Epilogue MALLORY
Graduation, Senior Year
We’re late. We live five minutes away from campus, which Oliver knows, and yet, still decided to get changed at the last minute.
“Mallory!” He flies through the hallway in nothing but his boxers and socks. “Have you seen my tie? The one with the little Spiderman symbol in the middle?”
I smile, shimmying into my dress that was hanging in our living room. “You want to wear that tie to graduation?”
He just blinks at me as if to say duh.
“It’s in the closet, hanging on the tie rack, should be the first one.”
He offers me a thanks as he skids back towards our bedroom. Making so much damn noise. He’s been really agitated all weekend. I don’t know what’s going on with him. Graduation is important, yeah, but he doesn’t have to stand up and present or give a speech or anything. He has to say a quick thanks and stuff to the sports department since he’s technically still captain, but he loves that sort of stuff. I hear a grumble and a couple of curses, and I give in. I quickly zip up my sparkly midnight blue dress and head to our bedroom
“Ollie, baby, If you don’t hurry up and get dressed, we’re going to be late to gradu–”
I walk into the room to find Oliver down on one knee, his dress shirt still unbuttoned, tie hanging loosely around his neck, still in his boxers and socks. In his hand, is a cream velvet box. Unopened. My vision becomes blurry as I slowly walk towards him. “Baby?”
“I – oh Jesus, I don’t think I'm going to get through this without crying, Mallie – just pre–warning you.” He smiles, his hands shaking as he holds that tiny velvet box with a death grip, like the moment he drops it, everything will fall apart. He takes one of my hands and squeezes tight, dragging his thumb loosely over my knuckle. “My Marshmallory,” Oh Jesus, now I’m the one crying.
“I have known since the first time I saw you, since that first moment, that you were it. You were going to be the one for me. No matter what anyone says, no matter how much time people think we wasted ignoring our feelings. I don’t see it like that, not really. The way I see it, we needed this… we needed to be best friends first. We needed to prove to ourselves that we are each other's number one.” He pulls me in a little closer. “I think you needed me to prove that I was different from everyone else, and I don’t mind. Because I think I did a good job. But Mallie, baby, you need to know that, from the second I saw you that summer, my heart was yours. You took it clean out of my body with that damn smile, and I don’t ever want it back. You are the sweetest thing I have ever seen in my fucking life, and I don’t ever want to be without you.”
He reluctantly lets go of my hand, and opens the box. My knees give in when I see the ring, and I fall to the floor. He’s holding me up, gripping my waist with his free hand. I can feel his eyes on me, but my eyes are on the ring. The Blush pink sapphire engagement ring, with two round cut diamonds on either side, set with a silver band.
“I want you to be my wife, Mallie, soon. As in, tomorrow when we leave for our trip, soon.”
It’s pink. He gave me a pink engagement ring. Like he said he would.
“Mallie,” he starts, his voice wobbly and horace. I dare to look up at him, and tears are streaming down his face. “Dolcezza mia, ti amo così tanto. Mi vuoi sposare?”
My sweetheart, I love you so much. Will you marry me?
I nod frantically tackling him to the floor in the tightest, most embracing hug I can give him. Words. I need to find the words to say how I feel, but there are none. No words in any language could correctly portray my feelings for him. The box digs into my back as he grabs my waist. I move my hands up his face, cupping his cheeks. Leaning in to kiss the salty streams away. “Yes,” I whisper into his lips. “Sì, sì sì sì!”
“I love you so much, Mallie.”
“I love you so much, Ollie.”
“But, as it physically pains me to say this, you can’t wear the ring yet.”
I frown, rising off him so we’re now in a sitting position on the floor. “Why not?”
“Because both our parents will kill us.”
Parents. Brothers. Dad. Right. I forgot other people exist in this world beside us. “Can I,” I sniffle, wiping my nose with my sleeve. “Can I just try it on, first?” He smiles, taking it out of the box and sliding it onto my finger. It fits perfectly. And now I'm crying even more, staring at the pink diamond sparkling before me. “It’s s–so b–beautiful.” I look up at him, look at all the love sparkling in his eyes, love for me.
“Now we have to go graduate, and pretend to all our friends and families that we aren’t going to spend the rest of our lives together.” He swipes his thumb across my cheeks.
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” I reply. “They all know that you’re it for me.” He leans away from me, reaching for something in our bedside drawer. I look down and see a bag of candy, wrapped in a light pink bow. “They’re candy love hearts, with our names on them.”
This boy.
My heart.
He rests his forehead against mine. “It’s you and me, Mallie. Forever.”
I have known since the start, just like him, that he’s it for me. And I’m an idiot for all the times I thought otherwise. It’s him, it always has been.
And now I get to spend the rest of our lives proving it to him.
Over and over again.