Page 80 of Always Been You

He passes it back to me and claps me on the back. “I guess now we will actually be brothers,” he says with a huge grin.

“I need to hurry up. Knowing Olivia, she’s probably upstairs freaking out, and she probably wants a freaking bagel and cream cheese from Timmies and I need to get more pickles before the store closes, too. You should probably hurry up too, so she knows you’re not totally pissed at us.” Matt nods.

I stand up and grab my towel before heading toward the shower. “Josh,” Grayson says, getting my attention. “You might want to grab a pregnancy test when you’re at the store getting pickles,” he says quietly.

I can feel my heart race in my chest. Could Olivia be pregnant? She said that she was on birth control. We haven’t really discussed a timeline for having kids, but I don’t think that she was planning on having them this soon.

“Why would you say that?” I ask.

“Well, this weekend she got sick because of the smell of eggs, which I’m guessing is a new thing, seeing as you said she usually likes eggs for breakfast. She suddenly is craving pickles for the first time since she was a kid and is now craving a very specific bagel and cream cheese combo. Are her breasts more sensitive, are her emotions and moods changing, has her sex drive increased?” he asks.

I remember her breasts being more sensitive when we were in the woods; she has been wanting more sex, and the cravings are new and weird. It all clicks, and a huge smile breaks across my face as the realization dawns on me: Olivia is probably pregnant. I kind of hope she is. I can’t wait to start a family with her. I know she will make an amazing mother.

I move as quickly as humanly possible, showering and changing. I grab my gear bag and make sure the ring is in there. I turn and see Matt heading my way, and we make our way upstairs together to meet the girls.

We get into the bar and find the girls sitting at a table to the left of the entrance and make our way to them. When Olivia sees me, she smiles and I can see tears begin to run down her cheeks. I make it to her and brush them away with my thumb. “Babe, why are you crying? I’m okay. You don’t need to worry,” I say.

“I don’t know,” she says with a laugh. I see a drink in front of her. “What are you drinking?” I ask.

“Long Island, needed to calm my nerves,” she says.

I push the drink toward Zoey. “I think that those won’t be your go-to for a while,” I murmur and Hannah widens her eyes at me like she realized why I did it and I just smile at her. At least she seems to be the only one that heard the comment.

Olivia sees Matt over my shoulder. She leaves me and wraps her arms around him. “I wanted to tell you Matt, but I didn’t want to be the reason anything comes between your relationship with Josh.” He holds her and tells her it’s all right and he understands.

When they separate, I grab Olivia’s hand. “Babe, we should get going. I have to stop at the store before dinner, and I’m guessing you also want a Timmie’s bagel?” she smiles at me. “I do. You’re amazing, you know that?” I lean down and give her a quick kiss in response.

She looks over at Matt, who is smiling at us. “Where do you want to get dinner?” she asks him.

“Why don’t we do something this week? You two go home and relax after the hit he took, seeing as your news is out.”

“Wednesday, why don’t you come over and we’ll invite Emily and Gi too,” she says.

“Sounds good. I love you, sis.”

“Love you, too.” She gives him a hug and then the rest of the girls before we make our way to the car. I do a drive-through to get Olivia her bagel and then park outside a grocery store and run in and grab the few things I need. When I get back to the car, we decide to grab a pizza for dinner, so she places an order through the app for pick up.

We get home and settle on the couch, eating our pizza while watching TV and once we are done, I pause the showand face her. My heart is racing as I look at her. She is everything that I want, and I hope that this goes how I want it to. Rubbing my hands down my thighs to get rid of the sweat accumulating on them. I take a deep breath.

“So, this isn’t how I wanted to do this,” I say, feeling my nerves about her possible reactions increasing, “but I feel like you need to see item one before I show you item two.”

Olivia adjusts her position and looks at me hesitantly. I reach into my pocket and pull out the ring box. “Olivia Rose Carter, I love you, you bring so much joy into my life. You make me laugh and smile, and being with you is the happiest I have ever been in my life. I want to fall asleep next to you and wake up next to you for the rest of my life.” I get down on one knee in front of her and open the ring box. Her hands fly up to her face and her eyes turn glassy as tears pool in them. “Will you marry me?”

She nods and throws her arms around my neck. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” she says into my neck.

My shoulders relax at how quickly she says yes and how happy she is.

When she pulls back, I take the ring out of the box, slip it onto her finger, and look at my fiancée’s face. I brush the tears off her cheeks with my thumb before leaning in and placing a kiss on her lips. The smile on my face is huge. I can’t contain my happiness that Olivia said yes, but now there is the next item, and I just hope that she is ready for it.

I get up and sit beside her on the couch again. Reach beside the couch, I grab a brown paper bag that I got at the store. “So,” I start, “I originally had a more romantic proposal in mind, but after the game in the dressing room, Grayson recommended I grab this for you. I wanted you to know that my proposing to you had nothing to do withthis. I’ve had the ring for a bit and wanted to find the right time.” Olivia’s face is full of questions after my long-winded ramble.

“Josh, now you’re kind of scaring me. What’s going on?” she reaches for my hand and squeezes it.

I pass her the bag and she looks inside and her eyes immediately widen. She pulls the pregnancy test out of the bag and looks at me, and I can see the wheels turning in her head.

“Grayson noticed you’d been sick from the smell of the eggs this weekend and I was talking about your new cravings, and then he asked a few questions and recommended that I grab you one of these.”

She continues to stare at me and I can feel my heart race in my chest. Is she going to be mad that I grabbed the test for her? That I took away being able to tell me? Will she be upset if the test is positive?

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