Hey guys! As always, thanks for all the reviews. They mean a lot to me. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, as I got to bring back lots of people and write the Hudson family, the Gold Stars graduates and Finchel's extended family. Hope you enjoy and review if you want me to continue!
Chapter 4: The Engagement
Somehow Emma had managed to make it through her first semester of college with a 3.0. She liked living in Chicago and she'd made some friends, but she was glad to be going home for winter break. Other than Thanksgiving break, she hadn't seen her family and friends from back home since the summer. Thanksgiving break had gone by too quickly, and she was glad to be getting home for a longer break.
Of course, there still were nerves about going home. She had felt a little nervous when she first saw Nick when she arrived home. She didn't know why she was suddenly feeling so insecure about her relationship. In high school, she'd never been more insecure than the average girl was with her boyfriend.
As she was packing up her dorm, she felt her phone vibrate. She opened it to see a media message from her brother. She opened it and went through it to find photos of five different rings. At the end, Ryan had typed, "Which one of these do you think Ava will like?"
Ryan wanted to propose to Ava? Emma felt ready to go into shock. She picked up her phone and dialed her brother's number.
"So, which one do you think she'll like?" Ryan said when he picked up the phone.
"Why didn't you tell me before that you wanted to marry her?" Emma asked.
"I've wanted to marry her since shortly after we started dating," Ryan said. "But now I figured we're legal adults now, we're old enough to get married."
"Wow," Emma said, feeling happy for her brother and her best friend. "I really like the rings you sent me."
"I'd ask Ava which one she liked best, but I do want to surprise her," Ryan said. "I've got the guys helping me with the proposal number, but I knew they couldn't be much help with the ring. So I thought I'd ask you, because you're the only person who knows her as well as I do."
Emma looked at the rings again. She and Nick had been together almost as long as Ryan and Ava had. But then she reminded herself, Ryan and Ava had already lived together, and she and Nick had broken up at one point. "I think she'll like the gold one with the diamond heart," Emma said.
"Thanks Emma," Ryan said. "Are you excited to go home?"
"I can't wait," Emma said. "When are you and Ava leaving?"
"Our plane leaves this afternoon," Ryan said. "When does your plane leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," Emma said. "I HATE early morning flights."
"I'm sorry," Ryan said. "But hey, at least we'll all be there to pick you up at the airport."
"I can't wait," Emma said. "I'll see you tomorrow."
x
The plane ride home went relatively well, for a flight in mid December. When Emma walked off the plane, she was happy to see Finn, Rachel, Ryan, Sarah, Grant and Zoe waiting for her.
"We finally have both of them back," Finn said, hugging Emma.
"I missed you," Emma said.
"We missed you too," Sarah said. "I miss having a sister to talk about girl things with."
"You know you're allowed to call and skype me," Emma said to her sister.
"Yeah, but I miss being able to just go to your room," Sarah said.
"We've got to go get the tree now!" Grant said.
"You mean you don't have the tree yet?" Emma gasped.
"We wanted to wait until both you and Ryan were home," Rachel said. "We couldn't do it without you two."
Emma smiled to herself, knowing that her absence didn't make her any less a part of the family. Zoe took Emma's hand as they walked out of the airport, to the car and drove to the Christmas tree lot.
"Emma guess what!" Grant said in the car.
"Grant," Finn said, as if he didn't want Grant to say something.
"Oh yeah," Grant said. "I wasn't supposed to tell Emma about Ally."
"What about Ally?" Emma said. She hoped nothing was wrong with Ally. Even though Ally was technically her aunt, she (and Beth) were really more of older sister type figures.
"Ally's getting married!" Zoe blurted out.
Rachel sighed. "Now you know. But act surprised when she shows you the ring at Christmas. She wanted it to be a surprise for you three, but these two had to tell Sarah and Ryan, too."
"That's great," Emma said. Now that she and her generation were adults, marriage was even more of a possibilty for everyone. Was marriage in her near future?
The family pulled into the parking lot, and Emma decided to distract herself as they looked for the perfect Christmas tree.
x
The Hudson family and picked out and decorated their tree earlier today, but the first night home was Emma's to spend with her girlfriends. The seven of them decided to go out for pizza. They'd only gotten to hang out once all together during winter break, and Emma definitely missed them when she was at school. Plus, time with the girls would be a nice break from her insecurities about Nick.
After the waitress left, the girls began talking at their table. "I think the Gold Stars are really serious contenders for the National title again this year," Lizzie said. "They were really good at Sectionals."
"My parents have said the freshmen are really good," Emma said. "My sister, of course, but there's seven other new freshmen. And the male lead, Josh, is a junior, but he's new. He moved here from Indiana, and he's really good."
"And they still have Grace, Kyle, Audrey, Jack, Gabe, Andrew, Tyler, Noah, Allison, Michelle, Caroline and Stephanie," Lexie said. "We all really should go to Nationals in Los Angeles this year."
"I wouldn't want to miss it," Emma said. She always loved going to Nationals.
"I'll never forget when we won Nationals. It was if the whole school was congratulating us!" Izzy said.
"Have any of you guys heard how our sports teams are doing this year?" Meg asked. All seven of the girls had been on the swim team in high school. Emma and Ava had played soccer in the fall and softball in the spring. Lizzie, Lexie, Laura, Izzy and Meg had played lacrosse in the spring. Lizzie and Lexie were on the field hockey team in the fall, Izzy and Laura were on the tennis team and Meg was on the volleyball team.
"I am still in touch with some girls from the swim team, and they're doing well this year," Laura said.
"Yeah, and the soccer team had a winning season," Ava added.
"The volleyball team beat Shaker," Meg said.
"Yeah, and from what Lexie and I heard, the field hockey team did well, too," Lizzie said.
"So did the tennis team," Izzy said.
"Oh, by the way guys, my mom said you guys should come over to my house after dinner," Emma said. "All the guys will be there, too."
"I guess our co-directors miss the Class of '32!" Lexie said.
After the girls finished up at the restaurant, they went back to Emma's house. Finn and Rachel had suggested the girls come over since all Ryan's friends were coming over to. The girls were going through the DVDs, trying to pick out a movie to watch, when Emma noticed Finn sit down at his drums and Rachel sit down at the piano. She was about to tell them to leave because the girls wanted to watch a movie when Ryan, Nick, Ben, Evan, Jeremy, Ricky and Connor came downstairs. Finn began playing the drums and Rachel began playing the piano as the boys began to sing. Emma also noticed Sarah hiding on the stairs with Grant and Zoe.
Nick: I'm gonna be here for you baby
I'll be a man of my word
Speak the language in a voice that you have never heard
Ben: I wanna sleep with you forever
And I wanna die in your arms
In a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm
Boys: And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you
And I'll earn your trust making memories of us
Evan: I wanna honor your mother
I wanna learn from your pa
I wanna steal your attention like a bad outlaw
Jeremy: I wanna stand out in a crowd for you
A man among men
I wanna make your world better than it's ever been
Boys: And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you
And I'll earn your trust making memories of us
Connor: We'll follow the rainbow
Wherever the four winds blow
Ricky: And there'll be a new day
Comin' your way
Boys: I'm gonna be here for you from now on
This you know somehow
You've been stretched to the limits but it's alright now
And I'm gonna make you a promise
If there's life after this
I'm gonna be there to meet you with a warm, wet kiss
At the last verse, Ryan knelt down in front of Ava and took her hand. Emma knew where this was going, but she tried to act surprised as her best friend looked ready to pass out.
Ryan: And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you
And I'll earn your trust making memories of us
I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you
And I'll win your trust making memories of us
At the end of the song, Ryan was still kneeling and holding Ava's hand. "Ava, you're the one. You always have been. I remember having a crush on you at Miramar and picturing us getting married, but then telling myself that we were so young and I was thinking too far in advance. But we began dating, and then we kept dating in high school, and we went to New York together... and I just knew this was meant to be. You aren't perfect, and neither am I, but I know that you're perfect for me. In every one of my visions for my future, good or bad, you're there. I know that whatever we do or wherever we are, we're going to be together, in the good times, in the bad. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone else in my life. So, Ava..."
Lizzie, Lexie, Laura, Izzy, Meg and Emma began giggling as Ryan reached into his pocket and got out the small box. He opened it and revealed the ring. "Ava, will you marry me?"
"I love you so much," Ava said, looking like she was hyperventilating.
"Is that a yes?" Ryan asked, looking thrilled.
"Yes! Yes!" Ava said.
Ryan put the ring on Ava's finger as they embraced and the Hudson family and Gold Stars Class of 2032 cheered.
"You'll be the best man, right?" Ryan asked Nick.
"Of course!" Nick said.
"He already agreed to it!" Ben said. "When we all agreed to be groomsmen."
"Shouldn't your brother be the best man?" Grant pouted.
"You're a little young," Ryan said. "But you can be the ring bearer and the junior best man."
"And you'll be the maid of honor, right?" Ava asked Emma.
Emma smiled. "Of course."
"You guys will be bridesmaids?" Ava said, turning to the other girls.
"Of course!" the girls said, hugging their friend.
"Great!" Ava said. "And I'll get my five-year-old cousin to be the flower girl."
Emma leaned over to Nick. "I think that might be us one day."
"So do I," Nick whispered back. That brought a smile to Emma's face. She hoped he meant it.
x
A few days later, Hiram, LeRoy, Shelby, Beth, Burt, Carole, Ally, Kurt, Blaine, Michael and Brendan arrived in Cleveland for Christmas. As predicted, everyone was all over Ryan and Ally and their new engagement rings. At first, Emma was relieved to have the pressure off her. After all, she was only 18. She didn't have to get married right away. At Christmas dinner though, Kurt turned to Emma. "With Ryan and Ally both engaged, it makes me wonder if Nick has any surprises for you."
"I don't think there are yet," Emma said. "Right now, we live in different states."
"Still, this is around the age your parents got married," Blaine said.
"Guys, don't put pressure on her," Finn said. "She's only 18."
"Yeah, and I'm older and don't even have a boyfriend right now," Beth added.
"I do want to marry Nick - some day," Emma said.
"Nick is still crazy about you," Ryan said.
"He talks about her still?" Ally asked.
"We just had dinner the other night," Emma said.
"Still, Ava and I are waiting until we're further into college to get married," Ryan said.
"Well, maybe Nick will propose to you at my wedding!" Ally said. "It's this spring."
Finn gave his sister a look, as if telling her to put less pressure on Emma.
"I'm sorry, Emma," Ally said. "I shouldn't assume things. But I do know you and Nick are meant to be."
"We all do," Beth said.
SONG: "Making Memories of Us" by Keith Urban (performed by Ryan Hudson, Nick Dougherty, Ben Morgan, Evan Crowell, Jeremy Hahn, Connor Feldman and Ricky Badovick)
Chapter 5 preview: Still deciding :) Sorry to keep you guys hanging!