Axel’s POV
“Baby, come on. Get up”
I groan and flip around, turning my back to my annoying boyfriend who’s trying to pull me out of bed.
He’s literally pulling me, and I’m currently holding onto the bed frame for dear life.
“5 minutes” I say and Jay sighs as he puts my legs down.
He sits down beside me and pats my bottom, “You said that 30 minutes ago, love” he says and I grunt.
“Time works differently in Axel’s dreamland” I mumble and he laughs.
“Seriously, come on babe. Remember our date today?”
At the mention of “date” I jump out of bed and scramble around my room trying to find decent clothes.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” I say as I almost slip on a sock.
He chuckles, “Now shoo, I need to look presentable” I say while pushing him out of the room and closing the door.
“Be ready in 15 minutes, dress casual” he says through the door, and my eyes widen. That’s not nearly enough time to get hide the permanent ugly on my face.
I quickly jump into the shower and almost slip on the tiles when I hop out, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I run to my closet and look for some decent clothing, and decide to just settle on a light blue sweater and black skinny jeans. I quickly pull on the sweater and hop around on one leg as I put on my jeans, trying to find the sock I slipped on earlier in the process. I find the sock but trip on the pant leg that I haven’t put on yet and was dragging behind me as I hopped around, falling on my butt.
God, I’m a mess.
I groan, and look at the time. 11:28, I only have 2 minutes.
I immediately jump up from the floor and struggle to put the other pant leg on. I hop over to the bathroom and finally succeed in putting my pants on properly. I don’t have enough time to do my hair, so I just dry it with a towel and grab a beanie, putting it on. He did say casual after all.
I grab my wallet and phone from the bedside table and hop over to the door while putting on a sock. The door opens and in comes Jay as I hop over to him but slip on a shirt on the floor and flat on my butt again. Today just isn’t my day. I’ve fallen twice and almost fell another 3 times. He laughs and holds out a hand for me. I take it and he helps me up.
“You okay?” he asks and I shake my head and scowl at him.
“If someone didn’t give me a time limit of 15 frickin minutes to get all the ugly off my face -which I now realize is impossible- then maybe I’d still be able to feel my ass! I fell twice and almost fell another 3 times while attempting to put on a pair of pants!” I huff and he laughs, kissing my forehead.
“I’m sorry princess, but we have lots to do today so I couldn’t let you waste anymore time since I already gave you time to sleep in. Plus, 15 minutes is plenty for you. You could’ve just left the house how you woke up and you’d still be the most beautiful person anyone has ever seen” he says and I roll my eyes.
“Flattery ain’t going to get you anywhere, bud” I say and push past him, going downstairs. I hear his laugh as he quickly catches up to me, taking my hand. We walk out to his car and I get in the passenger’s seat as he gets into the driver’s seat.
“These are for you by the way, just a little something to start off the day” he says as he hands me my favourite box of chocolates and my face lights up and a smile appears on my face, but I quickly hide it as I remember I’m supposed to be mad at him for causing me to become best friends with the floor.
“Don’t think you’re forgiven” I say as I take the chocolates from his hand and pop one into my mouth.
He laughs, “You’re adorable. Don’t worry, I’m fairly confident you’ll forgive me by the end of today” he says and I huff, knowing full well I’ll forgive him in the next 5 minutes.
“Where are we going?” I ask and he smiles.
“We’re first going to lunch, then I have the whole day planned out. Don’t bother asking, it’s a surprise. But I know you’ll love it” he says and I smile, nodding.
We drive for half an hour and I start getting suspicious. We left the border of town a while ago, and now we’re driving down a straight road, with no buildings in sight.
“Where is this place that we’re going for lunch?” I ask and he glances at me before focusing his eyes back on the road.
“It’s in the next town over. We’re almost there, don’t worry. One of the places I planned for us to go is quite far from here. Instead of just driving for 2 straight hours, I thought we could stop at different places for our date on the way there” he explains and I nod.
“How many places have you planned for us to go?” I ask and he looks down, counting with his fingers.
“Four” he says as he holds up four fingers, and I nod with a small smile.
He pulls up at a small diner, and we get out. “My friend owns this store so I thought I’d bring you here and introduce you two. Plus, I don’t know if any of the other restaurants and diners around here are any good.” he says and I nod.
He opens the door for me, “After you, princess” he says and I giggle.
“Why thank you, kind sir. You may stand out here and stand guard, make sure you keep out the intruders!” I say with a laugh as I walk in, and I see him roll his eyes with a smile.
“Hello, welcome to Gareld’s diner what can I-” I hear a guy say but gasps as he sees Jay. Jay smiles and the guy -I assume to be named Gareld- came over and they did the weird handshake thing that guys do.
They laugh and hug, “I’ve missed you man, what brings you over here?” Gareld says, he doesn’t seem to not have noticed me yet.
“I’m actually here with my boyfriend, Axel” he says and pushes me forward a bit, “We’re on a date, and we’re heading somewhere pretty far away so I thought we’d swing by here for lunch since it’s on the way”
“Nice to you meet you, Axel. I’m Gareld. I’ve heard a lot about you from Jayden. He talks about you nonstop. He’s really in love with you” Gareld says and I blush as Jay laughs.
He holds out a hand and I shake it, “It’s nice to meet you too” I say with a smile. We go and take a seat in a booth near the window as Gareld gives us our menus.
“You guys look over the menu, and I’ll be back” he says and walks off. I look at the menu and have no idea what to eat.
“Do you have any suggestions?” I ask Jay and he shakes his head.
“I’ve only been here once, but I remember that their club sandwich was good”
I nod, “I’ll take your word for it”
Gareld walks back over, holding a notepad and a pen. “So have you guys decided what you want?” he says and I look at Jay. He smiles and gives me a nod, telling me to order first.
“I’d like a club sandwich with a chocolate milkshake please” I say as Gareld nods and scribbles something onto his notepad.
“Burger and fries with a coffee” Jay says and Gareld looks at him, disappointed.
“No please? Where are your manners young man?” he says and I chuckle.
Jay rolls his eyes, “You’re only a year older than us, and I’m only polite to people I respect” he says and Gareld puts a hand on his chest, gasping.
He points the pen at him, “Don’t blame me for food poisoning”
Jay chuckles, “Like I care”
“Oh you would. If you get food poisoning you won’t be able to continue your little date. Although, I wouldn’t mind accompanying him” Gareld says winking playfully at me and I cover my mouth to hold back a laugh. Jay gives him the deadliest glare I’ve ever seen, and Gareld puts his hands up in surrender. If looks could kill, Gareld would be 11 feet under by now. No, not 6. 11, that’s just how harshly Jay is glaring right now.
“Okay, chill! I was kidding, you know I’d never do that!” he says but Jay continues to glare at him.
Gareld turns to me, “You got one scary boyfriend” he says and I shrug.
“I’ll go get your food” he says as he walks off, Jay might as well be burning holes into the back of Gareld’s head with the intensity of his glare. I tap him on the arm and he turns to look at me, the scowl on his face softening as he looks at me.
I hold his face in my hands and smile, “Hi baby, you doing okay?”
He sighs, closing his eyes and leaning into my touch. “Yeah, better now”
He opens his eyes to look at me, all the anger in his eyes having disappeared. He smiles.
“There you are” I say, returning the smile. He pulls me into a short kiss.
I smile into the kiss as I pull away, “This is not comfortable in the slightest, the table was hurting my tummy” I whine and he chuckles.
We sit back down, “I love you, I’m sorry if I scared you. I’m just really overprotective” he apologizes with a frown.
I shake my head, “You didn’t scare me, don’t worry. I love you too, and you being protective just shows that you care” I say with a huge smile. I know that Jay is overprotective of me because of my past and when he saw how shaken up I was when I met my parents, he just doesn’t want me to be upset like that again.
Our food arrives and I dig in immediately, since I haven’t eaten yet and I’m starving. True to his word, the club sandwich is really good. I take a sip of the chocolate milkshake and I moan at how good it is.
“Careful, you wouldn’t want to see the hard-on I’m about to sport right now” he says with a smirk, and I slap his arm lightly.
“Keep it in your pants, you horny bastard”
We finish eating and say goodbye to Gareld, as we get into Jay’s car and start another long ride. We drive for a good 45 minutes or so before we start heading into a forest. We follow a trail and I start to wonder if Jay was planning to murder me. We’ve gone deep into the forest, and we don’t seem to be nearing our destination. I look around the car for a knife or a gun, and Jay looks at me quizzically.
“What are you looking for?” Jay asks as I continue my search.
“Murder weapon” I say and Jay laughs.
“You planning on killing me, Miller?” he says and I shrug.
“Rather you than me. Right, Williams?” I say and he chuckles.
“I’d die for you any day”
We reach a clearing and a beautiful waterfall appears. I gasp, getting out of the car immediately after Jay stops the car and run over to it. I look at it in awe, turning around and smiling widely at Jay.
“It’s beautiful” I say and he nods.
“I found this a while back and wanted to show it to you” he says and I smile, going to hug him.
I pull away and plant a kiss on his lips, “Thank you, this is amazing”
I take out my phone and take pictures, grabbing Jay to take a few selfies with him. We walk along the river, hand-in-hand as I enjoy the scenery. I’ve always enjoyed nature, and was envious of my classmates who went on camping trips with their families. That was one of the things I wanted to do most when I was young, but there were no forests near our old house. Even if I wanted to go alone, there were no forests I could take a walk through.
He looks at his watch before looking back at me. “Let’s head out, shall we? The next thing I have planned is quite far from here, and I want to get to your last surprise before it gets dark” he says and I nod, following him back to his car.
We get in and he starts driving out of the forest, and back onto the road. We drive for a little over an hour, before a small warehouse starts to appear in the distance. We park in front of it and Jay gets out, opening the car door for me and I smile at him before getting out.
This warehouse looks like those typical gang warehouses where they hide all their drug shipments and weapons in movies. Jay takes my hand as he opens the door, entering the warehouse with me in tow. I gasp and my eyes widen as I see what’s in front of me.
A huge hot air balloon sits in the middle of the warehouse. I look up at Jay with a huge smile on my face, and hug him. Hot air balloon rides were one of the top things on my bucket list, and I’m surprised Jay knew since I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it.
“What if I was afraid of heights? That could’ve ruined your whole plan” I say and he chuckles.
“I ran through my date ideas with Jack, and he told me that hot air balloon rides were one of the top things on your bucket list. So, here we are” he says with a smile on his face.
I excitedly run over to the hot air balloon, observing it with a huge grin. It was blue with a cute ombre to purple. The roof starts to open up and I jump back, startled. I look at Jay and see him holding a remote in his hand. He walks over to me as the roof opens completely, and lifts me up. I squeal and he chuckles as he places me into the basket, and he hops in after.
“Don’t we need help with this?” I ask and Jay shakes his head.
“I’ve been on a bunch of these with my family when we go in vacation, so I know how they work by now” he says as he fumbles around with the sandbags.
I roll my eyes, “Rich bastard” I say and he chuckles.
“Well that means I have tons of money I can spoil you with” he says as we start floating off the ground. I run to the edge and look down, seeing us start to go higher and higher. I’ve always loved heights. I think it has to do with me being so short, it feels nice to see things from a different point of view for once.
We start flying over some mountains and I look around with a smile. I turn around to see Jay filming me with his phone, a fond smile on his face.
“We’re so high up!” I exclaim and turn back around, looking at the scenery once more. I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist as Jay places his chin on my head.
“You enjoying yourself?” he asks and I nod quickly, continuing to look out into the horizon. The world is so big, and as you see it from so high up, you realize just how small and insignificant your problems actually are. Someone always has it worse than you, so that shouldn’t be an excuse to not try hard.
“Hey baby, look at me” he says and I turn around to look at him. He removes a hand from my waist and ruffles through his pockets and pulls out a box. I gasp and cover my mouth with my hands.
He removes his other hand from my waist to open the box, revealing a shiny silver band with a few diamonds in it. I feel tears well up in my eyes and quickly wipe them away with my sleeves.
“I know we’ve barely known each other for a year, but this was the best year in my entire life, and I can no longer picture my life without you. We’ve been through so much, and I just want to make you happy. I know it’s really early on in our relationship for me to start thinking this, but I’ve had a crush on you for 4 years now, so you can see where I’m coming from, right?” he says and I nod, wiping the tears from my eyes.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but don’t freak out! I’m not proposing yet, this is just a promise ring. A promise to show that I’ll always stick with you no matter what happens” he shows me his hand with the same ring around his ring finger.
“This will have to do until we’re both ready for marriage. I love you, Axel Miller” he says and holds out a hand.
I place my hand in his as he slips the ring onto my finger, kissing the back of my hand. I kiss him and he kisses me back, us pouring all of our feelings into the kiss. I pull away, and smile up at him. He wipes away the tears on my face and kisses my forehead.
“I love you too, Jayden Williams”
We fly around for a little longer, before we start descending. Jay helps me get out of the hot air balloon, and he takes my hand as we walk back out to his car.
“I really enjoyed today, thank you” I say as he closes his car door.
“Don’t thank me yet, we still have one more place to go. Our final destination” he says as he pulls away from the warehouse and goes back the way we came. I yawn, and blink a few times.
“You can sleep, we have an hour and a half drive ahead of us” Jay says and I nod, drifting off into a much needed sleep.
“Hey Axe, we’re here” I hear Jay’s voice as he shakes me lightly and I open my eyes, slowly blinking the sleep out of them. I look around and see us parked in front of a house.
“Where are we?” I ask as I rub the sleep out of my eyes.
“We’re at my last surprise for the day” he says and helps me get out of the car.
He takes my hand we walk up the stairs of the porch. He knocks on the door and an elderly lady opens the door and smiles at us.
“Hello dear. Jayden, right?” she asks and he nods.
“Hello ma’am I’m here to pick up his surprise” he says pointing at me.
She nods, “I’ll be right back”
She disappears into the house and comes back out after a few minutes with a bundle of blankets in her hand. I see Jay take out his phone to record and I look at him, puzzled.
“She’s sleeping, so be careful” The lady hands me the blankets and I see a little snout peeping out from under the blankets. I gasp, and move the blanket to reveal a golden retriever puppy. I feel tears well up in my eyes as the cuteness is too much to bear.
I look up at Jay and he smiles, “She’s going to need a name. What would you like to name her, princess?” he asks and my eyes widen.
“W-Wait, I get to keep her?” I ask and I feel tears roll down my cheeks as I see Jay nod with a smile.
“Surprise, baby!” he says and I wipe the tears in my eyes and go to hug Jayden, careful to not wake the puppy in my arms. He puts away his phone so he can hug me properly.
“Thank you so much Jay. I love you so much. You’ve done so much for me and I-” I stop as I feel pair of lips on mine, shutting me up effectively.
He pulls away and smiles at me, “You deserve this babe, and I should be thanking you. You don’t realize how much you being in my life means to me, how much you mean to me” he says and kisses my head.
I smile at him, “I love you” I say and he smiles.
“I love you too. Now, what are you going to name her?”
I look down and the sleeping puppy in my arms and smile.
“I have the perfect name” I say and Jay smiles.
“What is it?” he says and I look up at him.
“Pancake”
The End
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A/N: The story’s finally over T^T
I’ve had so much fun writing this and I can’t believe it’s already come to an end. There’s an epilogue that’ll be released next week so stay tuned! I hope you enjoyed this book.
Please vote, and have a nice week!
Stay healthy!
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