Page 75 of Chasing Elliott
He suddenly came tearing over, practically running towards me and I saw the tears in hisown eyes. Once Everett reached me, I jumped into his arms and wrapped mine around his neck as he held onto me tightly.
I cried into his neck, completely taken aback. I had spent years searching for him, my whole life trying to track him down and reconnect. My mother always told me he had run away, refusing that she shipped him off to some boarding school, and looking at him now, I was starting to believe that maybe he had.
“I cannot believe this,” I rushed out as I fell back to the ground, cupping his face in my hands, afraid if I stopped holding him that he’d disappear. “I mean, what are the odds of this, right? You’re here.”
“I’m here,” he said firmly, grasping my shoulders. “God, I’ve missed you.”
I started laughing through the tears, happiness overwhelming me. “Where the hell haveyou been?”
“There is so much that we need to catch up on, Elli,” Everett told me as he stared at meintently. “And this is one of the best moments of my entire life. But we have a deadline, and Ireally can’t lose this job. Can we go grab dinner later and I’ll tell you everything?”
“Of course,” I told him, nodding with a smile. Everett pressed a kiss to my cheek, beaming widely as he let go of me. I saw Alex looking between us with a confused expression which made me chuckle. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I watched as Everett and Alex began to work, smiling gently at their interaction. Spinning on my heel with a newfound sense of happiness, I made my way up the stairs and headed for my bedroom.
Throwing my bag at a stack of boxes in the corner, I fell down onto my mattress that was laying on the floor. Deciding I needed to set up my bed frame, I forced myself off the bed and walked over to the closet where the frame was sitting. Just as I got comfortable on the floor with the tools and parts spread around me, I heard something hit my window.
Shaking my head at myself, I looked back down at the instructions before I heard thesound again. Sitting there for a moment, I suddenly heard muffled music playing from the yard. Furrowing my eyebrows together, I climbed over the pieces and boxes that littered my room and walked over to my window. Pushing the window open, my mouth dropped in surprise as a gasp left my lips.
Cooper stood in the lawn holding a speaker over his head.I'm Your Manby WHAM! was playing loudly as he mouthed the words up at me and I put a hand over my mouth as a few tears sprung to my eyes.
Turning around, I quickly maneuvered my way out of my room and ran down the stairs, ignoring the look that Alex and Everett gave me. Opening the door, I slowly walked out with my arms folded over my chest and a smile plastered on my face. Cooper smiled widely at me with alook of longing on his face as I approached and stopped a few feet away from him.
"I spent three hours trapped next to a screaming baby and an arguing couple, lost my luggage at the airport and spent six hours in traffic with a guy who barely understood English allso I could tell you that I'm sorry.
"I'm sorry for everything that happened. I want you to know that I did date Laura for eleven months and she cheated on me with Johnathan which is why I got so worked up seeing you with him, especially when you couldn't tell me you loved me back. And then I went and fucked it up by not thinking through what I wanted to say before I said it and to make matters worse, I didn't try harder to chase you after you left the party.
"But I want you to know that we did not sleep together. I got shit faced that night trying to make myself feel better and forget how much I had hurt you, and I ended up throwing up on her and myself. I should've known better than to follow her in the first place but Elliott, I love you and I have spent weeks trying to move on, but I can't because moving on from you would be the biggest mistake of my life.
"You are who I'm supposed to be with. The one I want to wake up to every morning and do everything I can to make you happy. The only person I want to argue with over baseball and annoy and laugh with. You're the one I want to grow old with.
"I am so sorry for everything and if you tell me that you don't feel the same or tell me to leave, I will. But I couldn't stand the thought of not trying one last time to get back the girl of my dreams. You're the best thing to ever happen to me and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't give it one last shot."
Tears fell slowly down my cheeks as I bit my lip. Cooper stood there with a look of desperation and love on his face that made my heart skip a beat. Taking a deep breath, I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his neck and crashed my lips to his.
Cooper's arms instantly wrapped around my waist as he kissed me back with even morepassion and need. Pulling apart, he rested his forehead against mine as we both caught our breath, and a smile found its way to my face.
"Play WHAM outside my window and you got me, baby," I said before biting my lip, my cheeks hurting from how big my smile was. Cooper's smile grew tenfold as he picked me up and spun me in a circle which caused me to laugh loudly.
"I promise you, I will do whatever I can to make it up to you and-" I put a finger on his lips to stop him mid-sentence before lowering my hand to trace down his chest.
Looking up into his eyes, a smile tugged at my lips. "I love you, Cooper Hearst. I didn'twant to fall in love, but at some point you invaded my every thought and holy shit, I blew it. I'm sorry it took me so long to say it, but I really do love you. This is where I want to be."
"This is it," Cooper said with a smile as he rested his forehead against mine again. "It's you and me."
"It's you and me."
"Will you sit still," I scolded with slight laughter in my voice as I grabbed Kara's shoulder to try and get her to stay put in her chair. "This is not the day you want me messing up your makeup."
"I'm sorry," Kara replied sheepishly as she finally stiffened. "I just can't believe the day is finally here. I've been waiting for this for so long."
Giving her a small smile, I finished applying her eyeliner before turning to grab her fakelashes. Applying a light coat of glue to the base, I carefully applied them before stepping back and nodding in approval as I reached for her hands and pulled her out of the chair. Walking Karaover to the mirror, I moved to stand behind her as I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and rested my chin on her shoulder.
"You look absolutely beautiful," I told her softly as tears sprung to both our eyes. "No, no crying. You save that for the vows."
"Can I please get my dress on now? I can't wait any longer," she rushed out as shequickly made her way over to the door where her dress was hanging. Laughing, I helped her pull it off the hanger before gently setting it on the floor so she could step into it. Once she got her arms in the lace sleeves, I zipped up the back before taking a few steps back to get a good look at her and I had to try with all my might to not cry like a baby.
"Wow," I heard someone breathe out from the door. Turning around, I watched Kara's mother and Cooper stand frozen in the entryway as they stared at her in awe. "I can't believe my baby girl is getting married."
