12. On the Marriage Track
ON THE MARRIAGE TRACK
ANNELISA
TWENTY YEARS OLD
Annelisa
Annelisa
Hey babe, what time are you picking me up tonight?
Will
I finish at 4, so I’ll swing by to get you after I run home for a shower.
Annelisa
Great. Can’t wait for whatever this big surprise is!
“And you have no idea what the surprise is?” Morgan sits on my bed, wrapping a section of my hair around the curling wand while I sit on the floor in front of her.
“No. And I feel so bad. I should be the one surprising him. He’s the one who’s just finished his apprenticeship.” I watch in the mirror as Morgan expertly turns my dead straight hair into a mass of perfect curls.
“Yeah, but it’s Will. He’ll use any excuse to spoil you. If I didn’t have Chris, I’d be so jealous of how perfect your boyfriend is.”
I smile. “Yeah, he’s pretty amazing. Wait, does Chris know what the surprise is?” I turn to look at her.
She tsks and forces me to turn back around. “Don’t do that, I don’t want to burn your hair off! And yes, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“Rude. What’s the point of them being best mates if I can’t even get the insider information from your boyfriend?”
“Yes, how dare Chris keep his word to Will?” Morgan smirks at me in the mirror.
I gasp. “You do know!”
She shakes her head while laughing. “No, I promise, I really don’t know. Will swore him and Jake to absolute secrecy.” She freezes, her mouth falling open. “Oh my god, do you think he’s going to propose?”
I stare at her in the mirror. “Um… I really hope that’s not it.”
She raises an eyebrow while she gathers another section of my hair together. “Why not? You guys are totally on the marriage track.”
“No, we’re not. That’s you and Chris. Will and I don’t even live together. Neither of us is ready for marriage.” I don’t know why the thought of marriage fills me with so much dread, but I’m suddenly terrified of whatever this surprise might be.
Will knows I’m not even close to ready for marriage yet, surely…
Morgan continues talking, oblivious to my change in mood.
“ Well, I for one think it would be so romantic. And what’s so bad about marriage?
I can’t wait til Chris proposes. I’ve been sending him photos of rings for like a year, ever since we moved in together.
Even though we won’t be getting married before we’re twenty-five. ”
“Ah yes, your weird fixation on getting married at twenty-five.” The smirk on my face drops away, and I sigh. “I don’t know, M, after everything with Dad, I’m not all that sold on the marriage stuff.”
Morgan finally seems to realise that I’m not all that happy about this line of conversation. “Hey… Will’s nothing like your dad, babe. He would never cheat on you.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I thought that about Dad. There were zero signs that he was a cheating asshole.”
Morgan releases the last curl and gives me a pitying look in the mirror. “Lis… You don’t seriously think Will is capable of even looking at someone else, right? You’re his entire world.”
I shrug. “I love Will. And I trust him… I just don’t know… Marriage isn’t something I have even considered for us. We’re only twenty, anyway. I’m not in any rush to settle down. There’s so much I want to do before I even consider anything like that.”
“Like what?” Morgan seems genuinely confused about why I’m not begging Will to put a ring on my finger.
“Like… Travel the world. Find a job I love. Lots of things.”
My retail job at the local car parts store certainly isn’t what I want to be doing for the rest of my life, but I’d worked there through year twelve and just stayed once I graduated high school.
It’s worked out okay while at uni, but I graduate next year and I have no idea what I want to do with my life.
The dream is to get into publishing, but there’s not a huge demand for publishing jobs in Brisbane.
And while I’ve been tinkering around with a few story ideas, I know how hard it is to get a book published, so not sure I can pin my hopes and dreams on that either.
“Neither of those things would be impacted by you getting married though. You could travel together. And Will would support you finding a new job. Maybe you can finally start working on getting published?”
As much as I love Morgan, there’s just no way she’s going to get it.
Not wanting to continue going around in circles with the conversation, I smile and just shrug. “Maybe.”
While she doesn’t seem convinced that she’s talked me around, she gives in.
Once she’s tamed the curls into a perfect up-do, I go into the bathroom to put on my make-up.
Tara is out with Kylie somewhere, and Mum is at work, so it’s just the two of us in the house, which is strange for a Saturday afternoon.
Usually I spend most of my Saturday’s at Morgan and Chris’s place until Will finishes work and we all go out for dinner or something.
But Will was insistent that we have a date night tonight, which feels weird.
I really hope Morgan is wrong.
Morgan leaves while I’m putting the finishing touches on my outfit, and not long after, I hear a knock on the front door.
Confused, I open the door to find Will standing there, looking absolutely delicious in dark jeans and a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Even after four years together, he’s still the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, and my mouth goes dry when he gives me one of his trademark grins.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says, stepping forward to kiss me lightly on the lips.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I deepen the kiss, needing to feel as close to him as possible.
I pull away after a moment and smile at him. “Hey, handsome. Why didn’t you just beep the horn like normal?”
“Because it’s a date. I’m being a gentleman and collecting you from your door. You look gorgeous, by the way,” he adds, stepping back to run his eyes over my emerald green dress. “I don’t think I’ve seen this dress before.”
“It’s new. Morgan and I went shopping earlier.”
“Well, it suits you. Green is definitely your colour.” He tugs on one of the curls that Morgan left loose to frame my face. “And I love this, too.”
I grin. “You certainly know the way to make a girl feel special, Mr Anderson.”
He steps closer again and presses a kiss to my forehead. “You deserve to be told how beautiful you are every day, Annie.”
I feel a little flutter in my chest, and for about the millionth time since he walked into my life, I marvel at how lucky I am to have found him.
I pull the door shut behind me and lock it, before turning back to face him. “Alright. What’s the surprise?”
He laughs, tugging on the curl again. “So impatient. All in good time.”
I give him a fake pout, which just makes him laugh again before taking my hand and leading me to his ute.
“Not even a hint?”
He opens the door for me. “Nope. Just go with the flow, babe.”
I roll my eyes and climb in. “When have you ever known me to go with the flow?”
“Never. But you should try it. You never know, you might like it.” He gives me a cheeky grin and shuts the door before moving around to the driver’s side.
“It’s like you don’t even know me at all,” I joke.
“I know everything about you, Annie, and I love every part of you.”
Well, now how am I meant to argue with that ?
I have no idea where Will is taking me while he drives through the back streets of our suburb. At first, I thought he might be taking me back to the house he lives in with his parents and sisters, but we passed his street, and now I don’t even know where we are.
We pull up outside a townhouse complex a few minutes later, and I give him a confused look.
“What are we doing here?”
“You’ll see,” he says with a smile, turning the car off.
Getting out, I join him on the footpath, and he takes my hand. He leads me to the side gate of the townhouse at the front, and I watch him pull his keys out of his pocket. When he unlocks the door, my confusion increases. Why the hell does he have a key to this place?
He stands back and gestures for me to go inside first. I walk slowly through the door, raising an eyebrow at him as I pass. The house is completely empty, save for a picnic blanket and basket on the floor, and my footsteps echo through the tiled living space.
“Seriously… Will, what’s going on?”
He grins at me before walking onto the picnic blanket. “I can’t believe you haven’t worked it out yet.”
My heart rate picks up when he reaches into the basket, and for one terrifying moment, I’m worried he’s got a ring stashed away in there. But he simply pulls out a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
“Nope, still haven’t worked it out, so please spell it out for me.”
“Okay. I signed the lease on this place yesterday.”
I stare at him for a moment, stunned. “What?”
He repeats the sentence, but it’s still not computing.
He’d not mentioned moving out of his parents’ place, so I’m surprised that he’s suddenly signed a lease on a whole townhouse.
Aren’t we supposed to get housemates first?
Isn’t that what other twenty-year-olds do?
Get a bunch of annoying housemates and eat two-minute noodles ?
“I don’t understand…”
Will’s smile falters a little when he runs his gaze over my face. “I know we didn’t exactly talk about moving in together yet, but I saw this place, and it was the right price, now that I’m on a full-time rate.”
I gape at him. “Wait… you got this place for us?”
“Well, I got it for me. But I’m really hoping you’ll want to live here with me.” He seems to have realised that I’m not as on board with all of this as he assumed.
“Um… I don’t know what to say… I hadn’t realised you were wanting to move in together?”
He raises both eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t I want us to move in together?”
“Because we’re only twenty,” I reply, trying to keep my voice even while panic sets in.
“Yeah, and we’ve been together for four years. It’s the natural next step, right?”
I take a deep breath. “I didn’t realise we were on a set path…”
He takes a step closer to me, running a hand up and down my arm. “Did I fuck up? I thought you’d be excited.”
I peer up at him, still trying to wrap my head around what’s happening. “I just… You’re not proposing to me or anything like that, are you?”
His eyes widen. “Uh, no. Do you want me to propose? I didn’t realise you wanted us to be married before we live together.”
“No!” I say quickly, and it calms me a little when he looks relieved. At least we’re on the same page about marriage at this stage. “I’m just really surprised, that’s all.”
“But… good surprised?”
I look around the empty space, trying to imagine what it would be like to live here with him. I guess it could be fun. We spend every night together anyway, either at his parents’ or at mine. So it’s not like it’s too big of a change.
“Show me around,” I say .
He grins, taking my hand and squeezing it. “I can do that. Come on.”
He leads me through the house, and my hesitation slowly turns into excitement at the plans he has for each space. He shows me the upstairs, stopping at a small room off the master bedroom.
“I thought this would work as your office.”
I pause, shooting him a confused look. “My office?”
“Yeah. For your writing. I figured you’d need a decent space, and it’s got a nice view over the park from here, so you can look out at it when you’re coming up with your ideas for your bestselling novel.
” I feel a goofy smile start to form on my face, and his eyes light up when I throw my arms around his neck. “So… I’m back in your good books?”
“You were never out of my good books. But this has definitely earned you some extra credit. I can’t believe you got me an office.”
“Correction, I got you a whole house.”
I tip my head back and laugh, before kissing him. “I love you, Will Anderson.”
“I love you too, Annie. So is that a yes? Will you move in here with me?”
I nod. “It’s a yes.”
“Fuck yeah!” He pumps his fist before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me in close, kissing me hard before spinning me around on the spot.
We spend the rest of the evening hanging out on the floor in our new lounge room, and after dinner - pizza from our new local Italian restaurant - I let him undress me slowly and make love to me on the floor of my new office.
An aspiring romance author needs inspiration, after all.
And what’s more romantic than having the perfect man show you just how much he loves you?