Page 100 of Fate Forever and Always

“I would,” Amani butted in.

Brielle gave her a surprised look. “Hey, what about solidarity? What about girl code?”

“Girl code only exists if you dated him. I mean, just look at him. He is a fucking sex god. If he weren’t head over heels for you and wouldn’t leave me for you in a heartbeat, I would have already had that dick inside me.”

Brielle spit out her water, and she and Elijah both looked at Amani and then at each other.

“I’m not… I mean, Brie is great, but I was…fuck. That backfired on me, huh?” Elijah laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his reddening neck.

“You walked right into that, bro,” Beck added before sipping his beer.

Brie patted his shoulder. “It’s okay, Eli. We both know you could never handle my amazingness anyway. You will have to obsess from a distance, Mr. Rockstar.”

Everyone laughed except for Lincoln, who was, for whatever reason, still staring Elijah down like he knew something we all didn’t.

Everyone was spending the night. Elijah and Beck took the couch and chair. Brielle and Amani brought their own blow-up mattress, and Link and Aubrey took Callie’s room.

As I was lying in my bed with my perfect girl snoring lightly beside me, I couldn’t help but think about how my life had changed so much over the years. I was really excited to see where this new year would take us.

I loved having a house full of people. For a long while, it had been me and my grandma alone. Of course, I always had myfriends around, but this felt different. This felt like the perfect start to a new time in my life—a new life with Callie, a life where we’ll become a family of our own.

Chapter forty-two

Callie

My best friend's life was about to be changed forever. Lincoln planned everything. Even down to what I needed to have Aubrey wear. He thought it was still a surprise, and I didn’t want to ruin that. Aubrey was very observant and far from stupid. She knew that something was up when I wouldn’t tell her why Link was talking to me. She made it clear to him that he was to make sure that four people knew beforehand when he was going to propose. He needed to include Brielle and me. He was told to ask both her dads, which one of them is his dad, too…technically. It's weird to think about, but they aren’t blood-related, so it's all fine.

She and Lincoln have the craziest story, and they owe it all to fate. She knew from the moment she met him that they were fated to be together. They just had a few hiccups along the way.

When I first met Lincoln, I knew he was her person. I could just tell. That was honestly what made me start questioning my relationship with Jake. So I guess you could say fate played a part in my journey, too. If I hadn’t questioned my relationship in the way I had been, I never would have gone home thatnight instead of staying at Aubrey’s, and I never would have caught him cheating. I wouldn’t be with Nick right now. I would probably be miserably married to Jake.

I would never know what could have been, and I am completely okay with that. I am excited to see where this life will take us.

I told Aubrey I wanted to have some best friend pictures done of us to start the new year. Brielle, of course, was taking them for us because she was a photographer as well as an artist. Luckily, it snowed, so the ground was covered in fluffy white beauty. Perfect for a winter engagement shoot, which was obviously what the real photo shoot would be.

Aubrey asked me if she needed to get her nails done, which meant she totally knew because she wasn’t normally the type to get her nails done. Like I said, she’s observant. I told her no to try to throw her off, but she made both of us an appointment anyway.

I tried to make the photoshoot seem very nonchalant, and Lincoln had planned to do it at our house in the backyard since there was a cute little gazebo.

Our house.

I am still getting used to that. It had only been a few days since I had actually started thinking of it as our house and not just Nick’s. I totally should have felt that way for a long time now, since it's been months since I moved in, but thinking of this being our house now feels…good. It feels safe. I have always felt safe with Nick. I am glad I finally realized it.

We had Aubrey's parents, both sets, hidden in Nick's room with Link, my mom, Elijah, and Amani. Everyone who was close to us is here. I wanted this to be the best moment of her life.

When Link professed his love to her back in June, we joked that Link’s proposal better be fucking perfect. He had a lot to live up to with how perfect his speech was at the concert.

Hearing that people might assume she means extravagant and big, but not for Aubrey. She liked things simple and quiet with just the important people around, which was why I was so proud of Link for planning all this. It was going to be exactly what she always hoped for.

We walked in the house, and I think she expected to see some clues of more people, but she didn't. Like I said, Link had planned this completely. He knew she shared her location with her parents, Brielle and himself, so he had everyone but Brielle leave their phones at home so all the locations would not show here. I told him she wouldn’t think of that, but she was currently pulling it up, so I guess I was wrong.

I saw her face fall at the realization that no one was here but us, and Brielle’s location showed she was on her way to us.

She looked at me with sad eyes. “This is really just a bestie shoot, huh?”

I shrugged, “I told you it was.”

“Damn. I really had myself thinking he was proposing today. He has been so weird lately. I guess he's just been busy.”

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