1. Wedding bells

Oliver’s POV

The light glistened off the rock that was propped too effortlessly on the ring on my finger. My cheeks burned from how intensely I had been smiling for what, an hour? Two? But I couldn’t just get over the fact that it was my perfect size and it looked like it belonged there.

“You have been staring at the ring for over an hour, babe,” Benjamin said before a sudden warmth engulfed me and my nostril drowned in the scent of all of him. I smiled harder, if that was even possible, and relaxed into his touch.

“Well, it’s your fault for getting me something this pretty,” I replied as I angled the ring higher for the sun to hit it at the best angle.

“I need to take a picture of this, it looks divine,” I said, trying to shrug him off. He groaned and nestled his head into the cranny of my neck before hoisting me off the ground and slamming me gently on the bed.

“Ugh, I hate when you make me feel like I weigh nothing,” I chuckled and he placed a gentle kiss on my temple.

“You will always weigh everything to me, baby,” he grinned.

“Ugh, if it was any cornier, we would have a field of corns.”

He snorted, “the fuck does that mean?” then he cackled. The way his eyes fell into slits and the stubble on his chin crinkled at the laughter. His throat bopped ever so light, I wish time would stop so I could soak in this very scene into my brain.

I wish I could remain here forever, just the both of us, in bed, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. 

His laughter died down and the look in his eyes turned serious. “Have you made up your mind yet?”

“I hope it isn’t what I think it is?”

“You know it is.”

“Ugh, you have a way of sucking out joy from anything.”

“I know, I’ve had months of practice to perfect my sucking skills,” he added a wink and I flushed.

“Perv.” A beat of silence passed and for a second, I hoped that he would drop it or change the topic, “so…?” Alas, I wasn’t so fortunate.

I sighed again, “I don’t know if I want her there, Ben. I know it’s been over a year since any of those things happened, but I can’t just bring myself not to hurt whenever I see her,” I said.

“I understand. But you have to remember that she is your blood.”

“How can I forget when you breathe those words down my ear canal every second,” I rolled my eyes even when he chuckled lightly.

“I’m saying this because it’s something I wish I had when I was growing up, like a sibling to love endlessly. Someone who I would want to fight the world with. I don’t want your bond with your sister to fizzle out and die.”

“We never really had much of a bond to be honest. Evey semblance of what we shared swirled down the drain after my father died.”

I shivered as his fingernail gently scraped the outer layer of my ear, moving around the curve gently.

“You never really talk about your dad,” he said. I didn’t like to think about him or his death, it was a sore area that I would rather remain buried in the casket like he was.

“Yeah…did the cops call back yet on Veronica?”

He sighed and shook his head. I don’t know if it was a response to my question or one of disappointment because of his failed attempt to get me to talk about my father.

“I believe the case has gone cold. It is almost like she vanished from the face of the earth.”

“Strange,” I muttered, an uneasy feeling registering in the base of my stomach. I hated the uncertainty of her being at large. The fact that my life has been nothing but sunshine for months made the feeling of doom more imminent. The more the sun, the denser the clouds become for a storm, right?

“What colour should we use for the wedding?” Benjamin snapped me back to reality. His questions tugged at my heart strings and my cheeks reddened once more.

“Why are you blushing?” he chuckled and stroked my cheeks with his index.

“I don’t know, feels like a dream,” I sighed, staring at the immaculate ceiling. He crawled up beside me and placed his head beside mine, staring at the ceiling as well.

“I know right, I can’t believe we are getting married.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and it made me smile. There was another round of silence that passed between us, this one was more comfortable, like the familiar touches of a lover on a clean sheet, under the spilt milk of the moon.

A sharp ring tore through the silence causing me to jerk.

“Ugh, who the fuck is that now?” Benjamin sighed as he rolled toward the edge of the bed and snatched his phone from the stand. He stared at the screen and his entire body went rigid before he immediately sat up. I squinted at the suddenness of the reaction and propped my body up with my elbow to ensure that everything was fine with him.

He stared at the ringing phone for another ten seconds before he gently swiped across. He placed it in his ears and I could hear that he was holding his breath.

What was happening? The person rambled on the other end of the phone.

“Where are you?” he asked and pushed off the bed, walking into the closet with urgency. I threw my feet into my slippers, marching toward the closet just as he came out, bumping into me.

“Sorry,” he whispered, before placing the phone between his ears and shoulder as he struggled to wear his pants, “what? No, I’m not busy, I wasn’t talking to anyone.”

The fuck? I craned my head as annoyance started to bubble.

He moved through the room, wearing his items till he was dressed. He snatched the key from the table and walked out of the room, not uttering a single word to me.