“Why do I get the impression you’re less concerned about graduation than something else?”  Sorrel asked me, apparently amused by my difficulty in picking the proper graduation outfit.

“Because I am more concerned about something else.”  I frowned at the dress shirt, then dug in my closet for something else.  Something that said “you should marry this guy” without, you know, actually having those words printed on it.

“You know you don’t have to ask him the minute you graduate, right?”  Sorrel was sitting on my bed, completely unsympathetic to my plight.  “You can take him out for a date or something tonight.”

I threw him a sour look.  “We’ve been waiting for forever.  And no, of course I’m not proposing in front of the entire school, Riven would be too embarrassed to say yes.  I have this planned.”

Technically, it was Honey’s plan.  She had come up with this idea that we could have lunch together in Riven’s backyard, which she and I had transformed into blooming a fairy garden last night and forbidden Riven from looking outside.  I wasn’t sure if that would work – I mean, his curiosity was strong and he’d probably stolen a peak at some point this morning – but point was, I was going to steal Riven after the whole graduation celebration, go back to his place, and propose amongst a shower of flowers.

If I could ever settle on what to wear, that is.

“Ren,” Sorrel sounded amused but like he was trying to be patient, “Riven really won’t care what you wear.  He thinks you look great in everything.”

He wasn’t entirely wrong, but that didn’t mean I wanted to just wear whatever.  I still wanted to make Riven gawk at me if I could.  Hmm.  Wait, there was a shirt he liked once, I remembered he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off me.  Something blue if I remembered, a little darker than my eye color.  Ha!  Found it.  Now, what to wear with it, jeans?

Sorrel apparently gave up on helping me – or observing me, whatever his particular goal was – and wandered out, but since he hadn’t been that helpful to begin with, I didn’t really care.

Honey, however, appeared later after I was dressed and gave me a critical once-over before nodding her approval.  “You look nice, Riven will approve.”

“Thanks.”  I blushed lightly at the reference to dressing for Riven’s approval.  I mean, it was true, but it was still kind of embarrassing that everyone knew that.

“Ren!  Kids!”  Mom called from downstairs.  “We need to get going or we’ll be late!”

I quickly rushed downstairs to join them, eager to get this ceremony over with so I was officially graduated and able to get engaged if I so wanted.  And I did so want.

Mom and Dad were both clearly amused at my impatience, but they knew the reason for it and neither of them mentioned it.  Not until after I’d marched across the stage with the other graduating seniors, gotten congratulated by a ridiculous number of extended family, and started to make my escape with Riven, that was.  Then Mom leaned over and whispered to me: “good luck, go make him an official family member,” and gave me an encouraging smile, while Dad chuckled a bit at the way her words make my face flush bright red.

I grabbed Riven’s hand and practically dragged him outside to his car – I hadn’t brought my own because I wanted to ride with him – and then held out my hand for the keys, which he willingly surrendered.  Riven still didn’t love driving, so he was more than happy to let me drive if we were together.

Neither of us said a word the whole drive.  I was starting to feel extra nervous, while Riven just kept glancing over at me.  Whether it was curiosity over my nervous state or he was appreciating my shirt choice, I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t quite brave enough to look over at him and find out.

I pulled into his driveway, hit the button for the garage, and then parked inside.  We both got out and Riven unlocked the house, leading us inside in silence.

The cats greeted us, the black one eager to rub against my legs while the Ragdoll pretended he didn’t care until he randomly flopped over to tempt me with his fluffy belly.

Normally, I’d have been happy to give in to said temptation, but today I had a goal in mind and even fluffy cat bellies weren’t going to distract me.

“I need 15 minutes to warm up the food,” I told Riven, without really looking at him now that my nerves were hitting more full-force.  “Um, I guess you can do whatever until then?”

“Whatever, huh?”  Riven followed me into the kitchen and then hugged me from behind.  “Well, if I can do whatever I want, I want to do this.”

I laughed, unable to help myself.  “I’d normally love that, babe, but it’s going to slow me down getting the food ready.”

“Who cares?”  He pressed a kiss to the back of my shoulder blade.  “Come on, you gave me graduation kisses, don’t I even get to give you hugs?”

I turned around in his arms and gave him a swift, but deep kiss.  “15 minutes,” I promised him, looking into his beautiful gray eyes.  “15 minutes, then I’m all yours.”  In more ways than one, I hoped.

Riven sighed as if deeply put off but let me go and instead went to collect the now-offended fluffy cat, who seemed bewildered that the honor of his offered fluffy belly had been declined.  Riven soothed him and petted him, but I noticed his eyes were following me the entire time, a smile playing on his lips.

Eventually I deemed the food suitably warm because if I had to wait any longer I was going to lose my mind, so I dished it up and then carried the plates into the backyard.

When we’d left last night, Honey had closed the curtain over the sliding glass doors leading into the backyard in hopes that Riven wouldn’t see anything, and apparently he’d actually followed our instructions not to peek because I heard him gasp when I pulled back the curtain to go outside.

“Ren!  What did you do to my backyard?!”

I carefully placed the plates down at the little table we’d set up, blushing lightly.  “Do you like it?”

“It’s gorgeous!”  Riven came outside, staring in wonder at all the plants.  “How did you guys do this in one day?”

“Fairies.”  I winked at him.  “Making stuff grow is our specialty.  That,” I grew more serious, “and loving you, for me at least.”

He turned his attention back to me, his face softening.  “I know you do, sweet fairy,” he reached up and gently caressed my face with one hand.  “I love you, too.”

I’d planned to wait until after we ate but suddenly all thoughts of food flew out of my mind.

“Riven, I really love you,” I told him earnestly.  “When I first saw you under that tree, I knew I needed to get to know you, even if I didn’t know why.  When I found out you were my soulmate, I knew I had to keep you in my life even if it meant exposing you to a world I didn’t think you knew about.  When I found out about your mom and everything you’d been through, I knew I wanted to keep you safe so you’d never go through anything like that again.  When we started dating, I knew I wanted to make you happier than you’d ever been before since you make me feel like that every day.  And when we started sleeping together, I knew – I knew we knew each other better than we know anyone else and I knew you were forever for me, so,” I took a deep breath, “Riven, will you marry me?  So we can be together forever, permanently, officially, every day for the rest of our lives?”

Riven reached up to take my face in his hands, a tender smile on his face.  “Yes, Ren, I would love to marry you.”  And then he kissed me, his love in that kiss so powerful it almost knocked me over.

“I hope you’re prepared to live a fairy tale,” I whispered to him, feeling so blissful as I pulled him close to me.

“What?”  He laughed a little, his eyes searching mine.  “What do you mean?”

“Now we get to live happily ever after,” I explained, then leaned down to kiss him again.

Because that was definitely going to happen.  Riven was my soulmate, my best friend, and now my fiancé.  I loved him, he loved me, and together we were better people than we were apart.  He was my future, just like I was his.

We were definitely going to live happily ever after.