Afraid of Losing You {AcornTree}

[Shelby]

overview

• 
  As she ran a hand through her hair, the rubbing of plastic bags from the grocery store ringing in her ears, Hope smile a bit to herself as she traveled up the stairs that would lead to her shared apartment with William, a place that she had only been living in for about four months now though she could not deny that these had been some of the happiest four months of her life. Of course, it had been a bit of a big, and maybe even a little bit of a tough, decision to decide to finally move in with her boyfriend, if only because she knew that it would prompt new and more changes to their relationship and the thought nearly scared her a bit. Always in the back of her mind before she moved in did she wonder if things would truly change between the two of them, if only because she had heard from many people that you learn so many more things about a person after you move in with them, things that would either make the relationship stronger or break it apart. You learned a few more of their quirks, you learned more of the habits that they generally had especially in their place of living, and, to be honest, the thought of that had previously made her nervous.
  
  But not only had the thought of what could happen between them made her nervous, but also just the thought that she would no longer have her own place once she moved in. As she called it often, it was a shared apartment between the two of them, despite the fact that it had been, and still technically was, his apartment before she moved in, and with sharing an apartment came sharing just about everything with each other. Of course they had their own things and a little bit of their own space, but Hope still knew that it would be a change. It would be an adjustment waking up to see him every morning, whether he was still in bed with her at the times she woke up or if he was in the apartment doing something else, and it was an adjustment to see how he worked through things and how he dealt with things in the home environment. It wasn't to say that her complete view of him had changed, especially since she liked to think that she knew William pretty well, but she had noticed a few more quirks of his that she couldn't help but find endearing, and she was more than positive that a few of her own quirks had shown throughout the course of her living there. Like the fact that if she had the choice to just stay in bed some days she would. Not to say that she would choose that every day, but every once in a while she thought a day like that would be nice. But also little quirks of hers involved her humming and singing in the shower every time she took one, despite how she had no singing voice in the least bit, and how she would more often than not always clean the kitchen if something seemed dirty or out of place in there had shown. She just didn't like things to look dirty.
  
  Despite the major changes that had happened over the course of the four months, however, Hope was happy, and she couldn't have imagined anything better. In her own words before, this was better than when she would sneak -well not really sneak- into his place while they were in their senior year of college so that she could spend the night over. Now she just didn't have to leave in the morning like she used to.
  
  As she made it to the door of the apartment, she fumbled around with her purse as she tried to balance the bags that she had on her arms and hands, trying to locate the keys that had, somehow, found their way to the bottom of her purse. Frowning a bit at the feeling, when she was finally able to retrieve the keys from the bag she smiled to herself and went to unlock to door, maneuvering herself to latch one of her hands onto the doorknob so that she could twist the knob open to open the door, which she had been able to do with relative ease after she was able to get a hold of the object. And as soon as she opened the door and stepped into the apartment the excited sounds of Jazzy came to Hope's ears, causing her to look down at the ground as she kicked the door shut. "Hey, Jazzy," she sounded out with a bit of a laugh in her voice as she traveled over to the little kitchen that they had.
  
  When she was finally able to get the weight of the bags off of her arms, she breathed out a sigh before she looked back down at the ground and smiled softly as she bent down to rub her hands against the top of the little dog's head. Living with a dog had been a bit of an adjustment as well, especially seeing as how she had never grown up with an animal when she was younger. Not that she hadn't asked her parents, but the fact that her father was allergic to most animal fur stopped any notion of them getting a pet. After petting the dog for another second, she stood up and started with the bags then, opening them up completely and then taking the items out as she started to put them away. All she had really picked up were a few things that they needed around the place; a few more cleaning supplies, some milk and butter and fruit and chicken and other food essentials that they were running out of, as well as dog food for Jazzy that they had been running low on. Not a big list of items, but enough to get them by for a little bit.
  
  And as she put the items away, she continued to go through a mental check list of what she had to do for the rest of the day, which wasn't much but she had to go through her camera to look at a few pictures and edit them, as well as just prepare herself for the weekend since she had wedding to shoot on Saturday. Not anything too difficult to shoot, or at least she didn't think so after having the meeting she did with the clients earlier that day. Nevertheless, she shook her head to herself as she continued to put the things away.
  

 

[AcornTree]

William had not been, and still wasn't, as afraid as Hope had been about moving in together. He had been confident that it would work, and so far he felt that it was. He looked forward to going home from work even more than he usually did every day. Sometimes things clashed, but the two of them were pretty good about working through things. The one thing William had to work on quite a bit after Hope moving in was cleaning up a bit more. He was pretty much always living something out on the counter or a dish in the sink, but he really was trying to work on that. For the most part, things were great, and William could not be happier with how his life and their relationship was turning out.

They took turns getting groceries and cooking meals. William wasn't the best at cooking, but certainly not the worst either, and if something did turn out terrible there was always delivery services. Today would have been William's turn to get groceries, but he had told Hope he had to stay late at school that day since he had been assigned detention duty. Normally he was home before Hope was on the weekdays, but sometimes after school help or when he had to do detention he came home later. Detention was always stressful for William. Most of the kids there could care less about rules and the teachers enforcing them. William attempted to keep an open mind about those sorts of kids. Lots of classes in college suggested a lot of troublemakers had home issues, but it was still stressful for him all the same. He often times came back from detention in as bad a mood as some of the students there.

Right after Hope was done putting away the items she had bought for them, the sound of William's key could be heard turning the lock. Like the little dog had greeted Hope, Jazzy began to get excited and rushed over to the door. Jazzy had no want to run away, just to say hi. When she got so excited like that her entire back end was wagging instead of just her tail. William pushed open the door, the white button down he was wearing looking a little more rumpled than it normally was after a day of work. He carried a tan and brown messenger bag over one shoulder, which he swung out of the way so he could bend slightly to pat Jazzy's head. She gave his cheek a lick and he straightened as he rubbed the saliva off of his face. Spotting Hope in the kitchen he pushed the door shut behind him and gave her a smile. Even when William was in a bad mood, just the sight of Hope could always bring a smile to his face. "I'm home." he announced the obvious like he did every time he came home later than Hope. He went to her then, dropping his bag off on one of the chairs at the table before placing a quick kiss to Hope's lips. "Hi." He greeted. He had papers to grade later, but he didn't think that that would take very long.

"Thanks for shopping." He smiled, noticing the new fruit on the counter. "How was your day?" He was not in as bad a mood as he usually was from hosting detention, but his lot hadn't been as rowdy either today. He just had a slight headache, but nothing horrible. Reaching up, he loosened the green and white striped tie at his throat. He always wore a button down and tie to work, even though it was not required of him. William had preformed lots of times in college and high school, so he was used to dressing nicely. The only times he didn't was when they weren't going anywhere or if he was out getting some exercise.

Passing Hope, he looked into the fridge and took out some lemonade. Pouring himself a glass, he wordlessly offered to do the same for Hope, putting the pitcher back into the fridge once he was done. It was his turn to cook today, but he wasn't quite sure what he was making yet so he was stalling a bit. Normally he had something all planned out in his head by the time he got home, but detention usually derailed him even at the best of times. He looked into the fridge again and decided he could really use some cheese and carbs, and chicken alfredo seemed like the perfect thing. Plus it was easy to make, since he often times just bought the jarred sauce and added spices to that. He took out the chicken and then opened up the cupboard to get noodles and the sauce. He figured he'd start making dinner right away. He was starving.

 

[Shelby]

By the time that she had finished reaching up into the cupboards to put away that last item, which just happened to be a few spices that she ended up picking up on a whim after seeing it on one of the shelves in the aisle that she had walked down when in her search for groceries, a little grunt came from her throat before she started to hear something clicking in the background, causing her to pause for a second before a soft smile started to take the place of her lips. William must be home she nearly sang in her own mind before she shook her head and leveled herself back down onto the ground. She started back over to the counter and grabbed the plastic bags before she put them all inside of each other and headed back over to the cupboard and stashed the bags in a little section that she had for them, a place that she liked to keep them just in case they were ever in need of any plastic bags for any reason. And by the time she had turned back around, William was already in the kitchen, placing his bag on one of the chairs before he made his way over to her to give her a little peck on the lips.

She grinned at the sign of affection as she reciprocated the action back before she turned and leaned against the counter to watch him, taking note of the fact that Jazzy had followed along with him and was now sitting in the middle of the floor, looking back and forth between the two humans before she yawned to herself and looked down. It was a cute sight, one that Hope had the urge to take a picture of if only to preserve the memory, but she kept the itch of wanting to take part in the action at bay and just left it for the time being. There would be plenty of time for her to take pictures, and, to be honest, it wasn't as if she didn't already have enough of them, especially of both William and Jazzy. But pushing the thought aside, she thanked him when he gave her the glass of lemonade, herself taking a quick sip of it before she shrugged her shoulders to begin to answer his question.

"It was good, I guess. Mostly normal if I'm being honest, but I had a meeting with a client today for a wedding. Looks like I'll be shooting one on Saturday!" She grinned at the prospect of it. This would be her third wedding for the year that she would be shooting for, something that she was hoping would expand into more weddings after more of her photos got out there in the world. Oh, she could only hope. Regardless, with wedding season on the rise, that meant that she would have more job client opportunities, as well as more money in her pocket for her to have so that she wouldn't have to settle with the little commission she got from doing little jobs such as portraits for various other clients, things that were relatively simple and didn't cause for many action shots. "It's supposed to be a small wedding, but they showed me what the venue looked like and where the reception is going to take place at. It's a quaint little place. Cute, but I think it'll serve to have great pictures taken at. I'm also supposed to be doing a senior portrait shoot tomorrow which is pretty exciting, though the drive there is about an hour long and apparently there are two kids that I have to take care of with that; twins actually." Oh, she could remember doing her senior portraits when she was about to graduate high school, something that her parents wanted to have so that they could have more pictures of her rather than just the generic photos that were taken at and for the school with the entire class and individually that would be put in the year book. "But it should be fun. I think that's the only thing I'll have to do tomorrow so I'll probably be home early if I don't have anything else to work on."

She took another sip to stop her bit of rambling, pursing her lips for a second as she watched William sift through the fridge until he started pulling things out for dinner. "But how was your day? I'm sure having to sit with the delinquents after school was fun, hm?" Of course she was only teasing him, and of course she didn't generally look to teenagers to be delinquents unless they really were, but she liked to give him a hard time about the matter when ever she could, if only so that she could get him to laugh at it.

 

[AcornTree]

William listened to Hope as he went about starting dinner. He got out both a pot and a pan, adding water to the pot and then putting it onto the range, setting the pan down beside it. Opening the package of chicken, he put the meat on the cutting board so he could get those nasty fat veins out of the meat and then cut it up, adding butter to the pan. He was happy that Hope had a wedding she was doing tomorrow. He knew that photographing weddings was her goal, and every time she got a job to do that he could practically feel her become excited about it.

"That's great!" He remarked about her sessions. Opening the cupboard which housed their seasonings, he hesitated at the new ones he found there. He pulled down one of them and a few of the old ones, starting to season the chicken before he slid them into the buttered pan. It was even more great that she'd come home early tomorrow. That gave them more time together, which he always enjoyed. The twins she spoke of, however, sounded like the were going to be a handful each. Hopefully things would turn out okay though. "I'm sure you'll take amazing pictures at the shoot even with the twins running about." He encouraged her with a smile, salting the water in the pot as it heated.

William went back to the fridge put away the butter and take out some lettuce and goat cheese to make a quick salad. He smiled at Hope's attempt to get him to laugh, snorting just a little as he put the lettuce onto the counter and looked back at her again. "Oh yes, very fun." he answered sarcastically, but then responded more seriously. "They actually weren't that bad today." he admitted. "Which was a surprise, but I'm certainly not going to complain about that." William moved the chicken around in the pan so it would cook evenly and then went back to making the salad. "That Tucker kid was in detention again though." He referenced a child who was constantly a nuisance to every teacher, and one he had complained about since the first time he'd ever had to host detention. "I honestly do not know what to do about that kid. I'm glad he's not in my actual classes. He flicked Mrs. Peterson off and then walked out of her class today because he failed a test she was giving back to the class. I'm surprised he even showed up to detention, but he was just as bad there." he griped.

With the salad prepped and ready for dressing, William turned his attention back to the things on the stove. The water had started boiling by then, so he put in the noodles and moved the chicken around some more. They were starting to get a really nice color to them, and his mouth was already watering. He was a pretty big eater, but what with all of the activity he normally did he maintained a slim and toned body. "The good news, however, is that Jeremy has finally mastered that Chopin piece I assigned him. We were both pretty excited." He laughed a little. "If he keeps it up he's going to go pretty far with all that talent he's got." Jeremy was another student he talked about frequently, but all for good reasons. He was by far his favorite student, even if they weren't supposed to have favorites, and the kid took private lessons with him too. Helping to shape a kid's future was really what made his teaching gig all worthwhile in the end.

"Make sure this doesnt boil over, will you?" He requested about the pasta as he got down bowls and other things to set the table with. Dinner was already almost done, and he moved on to other topics as he set the table. "How long do you think your wedding photography is going to take on Saturday? I was thinking I might take Jazzy kayaking. Unless you want to come too, then we could do it on Sunday." He suggested. They were lucky to be where they were. Mountains were not too far for a day hike and there were plenty of streams or the lake to kayak on. Jazzy was good at keeping her balance on the kayak and the little dog liked it nearly as much as William did.

 

[Shelby]

Laughing to herself lightly at his comment about the twins running amok throughout the shoot, Hope shook her head before she walked over to the the other side of the counter so that she could sit in one of the seats. They wouldn't be bad, she figured, or at least she hoped they wouldn't be. Senior portraits generally went well with everyone that she had, though this was certainly a first for her in regards of having to do two at once, though she took the information with vigor and decided to just take what she could. After all, it was a job, and each job and client brought on new experiences for her to learn from. But regardless of that, the two identical girls were supposedly athletes for their school, two girls who had gotten scholarships to different, and the same, colleges for when they would attend in the fall, so Hope knew all too well that she would try to incorporate their athletic abilities in the photos. It had been requested by the parents as well, them obviously having been proud of their daughter for their accomplishments, to which she could understand though she could only wish that her parents had been as proud of her when she was rewarded with the scholarships that she had been given. But, she digressed. While her parents still didn't like what she was doing, at least they weren't as insistent that she do something else or go back to school to get another degree. She figured that they must have given up in trying to change her mind.

But her ears and eyes were trained on William as she listened to him talk, a soft smile continuing to drift across her lips a the smell of food continued to drift into her nose as the process of dinner was coming along. She even leaned forward against the counter a bit, resting her elbows on the table top before she looked back over to him as he talked about his students. She gave him a shrug of her shoulder and the tilt of her head as he went on about Tucker, a student that he often talked about though never had come with good news with. In all honesty, she felt bad for the kid. "Maybe he doesn't get enough attention at home," she muttered as an after thought with the raise of her brows. "That could be the only reason why I can think of why he would want to act out so often. I'm surprised the school hasn't suspended him yet, or hasn't even really informative his parents to try and correct the problem." But perhaps the problems were rooted deeper than she knew or even understood. She didn't want to get into anything of the sort anyway, so when he changed the subject to speak about another student of his that he talked about often she leaned back a little in the seat. "Really now? Impressive."

Again she tilted her head before she nodded her head and stood to go over to the stove to check on the noodles that were in the heated water. But before she made it over to the stove she gave William a little hip bump with her hip as she gave off a breathy laugh. "And I'm sure once he becomes an amazing musician you'll be right there with him when he makes an acceptance speech for something, thanking his amazing teacher for giving him the attention and practice that led him to be where he was in life in that moment." While the tone had been playful, she had half a mind to think that something like that may happen in the future. While she had never heard the boy play, she figured that if William was taking so much of his time to help the boy then he must be worth it and he must have some sort of talent in the art.

Reaching over for the spoon, she started stirring the noodles to make sure that none of them stuck to the sides or bottom of the pot before she took the large, plastic spoon out and put a lid over the water that was beginning to boil. But when he mentioned going kayaking, she turned to look back at him and shook her head. "I won't be able to do it, so you can go ahead without me if you want to go on Saturday. I'll probably be too tired to go on Sunday anyway now that I think about it. I'm supposed to be at the wedding about an hour and a half early because they want pictures of the bride and groom getting ready for the wedding, as well as a few other pictures that they want me to take before the ceremony and before a lot of the guest get there. And they want me to stay for the reception to take pictures of that as well, and while I don't normally stay for the entire reception and just stay long enough to get enough pictures, I'll still be there for a while. Probably won't be home until late because of that." And she knew that she would probably be too tired to really want to do anything on Sunday, much less want to go kayaking.

 

[AcornTree]

William had no idea if Tucker got enough attention or too much or neither of those things at home. It was particularly hard for him to try and figure things out since Tucker wasn't actually a student of his. He talked about it with Mrs. Peterson anyway though. He was one of the newest teachers at that school still though, and sometimes the things he said were overlooked by the more experienced. He tried not to let that frustrate him too much.

As he passed by Hope, he had to laugh when she bumped him. "I think I might have to send you to detention, for harassing a teacher." He teased her. He quieted up again as she explained her plans for Saturday to him though. So it would be an all day thing? That sounded exhausting, especially for a weekend, but that just meant that he'd have dinner waiting for her on the table and maybe a nice massage after that. Just something nice for her after such a long day for a wedding that was not hers nor people she knew. He did wonder if Hope thought about weddings a lot, and not just in the capacity of photographing them. Whenever William started to wonder about that, however, he quickly shut himself down from that. There was one thing he was not so confident about, although why he wasn't sure, because he would be perfectly happy spending the rest of his life with Hope. Maybe it was because he didn't know how she felt about it and had never asked her. That and marriage was so... real. He quickly shook his head and then, right after that, nodded to show that he had been paying attention to Hope.

"Alright." He answered. "Then I'll probably just go down to the Quinn Tips. I'll send you a text when I'm back home." he let her know. He'd never gotten seriously injured doing the things he did. Well, once he'd broken his arm rock climbing but he'd been able to get back by himself and, luckily, it had not affected his music performance. Still, he took precaution, and always let someone know where he would be when he went out by himself. If Hope was going to be tired on Sunday he wondered if that meant a lazy day. Every once in a while William liked to relax too, despite his very active life style.

Coming back to the kitchen once he was done with the table, he opened up the jar of sauce and promptly dumped it right into the pan with the chicken. He seasoned it some more and mixed it around, turning down the heat a little when he saw it bubbling. He just wanted to warm it since the noodles and chicken would be hot enough for the whole meal. He got out a strainer and put that into the sink in preparation for the noodles.

"Hey, for those twins, you should bring along a bit photo frame and set it up like its a mirror, but with different facial expressions." He laughed. It was probably a terrible idea, but William found humor in it anyway.

 

[Shelby]

Hope nodded her head to his comment, reassured that he would always text her or let her know in some way that he was doing fine and that he was still alive when ever he went to do some of the more adventurous activities that he partook in more often than not. Of course she worried over the matter, because she didn't want to hear or see anything happen to him because of an accident of him slipping on a rock and falling, or of him slipping into the water and not being able to bring himself back up in time before the current would take him, making him unable to hold himself any longer before he would slip below the water line and not be able to come back up... As the thought crossed her mind, she shook her head to clear her mind, pushing the thought aside. Nothing bad would happen, she knew. William was smart and he was generally careful with what he did. But there was always a thought in that back of her mind that something could happen because, as the implications would hold, it would be an accident, something that neither of them would have been able to control. Nevertheless, he was here now, he would more than likely be back on Saturday, and the thought made her smile. Just think positive, she told herself just as she normally did and just as she normally thought. Optimism. It was a good thing to have a lot of, she figured.

Her eyes glanced over to him as he started to pour the sauce onto the pan, the smell of that itself making Hope's stomach grumble, causing her to smile and turn back to look back at the noodles before she lifted the lid to stir them again. "Have I told you before that I like it so much more when you cook?" While neither of them were the best cooks in the world, she always figured that he did a better job with it then she did. That wasn't to say that the both of them hadn't made their mistakes in the kitchen before, because the both of them certainly had, though if Hope was being honest those were some of the funniest moments in her own mind. She could recall the time when, even before she moved in with him, that she tried to cook him breakfast but ended up tripping over her own feet while she had the batter for the pancakes in her hands, causing it to spill all over the front of her body as well as the floor beneath her. It was probably one of the most embarrassing moments in her life, but it was a memory that she fondly looked back on, even if she remembered how hard William laughed at the sight before him though she ended up laughing right back at him to show that she was fine and just messy. It was safe to say that now she was a bit more careful when she was cooking something, especially if she was holding something in her hands that could cause a big mess.

When he mentioned the twins, she took the two handles of the pot and carried it over to the sink after he put the strainer in the sink, and gave him a skeptical look before she thought about it. With her head tilted, slowly a smile started to come to her lips as she tilted her head to look at him. "You know, that's actually not a bad idea," she said, nodding her head as she turned to look back at the sink. She lifted the hot pot and then tilted it down so that the water would start coming out, billows of steam rising from it before the noodles started to fall out. "I may actually have to do that, if they'd want to do it anyway. Remember, it is a senior portrait, so while they're not completely formal it's more about them graduating soon and moving onto a new phase in life. I know a lot pictures will be around their love for basketball, or at least that's what I think I remember the sport being, since it's been a big part of their high school career. But, I don't know. We'll see."

After the noddles had been dumped into the strainer, Hope lifted the pot back up and set it on the counter next to the sink before she picked the strainer up and put that inside of the pot so that it could rest inside of it with the noodles. "When did you start coming up with good ideas for photo shots anyway? Have you been looking up things in the internet?" She rose her brows in question, the comment of hers being playful and teasing before she laughed to herself .

 

[AcornTree]

A laugh came to William's lips when she mentioned him cooking rather than her. He thought her cooking was just about as good as his was, but it was always nice to have someone else cook rather than you. He smiled at Hope and then rewarded her with another quick kiss. He was surprised to hear, however, that his idea about the twins wasn't a horrible one. He hesitated, looking at Hope from the corner of his eye to make sure she wasn't teasing him again. He wouldn't have minded, of course, but it didn't seem like she was. He chuckled when she asked if he'd looked it up though, and then shook his head.

"No, I've just been looking at a lot of the pictures you take. Very inspiring." He said sweetly, since he had no idea where he'd gotten that idea from. He just thought it might be funny. It was funny to think about, anyway. "Thank you." He added, meaning about her taking over the noodles. He picked up the strainer from the pot once he was ready for them and then dumped the noodles into the sauce and chicken. Mixing them all together, he separated them each out a portion into a shallow bowl and then took his own and the salad to the table. Clean up could come after they were done eating. William was hungry now.

Sitting down at the table in front of his bowl, he loosened his tie further and then took it off, putting it on top of his bag that was next to him. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt just to get a little more comfortable and then he was ready to eat. He took a napkin and put it down onto one thigh, picked up a fork, and then tried his creation.

Honestly it was probably one of his better ones But then, it hadn't been much of a creation when the sauce was from a jar. Still, he thought it tasted pretty good and he was happy to eat it. Hopefully Hope would think so too. He was about to take some salad when he realized he forgot the dressing. He stood up with a chuckle. "Forgot to dress it. What kind do you want tonight?" He asked, looking into the fridge again. A balsamic would go well with the goat cheese, but really they could put anything on top. Jazzy was right under his feet, looking into the fridge with him also even though they both knew she wasn't going to get anything. The only time William fed her people food was when they went on hikes, and that was just because it was easier to bring along one kind of food to share. He brought along the bottle Hope chose and then came to sit back down with it, letting her put as much or as little as she wanted onto the lettuce.

 

[Shelby]

"Glad to know that you find what I do inspiring." The thought alone sent a bit of pride to rush through Hope, but while it made her feel a bit prideful, she couldn't help but blush at the thought as well. It was always nice to be complimented on what she did and of the pictures she would take, especially when she knew that there were people, like her parents, out there in the world who that that was she did was a joke and that it wasn't a real job. In all honesty, she didn't understand why those people never understood and grasped the concept that it was a real job, one that she enjoyed and one that she never wanted to give up. Not only did it give her gratification to hear people compliment her work, but it always made her happy to just know that other people, the ones she took pictures of, were happy when the saw the pictures that they were stuck in. "Maybe you should look at more of them to give me more ideas." She laughed lightly at the thought, herself knowing that she had various amounts of pictures and photo albums around the apartment with various pictures taken and placed in there.

She let William take the pot with the noodles in it and watched as he started setting everything else up for the dinner, creating a bowl of food for each of them before he put them in their respective spots on the table. She smiled at the sight, looked down at Jazzy for a second, and then headed over to the fridge to take out the pitcher of lemonade that they had. She walked over and put her cup beside her bowl before she refilled the class and did the same for William before she set the pitcher on the table just in case either of them wanted anymore of it while they were eating so that they wouldn't have to get up to go to the fridge to get it. But as William started to take his tie off and set it on his bag, Hope breathed out a little sigh as she shook her head at him. "I don't understand why you insist on wearing anything like that every day for work. I mean hell, I don't ever remember my high school teachers dressing as nice as you do on a daily basis." She sat down in the chair next to him as she rose her brows. "Not that I'm complaining in the least bit about it, especially since I'm able to appreciate and marvel at how nice you look every day while most people can't because I love the way you look and dress, but I'm just surprised. If I was in your position, I probably wouldn't dress as nicely as you do."

With that she started eating the food then, giving an appreciative sigh before she told him which bottle dressing she wanted before she took it from him as he brought it over to her, herself pouring a thin layer over the top of the lettuce as she mixed it around with her fork. When she was done, she slid it over to him as she started back eating her food then, a little bit of a lull in their conversation for the time being as they enjoyed the meal that they had each been given. "Oh, I talked with my parents earlier today," she started, turning her head to look at him, "they're still not that happy with me, but they'll get over it eventually. Anyway, they invited us to go to the cottage with them in a couple of months in the summer for a few weeks. I know it's a little bit of a ways away, but I just wanted to see if you were interested in going. I've told you about it before, right, and how we used to go every once in a while during the summer when I was younger?" It had always been a nice place to go to, but while they hadn't gone every summer like she knew a lot of families did with them really only going when they thought about it. It was always relaxing though. "If you don't want to go with them when they're there though, I'm sure I can convince them to give me a key and we can go at some point by ourselves." She winked after that.

 

[AcornTree]

William liked to see Hope glow like she did whenever she was payed a compliment. It was so easy to compliment her, too. Whens he commented on what he wore he shrugged one shoulder, his fork in his mouth as he did so. None of the other teachers wore ties either, but he just thought it looked nicer. Besides, he did have a bit of pride to the way he dressed. He was well aware of how it made him look. "Its respectable. And I'm used to wearing much fancier clothes than this for recitals so its not really a big deal." He voiced.

When the two of them quieted, he didn't mind it. It was a comfortable silence, and when half way through dinner Hope broke that silence he certainly didn't mind. He looked up at her as he ate and she spoke. Hope had mentioned the cottage once or twice before, and he nodded his head a little as she refreshed his memory on it. He had to admit, he did get a little sore for Hope when her parents said something demeaning about her profession. He tried not to show it though, and for the most part got along with them. With her wink, William's eyebrows raised.

"Well... I was going to say I wouldn't mind going with your parents at all, but now I'm thinking about changing my mind." He was only half joking. The cottage to themselves sounded nice even without that flirtatious wink she gave him. "I don't suppose we could do both?" he ventured. It was good that they were going during the summer. As a teacher, he had a lot of the summer off. Not as much as the kids got, but enough. "So long as it lines up with my summer break I think its a fantastic idea." He added with a smile. How lucky, that her parents owned a cottage. "Will they mind Jazzy?" The little dog looked up from her place on the floor at the mention of her name, but when no food came her way she put her head back down to chew on one of her toys.

William would rather not leave the dog behind. Putting her in boarding depressed both him and the dog, and leaving her with a friend was less depressing but still troublesome, since Jazzy was used to a certain amount of exercise. And most of his friends weren't quite as outdoorsy as he was every day. It was a ritual to go on a run with the pup after dinner, and on the weekends she went nearly everywhere with him and got antsy if she didn't.

 

[Shelby]

Hope rose her brows as she continued to chew on her food as she listened to him, her lips turning into a wide smile before she swallowed and took the napkin to wipe her face a little bit. "I don't think we'll be able to do both, so we'll have to pick one or the other. The summer months are usually a bit busy after all, but I'm sure that I'll be able to get a little bit of time work; if not a week then at least a weekend. Or at least hopefully I will." She didn't have any idea of whether or not she would even really be able to get the time off work yet, however she knew that she would put it in when ever she got more information about when it was time to go and if they were even going to go. "The next time I talk to my parents I"ll ask them what time they're thinking of going and for how long they plan on staying, and then I'll let you know what I find out about it so that we can see if we can work a schedule around it."

It sounded like it would be a relaxing time, even if they would be there with her parents if they decided to go around the same time as them. While she would really love to spend time at the cottage alone with him, it wouldn't be so bad with her parents there, especially given that they actually approved of her relationship with him. If anything, she figured the most time the two couples would spend together would be in the morning for breakfast, maybe lunch if they ever decided to meet up with each other, and then for dinner. The rest of the time would probably be spent doing any activities that they wanted to do for themselves, which if she knew William meant that they would probably be hiking through the woods or anything else of that nature. But it sounded fun, even if she wasn't the best hiker in the world. Always did she try her best to keep up with William when ever they partook in that activity together, however she nearly always found herself falling short, her always apologizing to him after the fact as well. But she knew that there were other things to do there, like swim in the lake that was behind the cottage that her parents owned, a place that Hope frequented often when she was younger, and then to just take walks and drives down the roads as well. Now that she was beginning to think about all of it, she really wanted to go. Hopefully they'd be able to clear their schedules to at least spend a weekend there.

But at the mention of Jazzy and bringing her along, Hope frowned a bit at the thought as she leaned over to look at the dog as she laid on the ground, chewing on her toy. "If she came, she'd probably have to stay outside, unfortunately." She picked her head up and looked back at William. "I"m sure my mom wouldn't mind her being there, but my dad's allergic to most pets, including dogs, and I doubt if he want to have to bring medicine because of Jazzy. He doesn't much like animals anyway." She gave him an apologetic look. "To be honest, I don't really like the idea of having her outside the entire time either; from what I remember there were a lot of raccoon that live in the area, most of them probably having some sort of disease with them, and I wouldn't want her getting into any sort of fight with them."

 

[AcornTree]

Not bringing Jazzy or bringing her and leaving her outside did put a bit of a damper on the situation. He looked down at the dog then, thinking about this. If Hope didn't think it was a good idea to keep her outside then he really didn't like that idea. "Well, we can cross that bridge when we get to it." He decided, looking up at his girlfriend again. "And as far as going with your parents or by ourselves, I'll leave it up to you." He finished his salad then, nearly done with his pasta too. "Either way, I'd be happy to go." he promised. William had only met her parents a couple of times, so being invited to a cottage retreat was a good step in the right direction there.

"You DID tell them we moved in together, right?" He was only partially joking. He finished up his pasta and then simply sipped at his lemonade. He waited until Hope was finished with her dinner too before he got up to take both of their dishes, rinsing them off and then putting them in the dishwasher. He didn't clean up the rest of the kitchen right away, coming to sit back down with Hope instead. He had, at least, brought a wet wash cloth to clear the table off with, but he did like just sitting and talking with Hope sometimes.

When he had told his parents about Hope coming to live with him, they had had mixed reviews. His father was generally all for it, but his mother was less so and had had about a billion concerns. He'd tried to smooth it over with her and not have her worry, but it hadn't worked all that well and she was still a bit bitter about it. Luckily, she was not the type of person to be ugly about it. She just complained from time to time whenever they were on the phone together.

Pushing the washcloth across the table, he cleaned his area and then reached over to do the same to Hope's. He had kept his mother's unhappiness about her moving in with him not quite a secret, he just hadn't made it out to be a big deal to Hope. William didn't see the need to bring in all that drama, and he knew once his mother got used to it she would get over it, so it was fine.

 

[Shelby]

Right, figuring out what to do and if they were going to go could be figured out later, she figured, especially since they still had a few months to plan ahead and think about it. So she nodded her head to what he said, agreeing with William as she continued to finish up the rest of her food. However, when he brought up the question of whether or not she had told her parents about her moving in with him she stopped for a second, even chocked a bit on the sip of lemonade she had taken before she quieted the coughs and looked over to William, giving him a bit of a sheepish smile as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Well... Not exactly." By the time that she had answered, William had already taken her dish back over to the sink and had brought over the rag to wipe down the counters. She sat back in the seat a little more as she reached over her hands out to touch his shoulder when he sat right next to her again before she raised one of her hands to hold a finger up. "Ahh, before you get upset about me not telling them about this yet, I know. I should really tell them before they, somehow, figure out about this some other way so that they won't be even more pissed off about the entire situation, but I've told you about my parents. While they like you, they won't like that I'm living with you, especially not my dad."

She had brought up the topic months ago to them one day when she head decided to visit them at home, mentioning something about maybe moving in with William at some point. And, of course, their reactions had been what she had expected; shock, and then them telling her that it was a bad idea and that she was too young to be moving in with a guy. She had argued that she was old enough to move in with someone, especially with her boyfriend -she made sure to put an emphasis on that word- that she had been dating for three years. Three years. But she knew that her parents were old fashioned, and that they didn't believe in living with someone, or a significant other rather, until you were married, or at the very least engaged, both of which the two of them weren't. But when the thought about that conversation she had with them months ago came to mind, it made her wonder why they had invited the both of them to go, but when she thought about it, she figured she knew why; because they wanted to see how the two would interact with each other in the same house. Nevertheless, it wasn't a thought that worried her if only because she knew that they wouldn't put their full attention to the two of them while they were at the cottage since they had friends that frequented the place during the summer, friends that they would spend most of their time with. More than likely, she figured that they would separate the two and have them sleep in separate rooms, but she knew that both of her parents were heavy sleepers. She could sneak into William's room if it came to that.

While there was no doubt in her mind that her parents believed the two of them were sexually involved with one another, because that had been something her mother asked her once she brought up the topic of moving in with him, she knew that, for what ever reason, that wasn't the biggest concern about to them, oddly enough. Half of the time she didn't understand her parents, and most of that time she didn't even try to. They had strange beliefs that they stuck with. "I mean, I brought it up a while ago," she started again as she watched him start to wipe down the counters, "before I moved in I mean." She gave a shrug of her shoulders before she sighed. "I just never told them that I actually moved in with you. But like I've told you before, my parents will be so happy to tell me how much they dislike me doing something, and they'll continue tell me that until they get tired of saying it because I won't change my mind about it and I don't want to deal with that with this. I'll tell them eventually; like, after the summer if we decide to the cottage with them. Okay? I promise."

 

[AcornTree]

William had to admit, the fact that Hope had not told her parents after all hurt him. He frowned, not quite looking at her but instead at the table he was wiping down. He looked up at her when she touched his shoulder though, sighing quietly as she explained why she hadn't. Well... at least she knew she should have told them. She had known that he had told his own, after all. He figured her not bringing it up meant that it might have gone badly and she didn't want to tell him that, but not telling them at all still kind of hurt. Even if she knew that she should have told them.

He pursed his lips a bit, not sure what to say. Before he could figure something out, Hope had started talking again. So she'd introduced the topic to them but hadn't followed through. Which led William to believe that how they had reacted just with the suggestion must have been pretty bad if she hadn't said anything when she actually moved in with him. That, and the notion that her parents really did like to tell her how wrong she was living her life eased some of William's hurt about it. He had finished with the counters by then and was just kind of sitting there with the cloth under one hand.

Hesitating, he nodded. "Okay..." He agreed. Sort of agreed, because right afterwards he added; "Don't you think it would be wiser to tell them before we go to the cottage with them though?" He frowned a bit further. "I mean, it'll be pretty obvious we know each others routines and habits by that time. If they're observant they'd catch on." Plus, William had no want to join in on a lie if it came down to that. If they asked what he was up to now or if he was living in the same place, skirting around the truth of possibly the most important new detail of his life right then. "I get that dealing with their crazy is not ideal but... its bound to come up. Or a similar topic..." He continued on hesitantly.

 

[Shelby]

Breathing out a breath of a sigh, Hope couldn't help but feel bad over having admitted that she hadn't told her parents about the decision they made to have her move in with him, especially when she noticed that he had looked away from her for a second when she first started speaking. She should tell, she knew she should, but she just didn't want to hear them run their mouths off about the matter, especially about something else that she refused to change about her life. Time and time again she tried to tell them that she was grown and that she had her own mind and that her life was her life and no one could tell her any different about it, but, for what ever reason, they didn't seem to understand the concept. Why they acted that way towards her, she could only guess. Her lips tilted down into a frown as she looked back at William, her shoulders slumping a bit as she listened to him speak, biting the inside of her cheek. "I don't know," she muttered, still believing that it would be a terrible idea to tell them about the move before they went to the cottage, if they even went.

"I don't want to hear them run their mouths about it all, and I know if I tell them before the fact that they're either going to take back their invitation for allowing us to go to the cottage with them, or they'll allow us to come but the continue to bring it up throughout the entirety of the time that we're there and I'm sure no one would enjoy that. Trust me, I wouldn't doubt if they would try their best to get every little bit of information that they could out of us living together." After running a hand through her hair, she gave him a little pout before she dropped the look and leaned closer to William, resting her chin on his shoulder as she blew out another sigh.

"I mean, yeah, it may come up eventually, and they may ask about it or they may ask about other things, but I don't want their view on you becoming screwed." Reaching out one of her hands, she grabbed onto one of his and held it, giving it a little bit of a reassuring squeeze. "They like you right now, and I don't want them to not like you because I decided to move in. They're pretty old fashioned with it comes to things like that." Shaking her head, she lifted it back up and sat a little straighter in the seat. "And it's not that I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm living with you because I love this, and I love you and you know that. I just don't want to argue with them about it right now; not when they asked us if we wanted to come with them. Apparently they must think of us to be a good enough couple if they asked." After she spoke those words she leaned back in and pressed a kiss to William's cheek before she pulled back and smiled softly to him. She did love this man, and she wasn't ashamed to admit it, nor was she ashamed to be with him. "How about we deal with this matter later? We've got time before the summer, and, right now, I don't want to argue about my parents."

 

[AcornTree]

William listened to her and the points that she made. He honestly was no longer sure what would be better now. Telling them now or later. Eventually they would have to be told. He chewed on his lower lip a little. Her parents withdrawing their invitation would really suck, and them bringing it up all the time would too. It was hard to figure out what they should do at this point. She'd already waited, so no matter when she told them they'd be upset both because she had moved in and because she'd waited to tell them. So that was a bit pointless to bring up now.

Finally William sighed too, nodding and squeezing her hand back when she squeezed his. Hope seemed to know exactly what to say to him to ease him. "Alright." He agreed with her again, although this time completely. He didn't want to argue with her about it either. "I love you too." He added, leaning forward to kiss her cheek the same way she had kissed his. He felt better about it now anyway, so letting it go in favor of better topics seemed like a good idea. He felt pride that she was not embarrassed, and happiness too. She was here with him, and that was what mattered the most now. It was going to be hell, whenever Hope told her parents, but it was her parents and not his own. She could handle them herself in that way, and that was what William reminded himself then. This was between her and her parents, and he would keep out of it until she told them.

Giving her hand another squeeze, he got up from the table then. "I'll do the dishes." he offered, mostly because the dishwasher was empty and it was a matter of rinsing and putting them into the machine. "Do you want to come on the run tonight?" He always asked her, and he was happy wether she said yes or no. When she came, it was a simple, straightforward run around the neighborhood. When she didn't, he got a little more dangerous and did his free running instead. A fact that he wasn't entirely certain Hope knew about. Sometimes it was all Jazzy could do but to keep up with him when he went sprinting over fences and balancing down handrails.

 

[Shelby]

When he said that he loved her back, Hope couldn't help but breath out a bit of a giggle, especially when she felt him place a kiss against her cheek. It was amazing to her that even after three years of being with this man that every time he told her that she still felt those flutters run through her stomach, as well as always felt goosebumps dart across her skin. It was almost a bit of an odd feeling, one she embraced, but it was still something that she couldn't understand completely, one that she didn't know if she really did want to understand. It just made her ecstatic; he made her ecstatic by just being in her presence and by just being there for her, supporting her through everything that she put herself through. And she supported him with everything that she could, because he deserved it and because she loved him. It just was simple as that. She loved him enough to want to do anything for him in order to make him happy, within reason of course. If he asked her to murder someone to prove her love to him she would outright deny it and then probably leave him for fear that he was some sort of psychopath and for fear that he would try to kill her, but otherwise she figured that she would do just about anything for him.

When he raised from his seat, she did the same thing, taking both of their empty cups and then bringing them over to the sink and placing them inside of it. "You only want to do the dishes now because I emptied the dishwasher this morning before I headed off to work," she teased, giving him another hip bump before she headed over to one of the lower cabinets. She opened it and looked through the Tupperware before she grabbed a few bowls with their matching lids and pulled them out. "I guess I'll put the leftovers away then, since you get the easy job." Grinning, she set about with the little task, which really wasn't that difficult either. All she did was scoop the food that they hadn't eaten and put them in the Tupperware before she stored them in the fridge so that they could have the food at any point for the next week if neither if them felt like cooking or ordering out.

When that was all taken care of, she started wiping down the stove and any other place that the food had been at, her brows raising when she turned and looked at him after he asked his question. "Ah, you can go ahead without me; I've got a few photos to look through and edit anyway, so I should probably be getting to that before it gets too late." She did enjoy the little runs that she would take with him and Jazzy every once in a while, and she used the time to give herself enough time to talk more with William. She went and wiped her hands off to try them before she shrugged her shoulders. "I can go with you tomorrow though; we can even make it a bit of a date run, with Jazzy with us of course."

 

[AcornTree]

William grinned widely when she called him out on why he wanted to do the dishes. It was true, but he wasn't going to say so. "I have no idea what you are talking about." He teased with a shrug. He put away the rest of the dishes and then took the ones she had emptied of leftovers. He paused to feed Jazzy her dinner first so that she would relieve herself outside like she usually did. She chowed down as William turned back to finish up, cleaning out the sink and then setting the dishwasher up to run later, in case they had any other dishes later for a snack or dessert.

His eyebrows raised when she suggested a run date. These weren't actually a whole lot different than a run, but it didn't matter. Calling it a date run made it ten times better, and he nodded eagerly. "Can't wait." he said with a smile. He was already looking forward to it. "I'm gonna go change. When I get back I have some papers to grade, but I don't think it'll take me more than an hour." He estimated, laying out his plans for the rest of the night. Really, he might be able to push the paper grading until tomorrow if they wanted to do something else. She might still be working on her photos though. He knew sometimes that took quite a while.

He left her to go to their bedroom, opening up a drawer to pull out running shorts and a t-shirt. Shedding his clothes, he did remember to put them in the laundry - something he was also getting better at. William didn't mind changing some of his habits for Hope. It was just taking him a little while to get used to. Slipping into the shorts and then the t-shirt just after that, he sat down on the bed to put on socks and tennis shoes. He took the time to stretch while Jazzy finished up eating and then he stood up, finding her harness. He never bothered with a leash for the dog. She came when called, and free running was so much easier when the dog could find her own way that was easier for her four feet rather than his two.

Coming back out to the living area, he grinned at Jazzy. "Ready girl?" He got her a little razzed up. She instantly started wiggling around, excited to leave. William came towards Hope to give her another kiss. "I'll be home soon." He told her. He knew exactly where he was going to go today. "I think we should take a shower together when I get back." He suggested, giving her butt a teasing squeeze and then leaving her with that thought on purpose, just so she would be a little distracted while she edited her pictures.

 

[Shelby]

Smiling at him, Hope nodded her head as she watched him head off back towards their room, her eyes going back down to look at Jazzy for the moment as she shook her head and rested her hand against her hips. Oh, that dog... But she loved the dog as well, especially to watch how her and William would interact with one another, though if there were some things that might have bothered her a bit about the dog it was the fact that she had a tendency to want to wake them up in the morning if they tried to sleep in on the weekends. Some nights they would leave the door cracked open in case Jazzy ever wanted to come into the room to sleep in there since William didn't keep her in a crate, not that she needed it because of how well behaved she already was, and she would come into the room to try and jump in the bed, though falling short and then deciding that she would just bark and howl until she got their attention. And even when they kept the door closed did she try her best to get their attention by barking from outside the door and even in some moments scratching at it. But, Hope digressed; she figured that it was only Jazzy's was of trying to make sure that the two of them didn't get lazy on her, as well as a way to make sure that she got fed and walked at the same time every day. Schedules were good, she figured, though sometimes she did love to break schedule.

After hanging the little hand towel on the handle of the oven, Hope clapped her hands together before she walked back over to the counter and grabbed her purse, figuring that she should put it in the room so that she would know where it was given how she had a tendency to forget where she placed things more often than not, but before she was able to make it down the hall to where their room was, William was already coming out of it, dressed in his running attire. She wiggled her brows at him before turning as he walked more down the hall, just ready to leave though when he kissed her she rested one of her hands quickly against his shoulder before their lips disconnected from one another. When she felt his hand squeeze her butt lightly she jumped a bit, a bit of a playful squeal coming from her mouth as she moved her hands to rest against her rump, pouting to him as she rolled her eyes. "Oh, you tease!" She called out to him before he was able to make his way out the door, almost a little happy to see that there had been a little bit of distance put between then given how her face had heated up significantly. She turned her head to look away then, grinning to herself before she shifted her eyes to give him a side wards glance. "Just be careful and have fun. Don't leave Jazzy behind either!" Even though she knew that he would do no such thing, she felt that she should throw it out there. His earlier words of them taking a shower together filtering through her mind though, causing her to stop for a second again before she sighed. Damn him...

Nevertheless, she laughed it off after he left the apartment and headed into their room. She went over to her dresser and placed the purse against it before she opened it back up and pulled the camera she had in there, nearly grimacing to herself as she looked at it. It wasn't damaged in the least bit, oh no, it was in perfect shape most people would say despite all the use that it had been through! She just hated keeping it out of it's case when traveling with it for fear that it would get messed up somehow, but she knew that she couldn't have done anything about it that day; she had been rushing to get out of her little space in the building that the little business had in order to make it to the meeting with her client about the wedding she was to be shooting on Saturday and had forgotten it back in the office. It was a wonder how she hadn't forgot about the camera though.

Grumbling to herself lightly, as the silence overtook her in that moment she headed over to where her laptop was and brought it over to her bed, as well as bringing the camera with her and the cord that would connect the two together, making a mental check list, again, of which pictures she had to go through in this memory card. A lot of them she had done at work already, which she normally did, however she had run out of time today and decided to finish the rest of it there. She folded her legs and rested her back against the headboard, honestly hating using the laptop for this but she knew that it would have to do for the time being. And with that thought in mind, she started pulling everything up and then started on her work.

 

[AcornTree]

William knew he had flustered Hope, and he couldn't help but to be quite tickled with himself as he left with Jazzy. Of course, now he was thinking about getting back to take a shower with her too, but he would quickly forget about it when he started running. Jazzy led them out to the grass in front of the apartment complex, and she knew well enough that she should go to the bathroom before William started running. While she did her thing, William simply jogged in place, getting his heart rate up and blood flowing.

When Jazzy was done, he started off. If Jazzy could grin, she would be. She thought it was a game to catch William, and William was perfectly okay with that. They tore through the city and William was only careful to make sure they didn't get in front of traffic. Jazzy was smart, but she was still a dog. He didn't want her getting hurt. He kept to the backstreets mostly, jumping over and to the intricate stonework that made up ledgest and completely vaulting over a bench at one point. It was fun, and that was the point.

William spent about an hour out running with his dog. By the time they got back to the outside of the apartment complex William was sweaty and hot. Jazzy was panting hard but obviously happy, and the two of them went back to the apartment. "I'm home!" He said his trademark greeting as he opened the door. Jazzy went right to her water bowl and proceeded to lick all of it up. William was breathing pretty hard too, but he stretched out again in the living room before filling up Jazzy's bowl again. She started drinking the second bowl, but not all of it, and then wandered over to her bed to lay down. William grinned, pushing his slick hair back from his face. He came into the bedroom. "Ready for that shower?" He asked. Because he most certainly was.