We walk in, going straight for the seats we always get. This time, there isn't anyone up here. "Looks like it's just us." I sit down in the seat.
"It's still early," he says, sitting next to me. Five innings go by, and I look over at him, seeing that his leg is bouncing. "What’s wrong with you?" I ask, and he just looks at me.
"Do you know that I think I fell in love with you when we went to our first baseball game?" He turns to look at me, and I just laugh. He takes my hand in his. "You're my best friend," he says softly, bringing my hand to his mouth, and all I can do is look at him, my eyebrows pulling together now. "Every single day, I look over, and I'm in awe that I get to call you mine." When he gets up, I hear people clapping all around us, and I don't know what is going on. I look over at the Jumbotron and see Ace and me with a heart around us.
"Ace.” I say his name, turning back to see him on his knee in front of me. "What are you doing?" My heart speeds up in my chest, and my hands start to shake.
"We've been together for only three months," he says. "But deep in my heart, I know it can be thirty years, and I'll still feel the same way. Every single time you walk in the room, my heart speeds up. Every single time you touch me, my body feels a sense of peace. Every single time you kiss me, I know that I want to spend the rest of my life getting kissed by you."
The tears stream down my face. "Oh my God," I say, putting my hands to my mouth. "Are you sure?"
"Never wanted anything more than to make you mine forever," he says, and here in the middle of a baseball game, I nod my head and lunge for him.
"Yes," I agree, burying my face in his neck.
"She said yes!" he shouts, and I look around, seeing everyone coming toward us. My family, his family.
"Oh my God," I say, putting my hand to my mouth. "You did all this?"
"Well, I did have help," he says, and I kiss his lips. "Can I give you the ring?"
"I don't need a ring," I tell him.
"She's lying," Clarabella says from behind him. "She wants the ring." She looks at me. "You want that ring."
He opens the black box and there in the middle sits the ring I had on my vision board when I was thirteen. The round diamond in the middle with the infinity signs at the side all filled with diamonds. "You remembered," I tell him.
"I never forgot." He slides the ring on my finger. "You've always been mine."
Epilogue Two
Six months later
Ace
"This whole thing is dumb," I hear Shelby say from the inside of the bridal suite. I can't help but laugh. "He's right outside."
"It's bad luck to see the groom before the wedding." I hear her mom try to reason with her.
"Well, I played by the rules the last time and look at what happened at that wedding," she huffs. "Move out of the way."
"Wait!" Clarabella yells. "At least let's do a first look."
"You have three minutes to set it up," Shelby says to them, and then I hear her call me. "Ace." I can hear the sound of rushing around going on behind the door.
"Yeah, baby," I say, putting my hands in the pockets of my suit pants before I fuck everything up and just open the door.
"I need you to count to one hundred and eighty." I put my head down and silently chuckle. "And then burst through this door."
"If you break that door," Presley warns, showing up from the other side. "I'm charging you guys triple." She shakes her head. "She's being unreasonable." She points at the door.
"I am not!" Shelby yells from the other side of the door. "How many seconds?"
Presley looks at me and rolls her lips, waiting for me to answer. "One hundred fifty."
"One fifty!” she yells from her side of the door, and I see the photographer rushing through the hallway and out the back door.
"Can you step away from the door?" Clarabella shouts. "For the love of God, come set yourself up so I can open the door."
"Fine," she huffs. "But you better hurry."
"The minute she got in her dress, she was like, I'm ready now." Presley shakes her head.
"She was ready this morning when I snuck out of the room." I look over at Presley, who glares at me.
"You guys are the worst." She shakes her head, and I shrug. If it was up to Shelby, she wanted to elope and not tell anyone. I didn't care what we did as long as I slipped that band on her finger. We could have done this in the middle of a tropical storm wearing snowsuits. "Is it ready?" Presley knocks on the door, and I take in her dress, which is very different than the first time. Everything is different since the only thing we said mattered was that there was to be no white. No white flowers, no white decorations, no white napkins. The deep red color in her dress matches the color of my bow tie. My suit is a midnight blue, something that Shelby mentioned she loves me in.