I didn’t need marriage or stability, the white picket fence and 2.5 kids I used to think I needed in order to feel normal, to feel safe. With Nova, I’d learned how to love life exactly the way it came, because seeing the world at his side, through his eyes, made me eager for any and everything each day had to offer. Even the most ordinary of things was made exemplary through the prism of his love.
So I wasn’t expecting to round the corner of Street Ink, into the alley we’d once graffitied with a tribute to Dane, to see the entire brick wall filled with colourful, magnificent art.
And I wasn’t expecting that those images, the plethora of flowers, the skateboard in one corner, the music notes spiraling into the sky, to surround a central image that was at least twelve feet tall.
An image of me.
Every detail was there, the shine and heft of my thick hair as it slid over my tattooed shoulders, the way my eyes creased underneath when I smiled, and the exact form of my mouth coloured a pale, dusky pink.
Above it all, in sloping, incredibly cool graffiti were the words, ‘Nova’s Flower Child’.
And below it all, the words, ‘Marry me’.
I gasped, both hands flying to my wide-open mouth as if to catch the shock spilling out my body.
When I looked over at Nova, he was on his knees below me, that wicked, roguish grin cutting into his gorgeous face.
“Meant what I said about the rest of our lives,” he began, eyes shining so bright I had to blink at the beauty of him. “Wanna make you mine in every way I can even though I know nothin’ in the world can shake you from my side. I’m gonna be your best friend, your family, and the lover who rocks your fuckin’ world,” I laughed through the sob stuck in my throat, “for the rest of our time on this earth. But I’m still gonna ask you, Lila Meadows, to make both of our dreams come true by bein’ my wife and officially becomin’ a Booth.”
I was crying so hard I couldn’t see him through the flood in my eyes, but I still launched myself into his arms and peppered his face with kisses as I chanted, “Yes, yes, yes.”
He laughed then, a bright, loud burst of sound like birdsong erupting through trees. I pulled back so I could blink away the wet and watch him, the beauty of his tattooed throat, his thick, kinky, dark hair in my hands, his mouth moving with the sounds of joy I’d given him.
And when he tipped down his head to smile at me, I kissed the laughter right off his lips.
“Dark Night” ––The Blasters
“Bad Company” –– Bad Company
“Holdin on” –– Flume
“The One That Got Away” –– The Civil Wars
“Hurts”–– Emeli Sande
“Bury a Friend” –– Billie Eilish
“Free Fallin’”––Tom Petty
“Watch Me”––The Phantoms
“Lie”––NF
“I Hate U I Love U”––gnash feat. Olivia O’Brien
“Sex on Fire” ––Kings of Leon
“Tattooed on My Heart”––Bishop Briggs
“Beat the Devil’s Tattoo”––Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
“Closer”––Nine Inch Nails
“Not Above Love”––Aluna George
“Gypsy Woman” –– Jonathon Tyler & The Northern Lights
“Mixed Signals”––Ruth B.
“Four Walls”––Broods
“River”––Bishop Briggs
“Bounce”––Timabland ft. Missy Elliot
“Kisses Down Low”––Kelly Rowland
“Closure”––Vancouver Sleep Clinic ft. Drew Love
“If You Want Love”––NF
“Dark Night”––The Blasters
“No Good”––KALEO
“You Shook Me All Night Long”––AC/DC
“What Have I Done”––Dermot Kennedy
“Last Resort”––Papa Roach
“Miracle Love”––Matt Corby