Hello Friends! Sorry for the delay on getting this next chapter out. Thank you for the kind reviews.
Sue woke up not feeling totally rested but launched into her day off routine anyway. Sean tossed and turned for a few hours, but Sue was relieved to see him sleeping peacefully this morning.
She tiptoed to the dresser to get her clothes out of the dresser and was disappointed that her selection of options. She desperately needed to do laundry. She smiled sentimentally at her last clean set of underwear at the back of the drawer.
Sean has been back from Ghana for a few weeks and he and Sue had been inseparable since he returned. Sue even joined Sean at the Donahue family reunion campout at Tippecanoe Lake where Sue fit in with the rest of the Donahue clan. The young couple even had a drawer of clothes and a toothbrush at each other's apartments.
One Saturday night while they were fooling around in Sue's bedroom in the apartment she shared with Lexie they decided to take their relationship level and make love.
They began slowly undressing one another and savoring the closeness and intimacy. When Sean ran his hands along Sue's back along the band of her cotton bra he looked at Sue silently asking for her permission to unhook it. Sue smiled at him and nodded her head.
When he unhooked the bra, Sue let out a frantic gasp and then said, "Crumbs... I can't believe I forgot!"
He covered his eyes with his hands to help her maintain her modesty and rolled off her and said, "I'm so sorry. If you are having doubts or aren't ready it is okay. I can just spend the night and we can just watch a movie like usual or go home if you want some space. Whenever you are ready will be the right time Suzy-Q."
She takes a pillow to cover her breasts and strokes her panicking boyfriend's stubbled cheek and chest encouraging him to open his eyes. She gives him a kiss that could be considered chaste if one disregarded their current state of undress. "I don't want to stop. I just need a second to get changed," Sue reassures him.
"Changed… " Sean repeats confused as he finally opens his eyes and quirks and eyebrow at her. Sue nods her head enthusiastically.
She hops out of bed still clinging the pillow to her chest and once she has her back to him she refastened her bra and scurries over to her dresser and explains, "I just remembered that I bought some new underwear for tonight months ago. Lexie was waiting in my driveway when I got home from dropping Axl off in Denver. She insisted we have a girl's day out and go to the Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale. The bra I bought from their "Very Sexy" collection and it was on clearance. It is lacy and itchy and the underwire digs in and pinches me. A push up bra is kind of like the boobs version of wearing braces but Lexie said, 'my girls' look great in it!" as she fumbles through her dresser and fished out a lacy light purple bra and matching panties.
Sean takes in his girlfriend wearing her sensible full coverage pale pink cotton bra and unbuttoned skinny jeans. As much as the idea of seeing her in sexy lingerie intrigued him but he fell in love with this version of her. Sort of plain to someone who was just walking by but extraordinary if they took the time for a second look. Wide eyes, genuine smile, and slim body. She looked incredibly sexy with her hair mussed-up, swollen lips, and hickey's he already branded on the pale skin of her neck, chest and stomach.
"Suzy-Q, I swear 'your girls' look amazing in the bra you are already wearing. I want tonight to be a purely blissful memory for both of us. Haven't you had enough experiences related to orthodontia to last you a lifetime?" he asks.
She blushes and drops the matching set back into the drawer and then shimmies out of her jeans and climbs back into bed feeling more certain than ever about giving him her virginity.
Sue takes the purple panties out of the drawer but leave behind the pinchy bra and finds a clean tank top with a built-in bra, some clean sweat pants, and one of Sean's hoodies and creeps out of their bedroom to take a shower.
After her shower she threw a few loads of laundry in the washers. Most people would hate having to haul to their apartment building's shared laundry room, but Sue enjoyed it. The hallway to their little apartment always smelled like fresh laundry and she loved being able to do a few loads of laundry at once.
While her laundry was in the washer she got a text from her mom saying that Nancy Donahue would be joining them for their Bachelor finale viewing and even volunteered to bring over dinner if she and Sue took care of dessert. She checked out Nancy's Pinterest board and settled on a chocolate fondue.
After perusing Pinterest Sue decided to check out Facebook. She was happy see a flurry of likes of the selfie of her and Sean in the ER breakroom last night. She braces herself for the comments:
Ellie one of her friend from East Indy no-cut acapella posted: "Such a cute picture, but I was hoping to see something sparkly on a certain finger…" with a winky-face emoji.
Timothy one of Sean's friends from Notre Dame who Sue met a few times posted: "Beef Bourguignon delivered at 1am. Put a ring on it already, Sean!"
Both comments got a handful of like and loves from Frankie Heck, Nancy Donahue, Lexie, Brad, and even Axl.
Sue rolls her eyes while continuing to scroll Facebook. She wasn't going to be the girl who bullies a guy into a proposal or gives him an ultimatum.
Then she sees Meghan one of her friends from the Disney College program was engaged her boyfriend of less than a year.
A few post later she sees Lexie was showing her barely existent baby bump. Hand's exaggerated placed on the small of her back jutting her growing belly out. #16WeeksToday
After that she saw her friend Carly with her toddler and newborn infant.
Part of Sue was a little jealous of the posts she saw on Facebook. She decided to push that envy aside and remind herself of the advice that she gave Sean years before in the Heck family backyard when they exchanged their first kiss. "You cannot compare yourself to anybody else. You are your own unique you. Everyone has their own path." It was true for Sean then and it was true for them as a couple now.
A couple hours later Sean woke up to find Sue watching House Hunters. This was a regular occurrence in their little apartment. They would watch House Hunters, Property Brothers, or Love It or List It. They would always express their annoyance at the homebuyers or homeowners. Or they would debate about what home would be the best compromise or value as they folded laundry together.
This morning Sue wasn't watching with a casual amusement. She was sitting on the couch with a binder balanced on her lap diligently taking notes. Sue had a couple loads of laundry fresh out of the dryer to be folded. The baskets where ignored because she is so engrossed on what was going on in the screen she doesn't even notice her boyfriend standing in the hallway taking in her focused face as she scribbles in the binder.
"Good morning, Suzy-Q! What are you up to?" he asks as he snuggles into to his girlfriend on their couch.
"Nothing much, just watching some TV!" Sue as she tries to hide the binder behind a colorful throw pillow on their couch.
He leans in for a kiss and sneaks the binder away from her mid kiss. The binder was titled "Sean's Internship!" Printed in glittery puffy paint with doddles of a stethoscope's and bandages. He opens the binder and saw tabs devoted to cities. Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Atlanta. Each tab came with a rundown of the cities pros and cons, a description of the internship programs in each city, information about the cost of living, and information about local hotels and resorts.
"Wow, Suzy-Q…" Sean is truly in awe of all the information in front of him. So many possible cities and different futures ahead of them and Suzy-Q was on game for anything. Sean smiles with the little notes.
Chicago: "Oprah loves Chicago and our mom's love Oprah! Some of my favorite rom-com's take place there! Five-ish hour drive home!"
San Francisco: "Cable Cars! The home of the Tanner family from Full House! Rice-a-Roni is the San Francisco treat!"
Seattle: "Nancy would love Pike Place Market! Ferry Boats! The blopes are a short car ride away!"
Sue speaks up to break him from the trance the glittery binder has him in, "You have been so concerned with just finishing medical school. But I wanted prepare for the future."
She started making the binder about 3 months ago when Sean registered for the National Residency Matching program. The Match would determine where he would be starting his residency by using an algorithm and Sean wouldn't find out where he would be starting his internship until March. Sue remembered Sean going through his "hippie phase" before they started dating because of the application process to medical schools. She didn't want to put any additional pressure on him by discussing the future.
"You would really be willing to uproot your whole life for me?" Sean asks.
"Of course, I would! I love you. I like my job and my work family, but they know I wasn't planning on staying there forever. We tried to be a long-distance couple when I was in Orlando and it didn't go well. Long distance is the wrong distance for us." Sue reminds him.
Their first separation when he was in Ghana was a cakewalk. They were elated about finally having their feelings out in the open and being on the same page. They filled in every spare moment with long emails, skype dates, text messages, and making plans until they were reunited.
Things got rocky during Sue's senior year of college when she was participating in the Disney College Program along with Brad. She was in Florida for five months and was regularly working anywhere from 40-60 hours a week while attending classes and seminars and Sean was in Indiana in his 2nd year of medical school. The distance and their crazy schedules were a major challenge. It didn't help that when Sean traveled to visit Sue for her birthday he became suspicious that one of Sue's new friends was interested in more than just her friendship. One night during one of their skype dates Sean and Sue got in a heated argument and agreed to take a break from their relationship.
The break taught them a lot about themselves and their relationship. They learned they had a firm foundation of love, friendship, and mutual respect. Days after their fight Sue sent Sean a text wishing him luck on an exam. Sean still regularly checked in on Frankie Heck who was struggling with Axl being in Denver, Sue being in Orlando, and Brick getting ready graduate from high school and go to college. They reconciled over a long phone call before she completed the program. Sean even flew to Florida so he could drive home with Brad and Sue. It was a memorable road trip filled with a little too much Taylor Swift, One Direction, and Beyoncé for Sean's liking.
"I love you and I want you to be the best doctor you can be. Wherever we end up I will find a new job and I will have new friends. We will be able to fly out to visit our families and our families will come visit us." Sue reminds him.
Sean continues to flip through the binder. Some of the programs in these cities were very prestigious and the competition to get a residency spot was intense. He knew with Sue's support he could make it through the challenges in this new transition in his career.
Sean handed the binder back to Sue. "Are there any cities that you more interested about than others?" he asks and turns his attention to folding laundry.
In true Sue Heck fashion, she has nothing negative to say about any of the cities. She is excited about everything. Sean took in hear face that is glowing with excitement and free of any apprehension and he is awestruck by her in this moment. Sue only ever lived in Indiana minus the months she worked at Disney World and Dollywood. She is stepping into an uncertain future fearlessly and ready for a new adventure.
Sean thinks about his own anxiety. If Sue can be brave about starting a new life potentially thousands of miles away from everything she has ever known. He shouldn't be full of nerves going to the game with Mike tonight and asking for permission to marry Sue.