The Way Your Heart Sounds

Today was Jason’s birthday, which meant it was time for a party. All of the guys, as well as their girlfriends, decided to meet up at Jimmy’s house so they could all go together. Lauren was running around trying to get her things together while the 8 or so other people were in the living room chatting. Once she was ready, they all sorted themselves into cars and headed out.

Jason’s house was already filling up with people when the group pulled up. Apparently from what Jimmy explained, Jason’s birthday is one of the biggest parties of the year for them. Lauren and Jimmy held hands as they walked up to the house with everyone else. The birthday boy appeared out of nowhere with a huge smile on his face and almost tackled Jimmy to the floor. Jimmy gave Jason his birthday present, which was some kind of drum related equipment. She had no clue what it was, but Jason was thrilled.

After giving Jason his present and chatting for a moment, Jimmy led Lauren inside the house where there were people everywhere. Most of them had a drink in their hand. She worried about Jimmy for a minute, but his upbeat confidence reassured her that he was fine. Brian handed Jimmy a non-alcoholic beer, who then ran off, talking about finding Jason’s piano.

“How’s it going in your new place?” Brian smiled at Lauren.

“It’s great! I was kind of scared to take such a big leap at first, but things have been so amazing, you know?” She explained.

“Jimmy is super excited about you guys living together.”

“Me too,” she heard a piano playing from the other side of the house and smiled to herself, knowing it was Jimmy.

“He’s been working non-stop,” Brian laughed.

“I know. He’s in his studio everyday working on the same song. He plays the same piano verse over and over again until it’s absolutely perfect,” Lauren shook her head.

“It’s a musician thing. He’ll let us hear it when he’s ready.”

Jimmy finally made his way back to Brian and Lauren after he had been entertaining half of the party with his piano playing.

“Do you ever stop working on that song? I’ve been hearing that piano verse for years, it feels like,” Brian smiled and clapped Jimmy on the back.

“That’s because you have been hearing it for years,” Jimmy replied with a grin. Jason came up to them and put his arm around Jimmy.

“You should keep playing, everyone loved it,” he joked.

“Well, if my fans want an encore… I guess I can oblige,” Jimmy said dramatically as he left to return to the piano. Jason chuckled.

Lauren smiled as Jimmy took a seat behind the piano again and started to play. She wasn’t sure if he was making the songs up on the spot or not, but everyone seemed to love them. More people were gathering around the piano as he played. He eventually started to sing as well. She always loved his high-pitched voice, speaking and singing. It had such a uniqueness to it, sometimes it could be intense and powerful, other times mellow and relaxed. It would be difficult to mistake his voice for anyone else's.

He entertained the crowd of people for a bit, earning applause after each song was over. Once he was finally tired of performing, he told Matt to get his butt on the piano and sing. Matt didn’t seem to mind and quickly took Jimmy’s spot.

“Hey you,” Jimmy purred, wrapping an arm around Lauren’s waist. “Wanna hit the road soon?”

“Sure. Everything alright?” she asked, wanting to make sure he was feeling okay.

“Everything’s great. I figured we could go hang out at the beach together or something. There’s a ton of people here, you know,” he explained.

“Yeah, whatever you want,” she smiled. She thought it was kind of weird of him to suggest they go to the beach, but she knew Jimmy could be very spontaneous at times.The two of them said goodbye to their friends before leaving. As she was hugging Val goodbye, she saw Brian wink at Jimmy, who was standing behind her. The two of them always have their weird inside jokes, they could practically read each other’s minds.

The couple got in Jimmy’s car, and he started to drive. She wondered why he’d rather go to the beach than stay at the party, but maybe he was just tired of being around so many people. She was pretty tired herself. As they pulled up to the beach, she noticed that there was no one there. It was pretty late at night, so she wasn’t surprised. Jimmy held her hand and they walked down to the water, enjoying the pleasant atmosphere. The gentle sound of the waves, the feeling of the sand, the smell of salty water.

“Did you have a good time?” he asked her, just as they reached the shoreline.

“Yeah, it was great. You definitely seemed to be having a blast entertaining everyone,” she smiled.

“I’d rather hang out with you,” he returned her smile and they both stared out into the ocean together, their fingers intertwined. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of waves crashing against the shore.

“I know we’ve only been dating for a few months, but you are truly the love of my life,” he said quietly.

“I feel the same way about you, honey,” she replied, squeezing his hand. He let go of her hand, which caused her to turn and look at him. There was a huge smile plastered on his face as he sunk one knee down into the sand. Her stomach filled with butterflies when she realized what he was doing.

“Lauren,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black box. There was a small diamond ring inside. “Will you marry me?”

Her heart was pounding out of her chest and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Unable to speak, she quickly nodded yes and threw herself into his arms, squeezing him as hard as she could. Warm tears rolled down her cheeks and she refused to let him go. He quietly held her and rocked back and forth with her in his arms.

"Aww, babe, you're crying," Jimmy smiled and wiped the tears off her face with his thumbs once she finally loosened her grip on him.

"I'm sorry. I've just never been this happy," she sniffled. He kissed her gently and finally slipped the ring onto her right hand. She couldn't help but stare at it.

"Do you like it? Brian helped me pick it out," he said.

"I love it. Brian, huh? How many people knew about this?" she laughed.

"Just him...and Matt...and Zacky...and Johnny... and Dr. Kramer.... and my family." Both of them laughed and Lauren leaned into him again, hugging him tightly.

"What do you say we head home now?" he asked, gently running his hand through her hair. She nodded. They stood up together and walked hand in hand across the beach, back towards the boardwalk. During the drive home, they talked about ideas for the wedding. They agreed on a beach wedding next summer, just their close friends and family.

"I forgot, I have to call Brian. He's going to kill me if I don't," Jimmy laughed as they pulled up to the house. He quickly called Brian and put him on speaker phone.

"Did you do it?" Brian asked.

"I did. She said yes," Jimmy grinned.

"Hey guys! Jimmy and Lauren just got engaged!" Brian yelled, presumably to the rest of the party. They heard a bunch of shouts in return, people yelling 'congratulations.' Lauren smiled and reached out to hold Jimmy's hand.

"Congrats guys. I love you both," Brian said.

"We love you too, Bri," Lauren and Jimmy said in unison.

"Now get off the phone and go celebrate for Christ's sake!"

Notes

FINALLY! I'm sure you guys have been waiting for this moment, so what did you think? Thank you for all the comments so far, I really enjoy reading them.