Chapter Fifty-Six

Icontinue playing the rest of my song, my eyes glued to Alison's. I want nothing more than to run towards her, scoop her into my arms, and kiss away all of her tears. By the way she keeps inching towards me and quickly stopping, she wants that, too. But I have to finish this song. I have to let her know everything.

"She has no idea just how much I wasn't fine . . . until I was touched by her everlasting sunshine."

Her smile grows at that line. At this point, her shoulders are shaking from the tears running down her face.

I strum out the final chord. "I really hope that she wants to be Miss Perfectly Mine." I finish the last lyric, but I keep my eyes glued to her. The crowd erupts around us but I ignore it, waiting for her reaction.

Before I can even register what's happening, she's running into my arms. I push my guitar behind me.

"Come here, girl." I wrap my arms around her and pull her towards me, not wanting even a millimeter of space between us. I crash my lips into hers.

The kiss goes from instant sweetness to insane passion. I swear the cheers and stomps around us are strong enough to create an earthquake.

I quickly pull my lips away from hers and lift her into the air. I rest my forehead on hers.

"I forgot we had an audience." I laugh.

I hear shouts of ‘we don't mind' and ‘it's fine' coming from the crowd. We both laugh. I can feel her chuckle go through her entire body.

"I've missed this," I whisper to her.

"What? The public display of affection or being on stage?" she whispers back.

"The feeling of my arms wrapped around you. The feel of your lips on mine. The look of that smile that you only have for me."

"I'm so sorry, Archer. I messed up."

"I know." I kiss her forehead.

"No, I need you to really know. Everything."

"Ali, I do know. Once I actually let myself think deeper past the confusion, it wasn't very hard to figure out what was going through your mind and why you did what you did. I'm sure you thought you were doing what was best for me. I understand. And I'm not mad at you. I'm not even upset anymore. I'm just glad that we're here right now."

She nods and kisses me again. All too soon, she's pulling her lips from mine. I lean forward trying to make contact again but she pulls her head back. "We have an audience, remember?"

"And I guess on that note, I only have one question for you, Miss Alison Quick," I say into the mic turning towards the audience but keeping my hand around her waist and her body against my side. "What do you say? Will you be Miss Perfectly Mine?'

She smiles up at me and then brings her mic to her lips. "I'd love nothing more."

The crowd roars with excitement.

"Then let's get this show on the road!" I say as the band starts up around us.

I hand a guitar to Alison, and she instantly starts strumming out the chord progression with her glittery dark blue pick. I smile down at her, not able to take my eyes off of her.

"I've never been this happy," Alison mumbles against my chest as we lie on the couch in her room. The show ended a little bit ago and we booked it out of there. Together. Somehow, we managed to avoid being stopped by anyone. Or maybe they decided to just let us go. We've been in her room ever since, just enjoying this quiet time.

I kiss the top of her head. "Not even when you got your first record deal?'

"Nope."

"Or when you got to do your first stadium tour?"

"Nope."

"Or won your first award?"

"Not even close."

She wraps her hands around my waist. "You're the best award I could win. The biggest dream I could accomplish. I love you."

"Say that again."

"I love you." I pull her up so that we're face to face and give her a quick kiss.

"I love you. I love you. I love you." I kiss her again. Longer this time. It's like we never spent any time apart. My lips remember hers perfectly.

"I love you, too," I whisper against her lips. "Forever."

I pause for a second.

"I mean that, Alison. Truly. I want you through everything. The good. The bad. The in between. In sickness and in health. You don't have to hide anything from me. You don't have to worry about it being too hard for me."

Alison turns away from me for a second. "I heard you telling Willow that you couldn't do this again. That morning. That's why I walked away. I didn't want you to have to go through it again. Like you did with your mom."

My eyes go wide. I pull her face towards mine, resting my forehead on hers.

"That's not what I meant. Not even a little bit. I meant I didn't want to feel so helpless again. Like I had to sit and watch you suffer. I wanted to be prepared. I wanted to be able to help. And that's what I plan on doing. From here on out, I'll be by your side. I'll do whatever I can."

Alison nods her head. "There could be some really hard times. Even worse than that night. I have no idea what my future holds for me. I could be fine. Or I could end up way worse. You're really okay with that?" her voice goes quieter when she asks that question.

"I accept it all. I want it all. I want to love you more than any man has ever loved any woman. It doesn't scare me, Alison. I welcome it with open arms. I just want to love you. Just let me love you, Baby."

"Forever then?" she asks.

"I'm on your team," I respond. "Always."

"There you are," Juliet says as Willow and I finally emerge from her room, my arm wrapped around Alison's waist.

Juliet, Dad, and Willow are all lounging in the main area. Empty food containers are scattered on the table in front of them.

"Yeah, we thought we'd never see you guys again," Willow winks. "So, our power couple is back together once again?"

"Forevermore," Alison responds.

Willow's eyebrows go up. "Wait, is there some bling I need to see?"

Alison shakes her head quickly. "Oh, no. Back together. Not engaged."

"Not yet," I respond.

Alison's eyes dart up to mine. I bend down and give her a kiss before she can say anything. I feel the smile on her lips.

"You two make me sick," Juliet says from across the room. "I'm going to go find some chips."

"Oh, Juliet, what would we do without you?" I laugh.

"Well, you'd probably both be moping in your rooms still too wimpy to go tell the other how you're feeling."

We all start laughing. I look at Alison who meets my gaze.

"You know, she's probably right," Alison points out.

"Sadly, she does that a lot," I answer as I kiss her again.

"Ugh!" Juliet shouts as she walks out. "Always the tone of surprise."

We both laugh.

"Love you," I whisper.

"Love you, more," Alison whispers back.