Page 88 of Falling Together

“Oh.” Erin sounded disappointed. “You’re, um, going to go with them?”

“I figured that made the most sense. Then I can just bring him back to your house once we’re done.”

“Oh, um, yeah. Of course. Have fun.”

There was definitely something weird going on, but now that Nolan had heard the word ice cream, he was shouting at Blair about it, so she couldn’t ask Erin what was up.

As soon as they arrived at her house, Blair’s mom walked out carrying her car keys. She wiggled them in front of Blair. “Since the car seat is already in your car, you take my car to Erin’s, and I’ll bring him over there once we’re done.”

“You don’t want me to come with you?”This situation keeps getting weirder and weirder.

“No. Your father is coming. We’re looking forward to spending time with a child who doesn’t speak back to us.” Blair’s mom gave her a playful smile and wink.

“Good luck with that.” Blair laughed and pointed to Nolan. “This one’s worse than me.”

“I highly doubt that.” Blair’s mom smiled lovingly at Nolan, then looked back at Blair. “Now, stop worrying. Go have fun.”

Why did her mom have that twinkle in her eye when she told her to have fun? Were Erin and her mom conspiring? There was no way, right?

Blair drove to Erin’s house as fast as she could without having to worry about being pulled over.Here!she texted before shutting off the car and getting out.

Awesome. Door is unlocked. Come in.

When she got to the door, she noticed there was a sign hanging on it. She almost ignored it, figuring it was none of her business, but it was a good thing she didn’t, since it was clearly made for her.

The sign looked like it had been made on Canva or something similar and was printed on normal computer paper. It read, “Now entering the Hall ofTimes I Knew I Was Falling for You Even Though I Didn't Want to Admit It (even to myself).”

Blair’s heart beat fast when the realization hit her.This is for me. Erin did this for me.She couldn’t get through that door fast enough and as soon as she did, she found pieces of paper hanging from the ceiling, cut out in the shape of chicken nuggets. There were too many of them to count and each one had a different memory on it, starting with “That first time at the pool ;)” and going through “The Beach <3” and even as recently as “The morning you told me thatthis was all you wanted for the rest of your life.”

Blair's smile grew as she read each one, and by the time she got to the last one, she was fighting back tears. This was so much better than the talk she thought they would be having. Erin was waiting at the end of the hallway, wearing a fitted black dress and high heels, and she looked so fucking phenomenal, Blair had to steady herself on the wall so her legs didn’t give out.

When Blair finally made it over to her, she ran a finger over the side of Erin’s dress and bit her lip flirtatiously as she smiled at her. “I think I missed the memo that we were getting dressed up.”

Erin wrapped her arms around Blair’s neck and rested her arms on her shoulders as if they were dancing. “With Nolan around, I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to get dressed up for you, so I figured I might as well do it now.”

“I think you look drop dead gorgeous right now, but for what it’s worth, I think you’re just as beautiful in sweatpants and a T-shirt that Nolan spilled his lunch on.”

The look Erin gave Blair almost knocked her off her feet once again. There was so much affection in her eyes, even if she tried to deny how she felt, she wouldn’t be able to. Blair had a feeling she wasn’t going to be denying it any more though.

Erin placed the lightest kiss on Blair’s lips before pulling back again, leaving Blair’s body buzzing as it begged her for more. “There were two memories I didn’t add in the hallway.”

“Oh yeah? What were they?” Blair couldn’t imagine what she had missed since it seemed like Erin had included almost every memory they had together.

“The first one was the time we slow danced in my living room.”

“But we ne—” Blair thought she might melt when she realized what Erin meant. “Oh.”

She put her arms around Erin’s waist and held her close as they swayed to the nonexistent music. Erin laid her head on Blair’s shoulder, and it was as if everything that was wrong with the world had righted itself at that very moment. Blair was pretty sure she couldn’t possibly be happier.

Erin proved her wrong when she lifted her head and brought her lips to Blair’s ear to whisper to her. “The second one I didn’t add was the time I asked you to be my girlfriend.”

Blair pulled back and looked into Erin’s eyes to make sure she wasn’t hearing things. Erin’s eyes sparkled as they looked into hers, and Blair wanted to stay lost in them forever.

“Really?” Blair was pretty sure she had the world’s goofiest grin on her face, but she really didn’t care. This was the best day of her entire life, but what made it even better was she was sure that the best was yet to come, because Erin was hers.

“Yes, really. As long as you still want me.” Erin chewed her bottom lip as she waited for Blair’s answer.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Blair picked Erin up off of the ground and spun her around in a circle. “I’ll neverstopwanting you.”

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