Drawn To Each Horizon

Liv’s POV:
(July)

I can’t believe it’s already a year since Alex and I have been official. It’s kind of funny to think that so much time can move by and have it feel like no time has even passed at all. He was going to be home in a day or so, it’s been a while since he left for Spring Fever and then he went straight into the European tour, it felt like I barely got to see my baby at all. I had everything prepared, the dogs had been fed and they were lying on the couch on their best behavior, I had a picnic packed and ready to go, Liz said that she had the entire area was set up and ready to go. Now all I had to do was bring the food and wait for Zack to drop off Alex at the site.

I went into the bathroom and double checked myself, just in case anything was out of place. I adjusted my blue shirt and looked down at my flowy skirt; my outfit seemed to be in check. I walked back into the kitchen and looked at the patiently waiting dogs.

“Come on puppies; let’s go get ready for Alex!” I said in an excited tone and watched their tails wag happily as they jumped off the couch and towards my feet. “Come on!” I picked up the basket and my purse and went out the garage door. I opened up the backdoor and snapped my fingers so the dogs would go inside. I shut the door behind them and went around to the driver’s side. The car was tolerable since it had been in the garage vs. sitting out in the sun all day; it was nearly sunset now, the perfect time for a picnic. The dogs panted in the backseat while I carefully maneuvered out of the garage and into the street. I drove away to the place the picnic was at, it was the place where Alex had asked me to be to be his girlfriend.

The drive was short, a lot shorter than the first time I was there at least. I parked the car and admired how Liz had set up the string lights and flowers alongside the path. She sat at the gazebo making sure that all of the string lights and flowers were in place. I grabbed the basket and went over to the gazebo.

“Thank you so, so, so much for doing this Liz, you have no idea how much this means to me.” I hugged her tightly after setting the heavy basket down on the floor of the wooden area. She squeezed me back tightly, laughing lightly.

“You know it’s no big deal.” She insisted and let herself out of my grip. I was smiling from ear to ear, this was truly going to be the best anniversary I’ve ever had and I owed most of it to my friends. To be honest, the only thing I did was plan it out and make the food, Liz had set up the lights, and Zack was dropping him off. She returned my smile and rubbed my shoulder. “Well, have fun and keep things safe.” She added a wink afterwards and I couldn’t help but playfully punch her shoulder.

“Liz, I have the dogs here.” I just shook my head and laughed.

Her expression grew excited and she jumped up for a split second. “Can I see the dogs?” She reminded me of myself, I always got excited about dogs, whether they were puppies or adults and the size really didn’t matter either, a dog is a dog nonetheless. I only nodded and walked her over to the car but it was only now when I realized that there was a fault in my plan: where the dogs would go. I mean, they’re well behaved and everything but I don’t always take them out to places like this and I go to a gym instead of parks so they might be really curious and run off.

I opened up the backseat and grabbed their leashes, allowing them to get out. Liz knelt down to doggy level and giggled while the dogs wagged their tails and attacked her face with kisses, nothing but puppy love. “Oh my gosh,” she laughed, “I love them!” And then my phone vibrated, it was Zack.

From: Muscle Man
Just left my house, Alex is here and we’ll be there in around fifteen minutes. And don’t worry, he has no idea where we’re going, I promised that we’d go bowling.

I smiled and typed up a quick response since he’d only be dropping Alex off and not actually coming by to see me.

To: Muscle Man
Thanks for everything Zack; it’s really, really sweet of you. :*

I shoved my phone away into my purse and looked back at Liz who was still crouched in front of the dogs and a silly smile plastered across her features. “Well I should get going now.” She sighed and got up from the dogs who certainly did not lose interest in their new “friend.”

“Okay, uh Zack said that they’d be here shortly anyways.” I nodded and pulled her in for one more hug. “Thanks again.”

“Of course,” she beamed. “I know that you’d do the same for me!” This was nothing but the truth.

She walked over to my car and I waved at her, she smiled and pulled away from the tiny parking lot. I capered back to the gazebo, a skip in my step and it seemed almost contagious to the dogs as well. The lights lit up and the sky was starting to go pink, hopefully he’d get here soon or the mood would be off. I let the dogs off the leash and made sure that they were sitting down while I pulled the plaid blanket from the picnic basket. I set up the food, it was simple but it looked like it took me some time- which it really didn’t- and everything had come out nicely. I laid out the caprese salad, French bread, lemonade with lemon slices floating in the, sandwich wraps, champagne (for later), and finally, chocolate covered strawberries that I would keep in the basket until it was dark and we were drinking the champagne. I admired my work, everything was coming into place when I heard the gravel crackle under tires and I only now felt butterflies. It sat there for a minute until I head a door open and then Alex’s voice following after his feet hit the ground. “Okay, see you later I guess.” And then the door shut and Zack drove away.

The dogs’ ears were perched up and they ran to their owner’s voice, they would know it anywhere. I knelt down on the blanket, right of the food but slightly in front of it. I smoothed out my skirt and looked up right when Alex was at the edge of the path. He had a curious look on his face with his backpack hanging off his shoulder. His curiosity turned into a side smile and he ran up to me. I stood up and went to the steps of the gazebo, letting him engulf me into his arms. He picked me up and spun me around once, setting me down but not loosening his grip. The dogs sat at our feet and waited for us to finish up our moment, they just wanted to see daddy.

“Happy anniversary,” he whispered into my ear and pulled away to kiss me. The kiss was short, tender, and not much but full of love and nothing else. I held onto his hand and sat him down on the blanket, I sat next to him. He wrapped an arm around my waist and looked down at all of the items laid out ahead of us. “You did all this?”

“Well just the food, Liz laid out the lights.” I shrugged and he pulled me closer to his side so he could kiss my temple. “Happy anniversary Lex, I love you.”

--

After the food was finished, I cleaned up everything and took the blanket out to the clearing behind the gazebo, lying the blanket out so we could lay under the stars. While he was lying down I pulled out two champagne flutes and put them in his hands.

“Oh man, you brought champagne too?” He laughed.

“Yes I did.” I smiled and got up from the blanket. I had left the champagne in a cooler back at the car, “Let me just get it.” I walked back to the gazebo and then to the path that led me back to the car. I went around to the back and removed the bottle of champagne I had chilling in the cooler. I shut the car again and went back around to the blanket. Alex was still sitting on the blanket texting someone on his phone and he looked up at me with a smile.

“All right, so here’s this.” I sat back down next to him and handed him the bottle. “You should open it.” He unwrapped the foil and twisted off the metal bracket. With a steady hand, he held the bottle against his hip and jiggled the cork with his other hand. I watched as the cork eased off and the cork popped out, foaming a little over. I picked up the glasses and watched the bubbly liquid foam as it settled. He set the bottle down on a flat spot on the ground so it wouldn’t tip over.

“To us,” he held his glass up.

“To us,” I touched my glass on his and smiled at the small clink that it made. I brought the glass to my lips and felt the bubbles go down my throat; it was delicious to say the least. I pulled the glass away and Alex was looking at me with a smile on his face. “Oh I almost forgot the strawberries!” I put my hand to my chin and wriggled over to the basket where I had the strawberries still sitting. I pulled them out and placed them in between where Alex and I were lying.

“Mmm,” he picked up a strawberry and brought it to my lips, “How romantic.” I took a bite of said strawberry and giggled at him. He was as attractive as ever: the moonlight illuminating him perfectly, a sparkle in his eye, his mouth open just slightly enough to show a dark line in between, and his hair hung around his face perfectly. He set the strawberry down by his side and tilted his head, bringing a hand to my cheek.

“You look amazing.” He smiled.

“Alex,” I blushed and looked down at his hand.

“You know, I can’t really think of a better time to ask you this so.” He reached into his backpack and got out a small black box, turning back to me and getting onto one knee. “Olivia Marie Dawson, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” My jaw hung open as if there weren’t any hinges to keep it shut. I shook my head and waited for words to come out but nothing did. A tear rolled down my cheek and I brought a hand back up and covered my mouth, helping to close it too.

“Yes,” I managed to get the word out. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, of course I will marry you!” I nodded my head hurriedly and bit my lip. He slipped the ring onto my finger and kissed the back of my hand.

“God dammit I love you, I love you so fucking much.” He whispered and I leaned in to kiss him, knocking him over and basically lying on top of him. He smiled into the kiss and held onto my waist while my hands were pressed firmly against his chest. And in that moment, everything was perfect.

Notes

And that's the end! Now now, don't fret! This isn't quite the end of the series but the last book will be short and when I upload it, I will leave a link for you lovely kids! Thanks for sticking with me through this hot mess of a book and I assure you that the next one will be short and sweet, five to ten long chapters at most. I LOVE YOU AND THANKS AGAIN :*

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