her into a hug, "Baby you don't know that anything is wrong. Let's just wait, see what the tests say, and then go from there."
"You're right, I'm probably being a fool anyways. I'm sorry."
I rested my chin on top of her head. "Don't be. Like I said, nothing can ever be ruined as long as I have you."
"I can't wait to marry you Eli Goldsworthy." Clare got on her tiptoes and crushed her lip's to mine, and nothing else mattered."
Jakesmom- there will be plenty of Zig, don't worry. Thanks for your review, as always, you are the bomb :-)
Guest- That zig, he can be such a pain right? Thank you for the review, my little Rie Bee :D
