Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian
Page 25
No, no, no.
“A couple of best friends…”
Oh, thank God. Becca’s shoulders slumped in relief.
“They came on this journey together, supporting each other through this process. Becca and Brian arrived together, and their bond of love and support was apparent throughout the filming of the show. Let’s take a look.”
Becca felt Brian’s stare on her, but she was scared that, if she looked at him, her face would give something away, so instead she turned to look up at the screen as the lights once again dimmed.
The video started with pictures of them arriving and their voices playing the conversation they’d had in the Jeep when she’d asked Brian what he thought the chances were of one or both of them finding their fairytale love and then him saying, “Good. Very good.” It continued showing them talking in the dining hall, and sitting out over the bluff the night Brian was considering going home. Then it showed the pictures that Becca’s mom had found in the attic and given to Becca of Becca and Brian growing up. There were shots of them at dances together, in Halloween costumes, first and last days of school.
She felt tears forming in her eyes as the montage continued and picture after picture of Brian hugging Becca, his hand threaded in her hair as he cradled her head against his chest, flashed on the screen. She hadn’t realized just how often he did that. And now, it would probably be a year before she would feel that again.
Then the music lowered and it showed her sitting in the confessional booth when Gavin had asked her about Brian. Becca saw her own face transform as she talked about him.
“Brian is the kind of guy who not only opens doors and makes sure you wear a jacket if it’s cold outside, he also knows exactly what to do to make you laugh when laughing is the last thing you want to do. He knows what really matters and what doesn’t. He can rebuild your car engine, put a complicated desk together in under an hour after your dad throws the instructions out from frustration, fix your computer when it crashes, and also, notices when you buy a new skirt.
“He has a smile that makes you do things you would never do in a million years. I call it his bad-boy smile. When he flashes that smile, people—myself included—just follow him blindly. Because even if, technically, it’s something you know you shouldn’t be doing, you also know that, whatever happens, Brian will take care of it. He’ll take care of you.
“If you are lucky enough to be someone Brian loves, then you know that, no matter what happens, he will always be there for you. He would do anything, sacrifice anything, for the people he loves.”
She hadn’t even remembered saying those things, but that was exactly the point that she’d been trying to make to Brian last night.
After her video, Brian’s face popped up on the screen from one of his confessionals, one Becca hadn’t seen. His eyes were filled with so much emotion as he spoke.
“No, Becca’s not just my friend. She’s part of me. As much a part of me as my limbs, because she’s the strength I stand on. My lungs, because she’s the air I breathe. My heart, because she’s the love I feel. My brain, because she’s my sanity.” He let out a puff of a laugh. “My conscience, because she tells me when I’m screwing up.
“Becca’s not just my friend. She’s my…everything.”
Tears were now flowing down Becca’s face like Niagara Falls as the lights came back on, and even though she knew she shouldn’t, she looked over at Brian. When she did, she didn’t find him crying like she was. He didn’t look hurt, upset, or mad. Nope.
What she saw was a thousand times worse than any of those things. He sat staring right at her wearing the smile that told her he was about to do something he shouldn’t. His face was turned up in the biggest “bad-boy smile” she’d ever seen.
Uh oh.
* * *
Clarity, like Brian hadn’t known for the past year, filled him. He knew exactly what he was going to do and what he was not going to do. He was going to ask Becca to marry him and he was not going to ‘date’ Brooklyn or have Becca ‘date’ Colton for a year.
Brian didn’t care about anything except those two certainties. Everything else was just going to have to work itself out. He wasn’t going to let his parents lose their house. If Brian couldn’t make enough at the shop to make the payments on the first, second and third mortgages, then he’d have to look into selling it to see if he could get enough out of it that his parents would have a cushion, a nest egg. As far as his brother and sister were concerned, he’d work and figure out how to cover their tuitions; but, if they needed to get jobs so they could handle their living expenses, well… There were worse things.
But, the one thing he knew for sure was that Becca was his and he was hers and that was that. They would be together.
“Keep those votes coming in, and when we come back, we’ll reveal which couple received the highest number of votes, the couple you believe found their fairytale love. Stay tuned, we’ll crown our Fairytale Couple after these messages.”
Applause played loudly.
No one, except Brian, knew what he had decided—that it didn’t matter if the audience had voted for Brian and Brooklyn or Colton and Becca—he had made up his mind that the couple that would continue their journey to happily ever after was Brian and Becca.
As the crew came up to retouch Lance’s make-up and talk to him for a minute, the two couples just sat, staring, waiting—the tension was palpable.
The show’s eliminated contestants, who had been brought back for the finale, were sitting on stage in a special section. They looked almost as nervous as the final four as they watched the two couples and talked amongst themselves.
“We’re back in one minute,” the AD called out.
The applause track began playing and Brian’s gaze naturally gravitated to Becca. He could tell that she was nervous. He wished he were sitting beside her so he could hold her, tell her everything was going to be okay. Tell her that he knew what he was doing.
“Welcome back, I’m your host Lance Sparrow and this is the finale of Fairytale Love. Where one couple will not only continue their happily ever after, they will also win half a million dollars.”
The applause track played loudly.
“Alright folks, here is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Viewers have voted. Which couple did you think found their Fairytale Love?”
A girl that Brian had never seen before, wearing a skimpy black cocktail dress, appeared on stage and handed Lance an envelope. The host made a big show of slowly opening it.
As Lance looked down, he had a look of surprise on his face that Brian was pretty sure was totally fake.
“Here it is folks, the couple that received an overwhelming majority of the votes, the couple you believe has found their Fairytale Love, the couple that will be continuing on the road to happily ever after is…”
Brian waited while they built the tension for the audience. The cameras were probably getting close up shots of him but he didn’t care, he couldn’t take his eyes off Becca. She smiled and his heart expanded in his chest. The look in her eye told him that she knew, like he did, no matter what the “viewers” said, they were going to be together.
“Becca and….” Lance paused and the silence was electric with anticipation.
“…Brian!”
“Becca and Brian, you are our Fairytale Couple!” Lance stood and a track with rowdy applause played.
At the sound of Brian’s name, Brooklyn shot to a standing position like someone had buzzed a jolt of electricity through her chair.
“What!?!” she shrieked—then stood frozen, eyes wide, mouth open, staring directly into the camera—for just a beat. Anger flashed in her face as she turned to Lance. “What the fuck is going on?! You can’t do this! They’re not a couple! That’s not fair!” she screamed, her hands waving wildly.
Lance, the quintessential professional, stepped smoothly around Brooklyn and with his ever-camera-ready smile, enthusiastically confirmed as he seamlessly read fro
m the teleprompter, “That’s right folks, you have been voting for Brian and Becca since the first show. You have even started fan pages for them and petitions. You, the viewers, our loyal fans, have spoken loud and clear and we have listened, Brian and Becca are your Fairytale Couple!”
Brian and Becca are your Fairytale Couple.
The words played back in Brian’s head and he jumped out of his chair so fast you would think it was spring-loaded. Stepping across the stage (in one long stride) he pulled Becca, who looked like she was in a state of shock, out of her chair and into his arms, crushing his lips to hers in a claiming kiss. His demanding lips caressed hers as he devoured her softness. She kissed him back with a fiery possession.
Pulling away slightly he looked into her eyes, and as always, the rest of the world just disappeared. Resting his forehead against hers he whispered, “I don’t ever want to hear you say ‘we’re just friends’ again. Marry me, Becca.”
A huge smile spread across her face as tears formed in her eyes. She sucked in a shaky breath as she gripped her arms around his neck, holding him even tighter.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Brian said, smiling as she began kissing him again.
“Yes,” she said between kisses, her lips still turned up in a huge smile. “Yes!”
Brian suddenly realized that all of the contestants had crowded around them, congratulating and hugging them. From behind him, Brian felt a tug on his arm and heard Colton say his name. As he turned to Colton, Brian saw Brooklyn being escorted off the stage by two aids, still flailing her arms wildly, while loudly assuring them that they would hear from her lawyer.
“Congratulations, she’s an amazing girl,” Colton said with a twinge of sadness in his tone.
Brian shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. I love her,” he explained, as he reached out to shake Colton’s hand.
“I know, man.” Colton smiled a knowing smile and Brian saw a heartbreak behind his eyes that only came from knowing what true love was and losing it. Not for Becca, but for someone. Colton shook Brian’s hand. “Believe me, I know. It’s all good. I’m happy for you guys.”
As everyone continued to congratulate them and wish them the best, Brian pulled Becca to him. Becca wrapped her arms around Brian’s waist and he threaded his fingers in her hair and pulled her head against his chest, leaning down, he kissed her on the top of her head.
Brian knew that they had won because the viewers had voted that they were the ones that had found their ‘Fairytale Love’. But, the truth was, he had found his fairytale love on a playground, when he was four years old.
And he knew that what they had was real love—that no matter what happened, no matter what life threw at them, as long as they had each other, they had…everything.
They weren’t on the road to their happily-ever-after, they were living it.
Coming December 2014
My Love – Bobby & Sophie
A Happily Ever After Novella
Crossroads Edition
Other titles by Melanie Shawn
THE HOPE FALLS SERIES
Sweet Reunion
#1
Sweet Harmonies
#2
Sweet Victory
#3
Home Sweet Home
#4
Snow Angel
#5
Snow Days
#6
Snowed In
#7
Let It Snow
#8
THE CROSSROADS SERIES
My First
Book 1
My Last
Book 2
My Only
Book 3
My Everything
Book 4
Tempting Love
Book 5
Crazy Love
Book 6
Actually Love
Book 7
Fairytale Love
Book 8
THE RED HOT PRIVATE EYE SERIES
NOVELLA
Scandalous
Vol. 1
Friction
Vol. 2
THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER SERIES
NOVELLA
One Sweet Day
A Hope Falls Edition
About the Author
Melanie Shawn is the writing team of sister duo Melanie and Shawna. Originally from Northern California, they both migrated south and now call So Cal their home.
Growing up, Melanie constantly had her head in a book and was always working on short stories, manuscripts, plays and poetry. After graduating magna cum laude from Pepperdine University, she went on to teach grades 2nd through 8th for five years. She now spends her days writing and taking care of her furry baby, a Lhasa Apso named Hercules. In her free time, her favorite activity is to curl up on the couch with that stubborn, funny mutt and binge-watch cable TV shows on DVD (preferably of at least eight seasons in length – a girl’s gotta have her standards!).
Shawna always loved romance in any form – movie, song or literary. If it was a love story with a happy ending, Shawna was all about it! She proudly acknowledges that she is a romanceaholic. Her days are jam-packed with writing, being a wife, mom aka referee of two teens, and indulging in her second passion (dance!) as a Zumba instructor. In the little free time she has, she joins Melanie in marathon-watching DVDs of their favorite TV programs.
They have joined forces to create a world where True Love and Happily Ever After always has a Sexy Twist!
You can keep up with all the latest Melanie Shawn news, including new releases and contests, at:
http://melanieshawn.com
and
http://facebook.com/melanieshawnbooks