Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian(51)

       
           



       

"He has a smile that makes you do things you would never do in a million  years. I call it his bad-boy smile. When he flashes that smile,  people-myself included-just follow him blindly. Because even if,  technically, it's something you know you shouldn't be doing, you also  know that, whatever happens, Brian will take care of it. He'll take care  of you.

"If you are lucky enough to be someone Brian loves, then you know that,  no matter what happens, he will always be there for you. He would do  anything, sacrifice anything, for the people he loves."

She hadn't even remembered saying those things, but that was exactly the  point that she'd been trying to make to Brian last night.

After her video, Brian's face popped up on the screen from one of his  confessionals, one Becca hadn't seen. His eyes were filled with so much  emotion as he spoke.

"No, Becca's not just my friend. She's part of me. As much a part of me  as my limbs, because she's the strength I stand on. My lungs, because  she's the air I breathe. My heart, because she's the love I feel. My  brain, because she's my sanity." He let out a puff of a laugh. "My  conscience, because she tells me when I'm screwing up.

"Becca's not just my friend. She's my … everything."

Tears were now flowing down Becca's face like Niagara Falls as the  lights came back on, and even though she knew she shouldn't, she looked  over at Brian. When she did, she didn't find him crying like she was. He  didn't look hurt, upset, or mad. Nope.

What she saw was a thousand times worse than any of those things. He sat  staring right at her wearing the smile that told her he was about to do  something he shouldn't. His face was turned up in the biggest "bad-boy  smile" she'd ever seen.

Uh oh.

* * *

Clarity, like Brian hadn't known for the past year, filled him. He knew  exactly what he was going to do and what he was not going to do. He was  going to ask Becca to marry him and he was not going to ‘date' Brooklyn  or have Becca ‘date' Colton for a year.

Brian didn't care about anything except those two certainties.  Everything else was just going to have to work itself out. He wasn't  going to let his parents lose their house. If Brian couldn't make enough  at the shop to make the payments on the first, second and third  mortgages, then he'd have to look into selling it to see if he could get  enough out of it that his parents would have a cushion, a nest egg. As  far as his brother and sister were concerned, he'd work and figure out  how to cover their tuitions; but, if they needed to get jobs so they  could handle their living expenses, well …  There were worse things.

But, the one thing he knew for sure was that Becca was his and he was hers and that was that. They would be together.

"Keep those votes coming in, and when we come back, we'll reveal which  couple received the highest number of votes, the couple you believe  found their fairytale love. Stay tuned, we'll crown our Fairytale Couple  after these messages."

Applause played loudly.

No one, except Brian, knew what he had decided-that it didn't matter if  the audience had voted for Brian and Brooklyn or Colton and Becca-he had  made up his mind that the couple that would continue their journey to  happily ever after was Brian and Becca.

As the crew came up to retouch Lance's make-up and talk to him for a  minute, the two couples just sat, staring, waiting-the tension was  palpable.

The show's eliminated contestants, who had been brought back for the  finale, were sitting on stage in a special section. They looked almost  as nervous as the final four as they watched the two couples and talked  amongst themselves.

"We're back in one minute," the AD called out.

The applause track began playing and Brian's gaze naturally gravitated  to Becca. He could tell that she was nervous. He wished he were sitting  beside her so he could hold her, tell her everything was going to be  okay. Tell her that he knew what he was doing.

"Welcome back, I'm your host Lance Sparrow and this is the finale of  Fairytale Love. Where one couple will not only continue their happily  ever after, they will also win half a million dollars."

The applause track played loudly.

"Alright folks, here is the moment we've all been waiting for. Viewers  have voted. Which couple did you think found their Fairytale Love?"

A girl that Brian had never seen before, wearing a skimpy black cocktail  dress, appeared on stage and handed Lance an envelope. The host made a  big show of slowly opening it.

As Lance looked down, he had a look of surprise on his face that Brian was pretty sure was totally fake.                       
       
           



       

"Here it is folks, the couple that received an overwhelming majority of  the votes, the couple you believe has found their Fairytale Love, the  couple that will be continuing on the road to happily ever after is … "

Brian waited while they built the tension for the audience. The cameras  were probably getting close up shots of him but he didn't care, he  couldn't take his eyes off Becca. She smiled and his heart expanded in  his chest. The look in her eye told him that she knew, like he did, no  matter what the "viewers" said, they were going to be together.

"Becca and … ." Lance paused and the silence was electric with anticipation.

" … Brian!"

"Becca and Brian, you are our Fairytale Couple!" Lance stood and a track with rowdy applause played.

At the sound of Brian's name, Brooklyn shot to a standing position like  someone had buzzed a jolt of electricity through her chair.

"What!?!" she shrieked-then stood frozen, eyes wide, mouth open, staring  directly into the camera-for just a beat. Anger flashed in her face as  she turned to Lance. "What the fuck is going on?! You can't do this!  They're not a couple! That's not fair!" she screamed, her hands waving  wildly.

Lance, the quintessential professional, stepped smoothly around Brooklyn  and with his ever-camera-ready smile, enthusiastically confirmed as he  seamlessly read from the teleprompter, "That's right folks, you have  been voting for Brian and Becca since the first show. You have even  started fan pages for them and petitions. You, the viewers, our loyal  fans, have spoken loud and clear and we have listened, Brian and Becca  are your Fairytale Couple!"

Brian and Becca are your Fairytale Couple.

The words played back in Brian's head and he jumped out of his chair so  fast you would think it was spring-loaded. Stepping across the stage (in  one long stride) he pulled Becca, who looked like she was in a state of  shock, out of her chair and into his arms, crushing his lips to hers in  a claiming kiss. His demanding lips caressed hers as he devoured her  softness. She kissed him back with a fiery possession.

Pulling away slightly he looked into her eyes, and as always, the rest  of the world just disappeared. Resting his forehead against hers he  whispered, "I don't ever want to hear you say ‘we're just friends'  again. Marry me, Becca."

A huge smile spread across her face as tears formed in her eyes. She  sucked in a shaky breath as she gripped her arms around his neck,  holding him even tighter.

"I'll take that as a yes," Brian said, smiling as she began kissing him again.

"Yes," she said between kisses, her lips still turned up in a huge smile. "Yes!"

Brian suddenly realized that all of the contestants had crowded around  them, congratulating and hugging them. From behind him, Brian felt a tug  on his arm and heard Colton say his name. As he turned to Colton, Brian  saw Brooklyn being escorted off the stage by two aids, still flailing  her arms wildly, while loudly assuring them that they would hear from  her lawyer.

"Congratulations, she's an amazing girl," Colton said with a twinge of sadness in his tone.

Brian shook his head. "I'm sorry, man. I love her," he explained, as he reached out to shake Colton's hand.

"I know, man." Colton smiled a knowing smile and Brian saw a heartbreak  behind his eyes that only came from knowing what true love was and  losing it. Not for Becca, but for someone. Colton shook Brian's hand.  "Believe me, I know. It's all good. I'm happy for you guys."

As everyone continued to congratulate them and wish them the best, Brian  pulled Becca to him. Becca wrapped her arms around Brian's waist and he  threaded his fingers in her hair and pulled her head against his chest,  leaning down, he kissed her on the top of her head.

Brian knew that they had won because the viewers had voted that they  were the ones that had found their ‘Fairytale Love'. But, the truth was,  he had found his fairytale love on a playground, when he was four years  old.

And he knew that what they had was real love-that no matter what  happened, no matter what life threw at them, as long as they had each  other, they had … everything.