Page 28 of Falling Together

Chapter 28

Blair

Blair was happy she had been able to put all of her worries over her impending talk with Erin aside so she could fully enjoy the giraffe experience with Nolan. This had already been one of the best nights of her life, and she really hoped her talk with Erin made the night even better, instead of worse.

Erin had texted Blair on Sunday to tell her she talked to her ex, but wanted to wait until they could talk in person to tell Blair about it. Unfortunately, Erin was at her sister’s house, so it wasn’t possible to make that talk any sooner. Blair had been feeling positive about their talk until Erin dropped Nolan off at her house a few hours earlier. She was cordial and seemed happy, and Blair wouldn’t exactly say things were awkward between them, but she did find it strange that Erin seemed more interested in talking to her mom than her.

As soon as she got Nolan into his car seat, her phone rang. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”

“Hey, sweetie! I was wondering if it would be okay if I took Nolan for ice cream when you two are done at the zoo.”

Blair looked at her watch. It was starting to get kind of late, so she wasn’t sure how Erin would feel about that. “Let me call Erin and ask her. If she says it’s cool, I’ll bring him to your house.”

Blair said goodbye to her mom and called Erin next. It took her longer than usual to answer, but right before Blair was expecting it to go to voicemail, she did. “Hey! Everything okay?” Her voice sounded chipper, giving Blair the impression that she wasn’t actually worried.

“Oh yeah. Everything is great. Super random, but my mom just called me to ask if she could take Nolan for ice cream. Are you okay with that?”

“Of course! That sounds wonderful.”

There was something off about Erin’s voice, but Blair couldn’t figure out what it was. “Okay. Awesome. I’ll bring him to your house after we go.”

“Oh.” Erin sounded disappointed. “You’re, um, going to go with them?”

“I figured that made the most sense. Then I can just bring him back to your house once we’re done.”

“Oh, um, yeah. Of course. Have fun.”

There was definitely something weird going on, but now that Nolan had heard the word ice cream, he was shouting at Blair about it, so she couldn’t ask Erin what was up.

As soon as they arrived at her house, Blair’s mom walked out carrying her car keys. She wiggled them in front of Blair. “Since the car seat is already in your car, you take my car to Erin’s, and I’ll bring him over there once we’re done.”

“You don’t want me to come with you?”

This situation keeps getting weirder and weirder.

“No. Your father is coming. We’re looking forward to spending time with a child who doesn’t speak back to us.” Blair’s mom gave her a playful smile and wink.

“Good luck with that.” Blair laughed and pointed to Nolan. “This one’s worse than me.”

“I highly doubt that.” Blair’s mom smiled lovingly at Nolan, then looked back at Blair. “Now, stop worrying. Go have fun.”

Why did her mom have that twinkle in her eye when she told her to have fun? Were Erin and her mom conspiring? There was no way, right?

Blair drove to Erin’s house as fast as she could without having to worry about being pulled over.

Here!

she texted before shutting off the car and getting out.

Awesome. Door is unlocked. Come in.

When she got to the door, she noticed there was a sign hanging on it. She almost ignored it, figuring it was none of her business, but it was a good thing she didn’t, since it was clearly made for her.

The sign looked like it had been made on Canva or something similar and was printed on normal computer paper. It read, “Now entering the Hall of

Times I Knew I Was Falling for You Even Though I Didn't Want to Admit It (even to myself).

”

Blair’s heart beat fast when the realization hit her.

This is for me. Erin did this for me.

She couldn’t get through that door fast enough and as soon as she did, she found pieces of paper hanging from the ceiling, cut out in the shape of chicken nuggets. There were too many of them to count and each one had a different memory on it, starting with “That first time at the pool ;)” and going through “The Beach 3” and even as recently as “The morning you told me that

this was all you wanted for the rest of your life.

”

Blair's smile grew as she read each one, and by the time she got to the last one, she was fighting back tears. This was so much better than the talk she thought they would be having. Erin was waiting at the end of the hallway, wearing a fitted black dress and high heels, and she looked so fucking phenomenal, Blair had to steady herself on the wall so her legs didn’t give out.

When Blair finally made it over to her, she ran a finger over the side of Erin’s dress and bit her lip flirtatiously as she smiled at her. “I think I missed the memo that we were getting dressed up.”

Erin wrapped her arms around Blair’s neck and rested her arms on her shoulders as if they were dancing. “With Nolan around, I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to get dressed up for you, so I figured I might as well do it now.”

“I think you look drop dead gorgeous right now, but for what it’s worth, I think you’re just as beautiful in sweatpants and a T-shirt that Nolan spilled his lunch on.”

The look Erin gave Blair almost knocked her off her feet once again. There was so much affection in her eyes, even if she tried to deny how she felt, she wouldn’t be able to. Blair had a feeling she wasn’t going to be denying it any more though.

Erin placed the lightest kiss on Blair’s lips before pulling back again, leaving Blair’s body buzzing as it begged her for more. “There were two memories I didn’t add in the hallway.”

“Oh yeah? What were they?” Blair couldn’t imagine what she had missed since it seemed like Erin had included almost every memory they had together.

“The first one was the time we slow danced in my living room.”

“But we ne—” Blair thought she might melt when she realized what Erin meant. “Oh.”

She put her arms around Erin’s waist and held her close as they swayed to the nonexistent music. Erin laid her head on Blair’s shoulder, and it was as if everything that was wrong with the world had righted itself at that very moment. Blair was pretty sure she couldn’t possibly be happier.

Erin proved her wrong when she lifted her head and brought her lips to Blair’s ear to whisper to her. “The second one I didn’t add was the time I asked you to be my girlfriend.”

Blair pulled back and looked into Erin’s eyes to make sure she wasn’t hearing things. Erin’s eyes sparkled as they looked into hers, and Blair wanted to stay lost in them forever.

“Really?” Blair was pretty sure she had the world’s goofiest grin on her face, but she really didn’t care. This was the best day of her entire life, but what made it even better was she was sure that the best was yet to come, because Erin was hers.

“Yes, really. As long as you still want me.” Erin chewed her bottom lip as she waited for Blair’s answer.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Blair picked Erin up off of the ground and spun her around in a circle. “I’ll never

stop

wanting you.”

When Blair set Erin back down on the ground, she leaned in and kissed her, and it was the greatest kiss of her entire life. It was somehow even better now that she knew she could kiss this woman whenever she wanted. When their mouths opened to each other and their tongues met, Blair had only one thing on her mind. She moved her hands down Erin’s back and grabbed her ass, then started to bring her hands around front.

Erin grabbed onto her hands before she could continue with what her body was begging for. She kept her mouth just inches from Blair’s as she spoke. “Your mom really is bringing Nolan back here right after they get ice cream, so we’ll have to save that for later. I hope you don’t mind being tired at work tomorrow though, because I don’t plan on letting you get much sleep tonight.” She kissed Blair deeply, but pulled back much too quickly. “I have something to give you.”

Blair laughed. “What else could you possibly have for me? You’ve already given me everything I could ever dream of.”

“It’s nothing to get overly excited about. I promise.” Erin’s face turned red as she pulled herself away from Blair’s embrace and picked up a small bag sitting on the coffee table. She looked toward the ground as she handed the bag to Blair. “Now, I’m kind of wondering what I was thinking. If this doesn’t scare you away, nothing will.”

Erin laughed softly, and the sound was music to Blair’s ears. She took the bag in one hand, then used the other to push the bottom of Erin’s chin to force her to look at her. “Nothing in this world could ever scare me away from you.”

When Blair took the tissue paper out of the bag and saw what was inside, the tears she had done so well holding back fell freely from her eyes. She picked up the black frame that said “Family” across the top and studied the picture. It was a picture of her, Erin, and Nolan at the beach. Nolan was sitting on her shoulders blowing bubbles and Erin was watching the two of them with all the adoration in the world. Blair had seen the version of this picture where they were all smiling at the camera, but this one was so much better.

“Erin, I—” Her voice cracked, and the words refused to come out.

Erin also had tears in her eyes, but instead of wiping her own, she used her thumbs to remove the tears from Blair’s cheeks. “When I had my talk with Bianca, I realized something I probably should’ve a long time ago. Bianca was meant to be in my life to give me Nolan, but you, me, and Nolan…

we

were meant to be a family.”

“Are you trying to kill me?” Blair laughed through her tears. “This is absolutely perfect. I’m literally speechless.”

Erin ran her fingers over the picture. “I love this one. When I first saw it, it freaked me out because of the way I’m looking at you. That’s why I never showed it to you. But now, I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite picture of all time. It’s very

us

.” She laughed as she pointed to Nolan. “He was so annoying with those freaking bubbles.”

Blair laughed along with her. “He really was.” Blair ran her fingers along the picture as well. “He’s cute though. I think I might love that kid even more than I love you.” Blair snapped her mouth shut. This certainly wasn’t how or when she planned on telling Erin that she loved her, but now that she said the words, she couldn’t take them back. Especially since she had never spoken anything truer in her life.

Erin’s eyes went wide. “You love me?” she asked, sounding truly surprised.

Blair laughed as more happy tears poured from her eyes. There was no use trying to stop them, because the emotions running through her body were more than she could handle. “You mean it’s not obvious? I guess I’m just going to have to work a little harder to show you.”

Erin lifted an eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah? How do you plan to do that?”

“In all the ways, babe.” Blair kissed across Erin’s neck and stopped after placing one lone kiss on her lips, because there was something else she needed to say. “Also, don’t feel like you have to say I love you soon just because I said it. I understand it might take you a while. I won’t get offend—”

Erin cut Blair off with her boisterous laughter. “Blair, I just told you that I want us to be a family. I skipped about 10,000 steps and broke so many dating rules. Obviously, I love you.”

Blair brought her hand to Erin’s chest and enjoyed the rhythm of her heart rapidly beating up against it. A heart that was beating for her. She could hardly believe it was real. “Are you still scared?”

Erin nodded, but the smile never left her face. “I’m terrified. But you’re worth it.”

There was so much Blair wanted to say, but she didn’t get the chance because there was a knock at the door at that very moment. “I’m guessing that’s my parents and Nolan.” She pointed at everything hanging from the ceiling. “I think they might figure out what happened here. I hope that’s okay with you.”

Erin’s face turned the cutest shade of red. “Your mom kind of already knows. I couldn’t really hide it when I asked her if she could take Nolan for us for a little bit.”

Blair threw her head back in laughter. Not that it was

that

funny, but because she was just so fucking happy. “I knew you two were conspiring behind my back.”

Erin pointed at the door. “I guess we better let them in.”

Blair reached out her hand toward Erin, who readily accepted it, and they walked to the door hand in hand. Blair was pleasantly surprised when Erin didn’t drop her hand when she opened the door.

Nolan ran right past them and stared up at the pieces of paper hanging from the ceiling. “Why’s those hanging?”

“Well, buddy,” Erin knelt to the ground, but instead of letting go of Blair’s hand, she pulled Blair down with her. “Those are there because I asked Blair to be my girlfriend. Do you know what that means?” When Nolan shook his head, Erin shared a quick smile with Blair before focusing her attention back on him. “Well, it means Blair is going to be around a lot more often.”

Nolan looked between the two of them and furrowed his eyebrows. “But Bear’s already here all the time.”

Both Blair and Erin broke into a fit of laughter at the same time, which in turn, made Nolan laugh. Blair was so absorbed in this moment with Erin and Nolan that she almost forgot her parents were still standing there until her mom cleared her throat.

Blair tickled Nolan’s side before quickly standing to her feet.

Her mom gave her a knowing smile and wink. “We better get going.”

The goofy smile on her dad’s face probably matched how Blair’s face looked right now. “Yes. You all have a good night.”

Blair’s mom looked down at Nolan. “And you—thank you so much for getting ice cream with us tonight. Maybe sometime soon, if your mommy and Blair say it’s okay, you could have a sleepover at our house.”

Erin laughed and jokingly pushed him toward Blair’s parents. “You can have him anytime you want.”

“Yay!” Nolan did a little dance that made everyone laugh. “Can Moon sleep in my bed?”

“Of course he can,” Blair’s dad bent down and gave Nolan a high five before standing to give hugs to both Blair and Erin.

When Blair hugged her mom, she squeezed her extra tight and whispered in her ear. “That one’s a keeper. You better not break her heart.”

“I don’t plan on it.”

As soon as Blair shut the door and turned around, she noticed Nolan staring at her. “Bear, are you sleeping over?”

“I am.” Blair winked at Erin, who looked so fucking hot when her face turned red in embarrassment. She really couldn’t wait to rip that woman’s clothes off and make love to her all night.

Nolan’s eyes went wide and his face lit up. “Can we

all

have a sleepover in Mommy’s room? Please!”

“Oh, honey, I don’t know if tonight is the best night for that,” Erin said. “We have work tomorrow and you have school. We all need sleep.”

Or something like that

, Blair thought to herself, her body heating up just at the thought.

Nolan looked from Erin to Blair and pushed his bottom lip into a pout as he stared up at her.

Shit.

How was Blair supposed to resist those puppy dog eyes? “I think a family sleepover sounds great.”

“Really?” Nolan squealed as he bounced up and down.

“Yeah, really?” Erin repeated, not sounding nearly as excited.

Blair walked up to Erin and put a hand on her back that she slowly moved down to her ass. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “We have plenty of nights ahead of us for you to keep me up. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Erin rubbed her nose against Blair’s, a mischievous smile on her face. “You better.”

Blair squeezed Erin’s ass. “Don’t worry. We have forever.”

The smile on Erin’s face grew bigger than Blair had ever seen it. “We sure do.”