“You got it!” Hannah said excitedly before pulling away. “We can do some planning next time I see you.”
“That’ll be next Friday, right? We agreed to meet every week,” I told them as I looked between her and Nick. We would all be busy getting our lives together post-college, but we needed to make time for each other and the dream that we wanted to achieve together. That meant weekly meetings to get UniVerse off the ground.
“I’ll be there,” Nick said with a nod.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Hannah replied before looking at Tyler. “You should sit in sometime. Make sure we’re doing this business thing right.”
Tyler cracked a smile and nodded. “If you want me to, I’d be happy to help out,” he replied.
I gave him a grateful look. He helped out in more ways than he realized. UniVerse was Hannah, Nick, and I’s project, but we were open to help from anyone. That was how businesses got launched. It was never the effort of only one person, so we had to be a team.
“Next Friday it is,” I said.
“Oh, there’s my mom. I’ll talk to you guys soon!” Hannah suddenly said as she waved at someone in the crowd of people around us. She flashed us a smile before hurrying off.
“Take good care of her,” Nick told Tyler, patting him on the arm before walking off to find his own family.
Tyler turned to look at me.
“You have some very caring friends,” he said.
I smiled and nodded, feeling glad that I could admit that. So many people had bad friends. Tyler could attest to that. I was lucky to have two people who genuinely cared about me and wanted the best for me.
“Yeah, they’re the best,” I replied. “Now, I have to meet your lovely friends.”
“Oh, we’re in that stage of our relationship?” Tyler asked with a playful laugh.
I placed my hand on my stomach. “I think we skipped a few stages,” I pointed out. We were doing a few things backward, but I didn’t mind. I liked our relationship, even if it was a little unconventional.
“I need to do some catch-up work then. We’d be married by now,” Tyler chuckled as he stepped closer to me.
My eyes widened at his words. “Married?” I asked him, making sure that I heard him right. We were already going to live together and have a baby together. Getting married seemed like the next step that made the most sense.
Tyler’s expression softened as he gazed down at me. “Of course, I want to marry you. You’re the one for me, and you’re the mother of my child,” he told me.
I felt myself tear up again. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones making me even more emotional, but I knew that it was also because he was being so sweet and making me so happy. Our future seemed that much brighter.
“I can’t wait,” I told him. I wanted him to ask right then and there, but I told myself to be patient. He would ask at the right time, and I already knew my answer. That was enough for this moment.
“Ready to go celebrate?” Tyler asked me.
Wherever he went, I wanted to follow. I couldn’t believe that there was a point in time when I couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as him. It just showed how little we knew about each other back then. Two ambitious people were bound to butt heads, but we figured out how to work together, and the rest of the pieces fell into place. Now, we had a beautiful life ahead of us.
“I’ve been ready,” I said as I flashed a smile at him.
“That’s my girl,” Tyler replied, shooting me a wink before taking my hand and leading me through the crowd to his car.
I followed along, taking a single moment to glance back at the stadium. This chapter of my life had finally come to an end. I could definitely say that I had an eventful senior year of college. I accomplished what I wanted to, but I was also granted so many more wonderful surprises that I never would’ve expected for myself. I ended my college career with an incredible internship, wonderful friends, great grades, the love of my life, and a baby. If I told my freshman year self what was in store for her, I was certain that she would’ve laughed in my face and called me crazy. I couldn’t blame her. She was a different person from who I was now.
It took a long time for me to grow into the person that I was now, but the journey was so worth it. I even treasured the hard times because the struggle and strain made me stronger. I faced an even greater challenge than college now. I had to start a business and raise a baby at the same time, but I wasn’t scared. I had the greatest people in my corner, and I was stronger and more determined than ever. The future needed to be scared of me.