WHO: Stella King and Everett Marshall WHEN: Later in the evening on August 10 WHERE: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden at the Waters-Wentworth wedding SUMMARY: Stella eats some of Everett's cake, then they discuss their own future plans. WARNINGS: Aforementioned cake theft Â
Having spent nearly every second of the reception dancing with Everett who had proven to be her favorite and her best distraction from all things, Stella had decided to forego the heels she’d worn to the wedding before settling into her chair to finish off a second slice of cake. She was going to regret it in the morning, she knew, when a dinner consisting entirely of cake caught up to her, but she was a grown woman capable of making terrible decisions if she wanted to. And, tonight, she really wanted to. With a small sigh, she scraped the rogue icing off her plate and then chanced a small bite from Everett’s untouched slice, too, just before he came back into view carrying two glasses of wine.
A man after her own heart, really.
“Did you get yourself anything to drink?” she asked, a teasing smile on her face.
"I just don't have enough hands," Everett said, flashing Stella a grin as he set one of the glasses down in front of her and slid back into his seat.
He knew that it had been a tough handful of weeks for Stella and Everett had been doing all he could to be there for her as she grappled with it. The dreams made all their lives more difficult than was necessary, but he couldn't help feeling that they had been exceptionally hard on her and he couldn't like it. Maybe there was some bias involved there, but he was willing to succumb to that, if need be. All he wanted was to see Stella happy -- and so, he had been doing all he could think of to try and help her or, at the very least, just be there. Whether that actually aided in helping or not, he didn't know. But it didn't keep him from trying.
"I promise that I'll get that refilled as soon as you need it," he continued, his gaze lowering to the piece of cake he had known was waiting for him. Everett arched an eyebrow and smiled. "My cake has been tampered with. Any idea how that happened?"
Stella took a slow sip of her glass of wine, eyes wide in what she hoped was an innocent expression. Lowering the glass, she shrugged one shoulder, and said, “Maybe it just came like that. I can’t imagine anyone here would have dared to tamper with another person’s cake.” And then she picked her fork back up and stole another forkful of his cake, waiting until her mouth was nearly full of it, before adding, “Or maybe we need to stop somewhere that has food that’s not cake so that I won’t keep stealing yours.”
Everett's smile widened into a grin despite himself as Stella pilfered a bite of his cake. He picked up his own fork and waved it once in front of her, then used it to get a bite of his own. "Not that I'm not sure that cake is a perfectly acceptable dinner, I think that can probably be arranged. I see a cheeseburger in our future. Maybe even some fries. Whatever your heart desires."
There were a thousand little moments in the time she’d been dating Everett that made her fall so easily in love with him, and this was one of them. It was...impossible not to compare the two great loves of her lives, each from different times and different places, while she sorted out her dreams, but she loved how easy this one was. She loved that these moments consisted of all the small ways in which his love for her was loud. The corners of her mouth tugged upward, her free hand reaching out to rest unceremoniously on his knee. “A cheeseburger and fries sounds perfect, actually,” she replied, swallowing the bite of cake. It was delicious, but it definitely would not hurt to have something real on her stomach. “Anything but waffles.”
"You got it," Everett promised, setting his now frosting smeared fork on the table and nudging the plate toward Stella, giving her permission to finish the piece of cake she had already helped him start to eat.
Lifting an arm, he let it come around her, balancing on the back of her chair as he turned to look toward her. "You know," he started, raising an eyebrow. "This is the third wedding in as many months that I've had the luxury of attending with you. I'm starting to think that you might like me."
Moving closer to him, Stella tilted her head back to look at Everett and then placed a quick kiss at his jawline and lifted her hand to wipe off the lipstick she’d left behind just above his beard. “I like you a little,” she admitted, as though she hadn’t already been halfway in love with him after their first date. “I like you more than I like weddings, for sure, though,” she said, her hand taking its place again on his knee. “And unless Noah or Ash get married sometime in the near future, I don’t think I want to go to any more. In fact, when we get married, we should just...elope, or something.”
And then, realizing what she’d said, Stella took another long drink of wine and added, “Sorry, I didn’t-- Not to be presumptuous, or anything, I mean.” Even if it was hard for her to imagine a future without Everett in it. Even if, despite how complicated and entangled her two lives had gotten, his was the face she always wanted to wake up next to.
The topic of weddings and engagements had been a touchy one in Everett's past. His luck wasn't the greatest when it came to either. That hadn't sapped him of his optimism, though. He'd always hoped that someday he would find a woman that he'd want to spend the rest of his life with and she would want to do the same -- really and truly. And while maybe he hadn't expected Stella to be that woman when he'd first come to realize that her #boyfriend on Twitter was in reference to him, it didn't surprise him at all when he felt nothing but ease when she talked about a future marriage for the two of them as though it was inevitable. Because, in his mind, it was.
"You can be presumptuous," Everett replied, leaning in to press his own kiss to her cheek. As he backed away, he smiled, though it was more mischievous than anything. "I've always wanted to be married by an Elvis impersonator."
At that, Stella couldn’t help but to laugh, her cheeks warm with the pleasant knowledge that she and Everett weren’t on entirely different pages despite the events of the past several weeks. “As long as it involves zero stress, as few guests as we can manage, and me not spending half of it feeling like crap, I think we can take your dreams into consideration,” she winked, teasing despite the honesty in her words. “But, until then, I propose that we find burgers and our very own bottle of wine or two, and have our own reception back at the hotel room. Do I have good ideas, or what?”
"Oh, Stella King," Everett replied, reaching across himself to her, tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered at her cheek as he tipped his head to the side, smiling warmly at her. "Nothing would make me happier than washing greasy food down with wine in the comfort of our hotel room. In fact, I think you have just reminded me all over again that you're the one for me."
How was it possible that Everett could make everything inside of her flutter and turn upside down when he looked at her like that? Stella bit her lip and reached up to wrap her fingers loosely around his wrist. “How rude would it be to cut out now and head to that party?”
"Ehhh." Everett tipped his head back and forth a few times, as though weighing the options in his mind. It was hard for it to look like his mental debate was too serious, when he still had that smile on his face, though. "You know, I think that we've reached the point in the night where it's acceptable for us to take off."
Stella leaned up and pressed a kiss to Everett's lips, claiming part of that infectious smile of his as her own, then brushed her nose against his. "I love you, Everett Marshall. And I'm ready whenever you are." She decided to let him take that however he wanted to, no clarification necessary. Because she knew that she meant it in every way possible, knew that she wanted tonight with him just as much as she wanted every night to come. And though she knew they both had things they needed to work through, she had the utmost confidence that, one day, they'd be ready together.