Wade was in front of my house. His face was covered in bruises, and he smelled like he had been drinking.
"Sageeee," he said, and his voice was slurred and excited over the heavy rain. "Knock, knock," he said.
"Wade, oh my god!" I gasped when I saw how he looked. "Are you fuckin-" I started to say, but he cut me off by putting his hands on his ears and grinning.
Wade, being the idiot that he is, just said, "Knock, knock."
"Wade, what are you even saying?" I asked, confused. Does this idiot have something in his system? "Look, I am glad you are here, but please-" he cut me off again.
"Baby, you're supposed to ask "Who's there?" That's part of the joke, and-" As he said the next part, I could see that his smile got even bigger, if that was even possible. "You're glad I'm here? Are you kidding?"
"Wade, stop this nonsense and get inside right now," I told him as I grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him inside, but he wouldn't move.
"Nope," he said, popping the P. "First answer my question, love." He smiled big, showing all of his teeth, and his eyes twinkled with laughter.
"What question?" I asked, annoyed and worried about his body and mind.
"Knock, knock," he said for the third time, lowering his hand to grab mine and weaving his fingers through mine.
"Who's there?" I asked with no humor as I cinched my fingers around his.
"Do-ya,"
My face showed that I was confused, which I'm sure he could see, so he just gently squeezed my hand, his wedding ring and my old promise ring shining in the dark.
"Do what?"
"Do you want to be my girl?"
As soon as he said those words, my heart seemed to leave my body. It reached out to Wade and put itself in his care. As I looked at his face, which was badly hurt and covered with wet hair, my heart beat faster and my cheeks turned red.
I could feel how uncomfortable it must have been for him to wear that boring beige turtleneck sweater in the rain.
"We are already married," I said stupidly, my heart dropping to the floor when I saw him standing here after way too fucking long.
It's been a long, long time.
His eyes twinkled as if he had just realized that we are married, and he suddenly let go of my hand with a big grin on his face.
"Right, we're married, so-" he rubbed the back of his neck and, maybe because he had been drinking, his cheeks turned red before he asked, "Can I hug you?"
"Huh, w-what?" I stutter-spoke my next words because I was out of breath from his straight question.
When I answered, his eyes got smaller, but his smile never left his face.
"Oh, well,"
With those last words, he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his chest outside the house. The raindrops fell freely on both of us.
I yelled over the heavy rain, "Wade, are you fucking crazy? What are you doing?" My voice barely reached my own ears.
Wade pulled me away from his chest, but he still had a tight grip on my waist. He leaned down really close to my face, and I was waiting for something, anything.
Then he pinched my nose hard, which made me slap his chest and try to get away from him, but Wade wouldn't let me do that, you know.
I rubbed my nose hard and hissed, "What the hell was that for?"
"Thought I was dreaming," he said, but his smile disappeared as soon as he took my hands off my nose and cupped them around my face.
He asked me quietly, "Does it hurt?" as if he felt bad for just pinching me on the nose.
"N-no," I answered honestly. It didn't hurt at all; I was just being emotional.
He said, "Liar," with a smile on his face. "Your nose is so red because you were rubbing it so hard. You need to stop doing that."
I never know what this guy means when he says, "Doing what?"
He just said, "Lying to me," and he bent down again close to my face.
Then he gave my nose a gentle kiss.
Once.
Two times.
3 times.
Until I thought my heart was going to fucking jump out of my chest.
I think I'm having a heart attack, because why else would my heart be beating so fast?
"I've missed your pretty face so fucking much, Sage," he said, his eyes blurry from drinking as he gently touched my forehead. "Did I slip your mind?"
"Why would I?" Even he knew at this point that I was lying; it was just so clear.
"Lie to me one more time," he said with a smile in his eyes.
I asked him, "What will you do then, Wade?" He pinched the side of my waist and laughed out of nowhere.
"I would want to kiss you,"
"But I know you will hate me even more than you do now, so I will keep that idea to myself for now."
I'm so glad it's dark right now. If it wasn't, he would be able to see how red my cheeks are, and he wouldn't stop making fun of me about it.
"You just realized you said that out loud, right?" I watched as, in the dark, his eyes grew wide and he stumbled away from me.
"No, I didn't," he whispered, rubbing the back of his neck as the dim road lights fell on his face and showed off his beautiful eyes and pink lips.
Sage, you have to shut up.
"Yes, you did," I told him, trying to hide how nervous I was.
"Oh my god, this is so-" Before he could say anything else, he hissed and touched his face.
"Fuck, this hurts so much," he groaned, his hands falling to his sides as he blinked several times before he looked at me.
"Finally," I said with a sigh. I said jokingly, "I thought you forgot you were hurt," and then I grabbed his hand and dragged his wet body into the house.
"Mom is going to feed me to her parrots now," I whispered as I looked at the wet floor that we had made.
"Wow, your mom has parrots! Can I see them? Can they talk? Will they repeat what I say?" Wade jumped up from next to me and clapped like a kid at an amusement park.
"Wade," I said as I turned to face him. As I looked into his green eyes, I lost my focus and forgot what I was saying for a second.
He just gave me a raised eyebrow.
"If you say something stupid one more time," I stopped to see what he would do. To my surprise, his eyes were warm as he listened to me talk.
"-and I will keep a knife on your throat," I tried to tell him as he got closer and stood right in front of me, which was way too close for my taste.
He called me "Sage," and I thanked God in my mind for giving me such a nice name.
"You have a secret knife kink, don't you?" he asked almost innocently, but a sly grin was slowly spreading across his face.
I can't keep going on like this. I should have just let him in.
I ignored him and went upstairs to get him a pair of clothes, but I could hear his footsteps following me up, which made me shake my head.
I went into the guest room and opened the closet to get some of my dad's old clothes that I hope will fit Wade.
Wade was still very wet and standing near my desk as I walked into my room. He was looking at the Polaroids of us that were stuck on my wall.
When he saw me, he gave me a soft smile and turned around to look at the Polaroids again.
"Didn't I mess up everything?"
I couldn't see what he was doing with his face, but I could feel his voice shaking as he spoke.
"I know you didn't mean to, but you did."
Before I could stop myself, the words came out of my mouth. But they were absolutely true.
"Yes, I blamed him for everything for a long time, even though I knew he was forced to do it all.
I guess it's easier to think of someone as the bad guy in your story than to think that you've lost your hero.
"Yes, I did exactly that."
"Okay, it's true. I have hated you for what you did for all these years, but that doesn't mean I hate you now," I say, gently grabbing his arm to make him look at me. He shakes his head and moves away.
"No, you hate me. If you didn't hate me, you wouldn't always leave me, would you?"
"I hate that you always stay away from me. I hate that I can't see your face when I wake up in the morning. I hate that I can't cook breakfast for you while you stare at me from the back but pretend not to see me when I look. I hate that I can't see your reactions when I make you eat the food I make for you. I hate that you aren't getting ready in our bedroom, and I hate that I can't hear you shriek when you see me
I couldn't breathe.
Then, when he spoke, I felt like my whole world was going to burst. My heart beat faster, and I could feel the color coming back to my face.
How could he have seen so much in just one month?
"Okay," I said, shaking my hands as I held on to my wet T-shirt and looked into his eyes.
"What? Okay?" he asked, and when I told him, he looked truly confused. I shook my head. He was very drunk still. Or maybe I just wasn't clear.
"I'll come home tomorrow, okay?" I asked, with a very fast heartbeat.
I probably won't be happy with my decision, but how can I say no when he said such nice things?
I should tell him to say it again so I can write it down and send it to my author friends so they can use it in their Wattpad books.
"You're really going to come home?" he asked, his eyes shining with happiness. My heart started to beat faster.
I'm going to have a heart attack, for sure.
"Yeah, now go change your clothes," I told him, handing him the clothes I had bought for him.
He nodded and left the clothes on the bed, which made me wonder what was going on.
Suddenly, he put his hand on the bottom of his sweater and pulled it off in the blink of an eye. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Even though I've seen him naked before, it still feels like the first time.
"AHHH WADE WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" I shrieked and covered my eyes with my hands, but I still peaked a little to see what was going on.
Sage, you've turned into a real creep.
"Your response came a little too late, honey," he said with a hint of mischief in his voice as he moved toward me, making me step back.
"You can look at me as much as you want, love," he said, taking my hands off my eyes as I tried to keep my eyes on his face and not look at his body.
"I am all yours anyway," he says without thinking as he plays with my hands.
"I know," I say in a soft voice. "He's so sweet."
He says, "Good, I wanted you to know that," and then reaches out with his hand and kisses the inside of my palm, which makes my heart beat faster.
"Yeah, now please go change," I say stupidly, and his smile only gets bigger, making me want to yell.
"In the fucking bathroom, good Lord, you are fucking annoying!" I turn my back and grab my clothes to change in the guest room.
After a while, I come back wearing some comfy sweatpants and a brown hoodie because the heavy rain is making it quite cold.
When I go into the living room, I'm surprised to see Wade sitting there with his head in his hand. His hair is still wet from the rain, which makes it fluffier than normal.
"Max, are you okay?" I ask in a soft whisper as I gently take his hands off his head and turn it up so he can see me.
"Now I'm okay," he says with a smile as he rests his head on my hand. His eyes are kind of closed.
"Let's go get you cleaned up, yeah. You look terrible," I tease, stroking the cut near his cheeks with my finger.
As I led him to the bathroom, he nodded sleepily and put his hands around my shoulder.
I quickly took everything off the counter that he might need so he could sit on it, and then I got the first-aid kit out of the cabinet next to the counter.
I said softly, "This is going to hurt a little bit," as I moved to stand between his legs and put a cotton ball on the cut under his eye.
He gently pulled me closer by my waist, then put both of his hands on each of my shoulders and let them hang there while he kept looking at me with a small smile on his face.
He whispered, "You are really pretty," as he gently tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and played with my ear piercings.
"So are you," I told him. Then I took his hand, washed the blood off the hurt fingers, put a sterile gauze dressing on them, and wrapped his hand in a bandage.
I said, "Come," and gave him my hand. He gripped it tight as we walked to the living room and sat down on the couch together.
I ask, "Do you want to eat anything?" because I know I can't cook and might have to give him the food Kathryn saved for me.
"No, I'm not hungry," he said tiredly, resting his head on the sofa's backrest while one of his hands played with the tips of my red hair, which was slowly turning brown.
"Who did you punch?" I ask in a half-assed way as I flip through Netflix pictures and shows.
"Some fucking jerk, I forgot his name," he grunted, putting his hand on his heart and taking a few deep breaths.
"And why did you punch him?" I gently moved my hands toward his head, and he opened his eyes wide.
"What are you d-doing?" he asked almost carefully, making my heart hurt.
"Massaging your head," as if that wasn't clear enough.
"Oh, uh, can I- no, no, he stopped himself, but then he started again, "Can I lay my head in your lap?"
"You don't have to ask," I tell him almost as soon as he says it. This makes his cheeks and ears turn red, and he smiles and lays down on the couch with his head in my lap.
I feel like I've been here before.
"He was talking trash about mom, calling her a whore and all. I should have just fucked killed him on the spot," he said, curling his fingers into a fist as if he were remembering that moment.
"You did more than just punch him, didn't you?"
"Of course I did, who do you think I am?" he asked almost with pride.
That's what you are, my beautiful, beautiful husband.
"Almost killed that motherfucker," he said again when I didn't answer.
I asked him with a smile, "And how did you almost kill him?" My hands were almost reaching out to pinch his cheeks.
How can I think he's cute when he talks about killing people?
"I'll tell you later, it's too long of a story," he said sleepily, wrapping his hands around my waist and keeping his face close to mine.
I gently ran my hands through his hair and scrolled through my phone. Suddenly, my phone rang very loudly, which almost made him jump and get off my lap.
"What the actual fuck is that ringtone? Do you want to kill me by putting that sound near my ear?" he asked, putting his hand on his heart and breathing hard.
I said, "Shut up," and then I looked at the name of the person who was calling me so late at night. I didn't understand why Grayson's fiance was calling me so late, the person said.
When I picked up the phone, I heard very loud screams and laughter, which made me pull it away from my ear so I wouldn't lose my hearing.
In the middle of all the loud sounds, I suddenly heard Noor's soft voice saying the words I'd been waiting for her to say for years.
"SAGE, WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!"