Page 74 of Not Falling for the Forward
I take out my phone and open the video I asked Aimee to help me film. It’s the only thing I could think to do so I could not only tell Emily the truth, but so the whole world would know. I am hers, and she is mine. If she will have me.
Aimee and I are sat at my breakfast bar and she has a list of questions in front of her. The way she interviewed me makes me think she should try out for presenter jobs, the camera loves her, and I don’t know if it’s just because she is my sister, but I have never felt more comfortable in an interview before. Maybe it’s because it is the first interview I have been one hundred percent myself in.
Aimee sits straight backed, her attention solely on me, “So, it’s finally here my brother has agreed to a full interview with me! Let’s not make people wait and get straight to the gossip. Much to most people’s horror, you are off the market officially.” I roll my eyes at her. “Who is Emily Ryan?”
I puff my chest out in pride to reply, “Emily Ryan is my girlfriend.”
“How long have you been together?”
“Since early February, so a few months now.” I’m done being vague.
“Where did you meet?”
“At one of my games. She works for the ground, and I have had a huge crush on her since the first time I saw her.”
“Since February?”
I laugh, about to admit something I haven’t even told her. “No, that’s not the first time I saw her.” I grinat the memory, “I heard her first actually. Her laugh. I remember thinking someone must have told the funniest joke she had ever heard because her laugh was the loudest, dirtiest, borderline cackle I had ever heard. I remember looking over to a group of people in high vis jackets, all stood in a circle, giggling at each other. Her head was thrown back, nothing but pure joy on her face. And I remember being jealous.”
“Jealous?” Aimee interrupts.
“Yeah, of her utter unrestricted joy. She didn’t care who was there, she was fully doubled over laughing. Loudly! I can’t explain how loud she is. I heard her from across the pitch.” I chuckle, “I know now, that’s her ‘that’s killed me’ laugh. It was so refreshing, to see someone so at ease and relaxed enough to fully be herself like that. Then when I looked closer, I noticed she was with three men, and I got a whole new kind of jealous. I have never been jealous of other men before, but here they were, with this beauty and one had made her laugh like that.”
“That seems kinda…” Aimee makes a face.
“Kinda ridiculous? Yeah. You’re telling me. But you hadn’t seen her. I have no other word to describe her but breathtaking. I remember in that moment begging whatever God was listening to make it so that I could be the one who got to make her laugh like that one day.”
“I guess that’s kind of sweet, kind of possessive too but I can forgive that now I have seen the two of you together.” My sister grins. “So, you said it wasn’t February… when was it?” Aimee asks.
“That was on my first day with my new team.”
Aimee’s eyes widen at the reply, clearly shocked at my answer. She clears her throat and says, “But that was two years ago.”
“Yup.” I say, “And I looked for her every game. Every single day. I looked over to where she usually sat with the first aid team. Just hoping to get a glimpse of that smile. Some days I was blessed, others I wasn’t.”
“Why didn’t you approach her and say something!?” Aimee almost shouts the question at me and my eyebrows raise in shock at the outburst.
“Well, see that’s where things got tricky… Early on, I was warming up close to her side of the pitch. I always tried to put myself there.” I shrug. “Anyway, she took her gloves off, for whatever reason, and there was a ring on her finger.”
“Oh yeah. Him.” Aimee rolls her eyes.
“Yeah. Him.” I chuckle, “I was still getting back from my injury and as much as getting to know someone as carefree as her would have helped my recovery mentally, I knew I wouldn’t have been happy with just friends with someone as beautiful as her.”
Aimee doesn’t hide her smile. “So, how did you finally get to this point?”
I grimace. “Well, I sort of broke her nose. It was an accident!” I add quickly. “I went to apologise and when I was in the room with her all the feelings I had been ignoring for two years came rushing back. I had meant to just shake her hand and leave. But as soon as I touched her, I didn’t want to let go. Then, when I looked at our hands together, I noticed the ring was gone. So, I asked her out.” I grin my big, for the press, smile.
“And the rest is history?” Aimee asks.
“Oh no, she rejected me like one hundred times. I just never gave up.”
“Creep,” Aimee teases.
“Yeah, I see how that could have come across… Anyway, it worked out well for me!” I grin again.
I cringe inwardly as I re-watch that line,‘worked out well’my arse. She won’t even take my calls.
Chapter thirty-two
