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Chapter Six

Celestial and I made our way down the stairs, stopping by the sliding doors in the kitchen. I grabbed the handle, looking back at her. "You ready?" She nodded, a huge smile crossing her face. "Okay, let me announce you before you walk out." She nodded at me, confusion crossing her eyes for a brief moment.

I pulled the handle, sliding the door open. All of dad's and Celestials friends were there. My best friend Sabrina was even here. I winked at her. She lifted a glass up to me, acknowledging that we would talk later. "Ladies and Gentlemen," I boasted loudly, forcing everyone to quiet down. My dad walked up the where I was standing. "I'm please to announce the arrival of my fathers girlfriend, Celestial." I walked forward, Celestial walking up behind me. She glanced around, absolutely shocked to see all of her friends surrounding our backyard.

Everyone was quiet and stared at her, all smiling, knowing the outcome of the night. I maneuvered my way to Sabrina, taking my phone out of my skirt pocket and facing back towards them. I turned my phone on and went straight to my camera, hitting record to keep this night a memory for all to remember. Sabrina had the same idea, except she took a couple selfies of us before recording.

"Christopher!" Celestial gasped seeing everyone around her. She looked down at my father, who held his hand out to her to help her down the stairs. She walked down the stairs, looking around at everything. Her eyes basically popping out of her head. Sabrina and I giggled at her reaction as she looked over at us.

"We're so dead." I whispered to Sabrina, knowing that Celestial could hear me.

"Yup, but it will totally be okay." Sabrina whispered back, smiling.

"Christopher, what is all this?" Celestial said before turning towards my father. My father had bent down on one knee. Tears welled up in my eyes. Celestial turned to face him, expecting an answer to her question. Her hands went to her face, a slight gasp leaving her lips. "Christopher.." She whispered, staring at my father on one knee. He pulled a small box from his jacket pocket, winking at me. I gave him a thumbs up to continue.

"Celestial," he started, his voice extremely shaky. "There are no words to express how Morgan and I feel about you. Especially how I feel about you. You came into my life at the perfect time. I wasn't expecting to meet anyone nor was I expecting to fall in love with anyone. I always hear that those are the best people to fall in love with." A few giggles sprouted from the crowd.

"You walked into my life, turning everything upside down and rightside up. I never knew I needed you. I never knew how much Morgan needed you. I was scared at first, thinking about Morgan, but you handled it like a champ and the two of you are closer than I could have ever imagined. You brought color to my black and white world. You've made an honest man out of me."

"Because we know how hard that ACTUALLY is!" Some random male shouted out in the crowd. The rest of us giggled, turning our attention back to my dad and Celestial.

"With everything we've gone through, and what we will go through, I wouldn't want any other person to be by my side than you." He opened the box, holding it up for her and all the rest of us to see. "Celestial, will you marry me?"

Everyone was silent. I held my breath waiting for Celestial to answer. It felt like hours had passed as Celestial kneeled down in front of my dad. Tears streaking down her face. She was trying to form words, but her voice just wasn't cooperating with her.

"Y-y-yes." She squeaked out. My dad and I let out the breaths we never realized we were holding. He smiled brightly and placed the ring on her finger. They hugged and kissed as everyone around us cheered. Sabrina and I wiped our eyes at the same time. I glanced to my left and saw Mark standing near one of the tables under the tent, watching my dad and Celestial as they both stood up. His expression was one I couldn't read, nor did I want to. He looked rather grim, like something bothered him and I saw the anger radiating from him. He glanced over in my direction, obviously feeling me looking at him. I turned my head towards Sabrina.

"I can't believe your dad is going to get married! I'm so excited for them!" Sabrina was practically jumping up and down. I laughed at her.

"Yeah, I know. I'm pretty excited." I smiled. I felt someone walk up behind me. I didn't even bother to turn around as Sabrina's gaping mouth was enough to know who was behind me.

"Morgan," Mark breathed. "You look stunning." I turned to face him, my face flushing red, yet again.

"T-t-thanks." I stuttered. Sabrina elbowed my back. I cleared my throat. "Mark, this is my best friend Sabrina." I motioned to her. "Sabrina, this is Mark. The guy I was telling you about yesterday." I motioned back to him. Sabrina's eyes went wide, her mouth gaping like a cod fish.

"It's nice to meet you, Sabrina." Mark shook her hand.

"Likewise." Sabrina cleared her throat. "You don't happen to have a brother do you?" Her eyes glistened. I elbowed her in her side. Mark laughed as Sabrina and I eyed each other, like electricity was flowing between our eyes.

"No, unfortunately I don't. But I may have a friend who might be interested."

"Done." Sabrina chimed. "I'll leave you two alone then. I have to go find Celestial and give her a huge hug and congradulate them both." She turned, waving as she walked away from where Mark and I stood.

"Bitch!" I mumbled under my breath. I turned to face Mark, my face growing hotter. We stood in silence for a minute, me staring at the ground, and Mark looking directly at me. I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry for earlier. You're just so gorgeous, I um-" I blurted but stopped. "Oh god, did I just really call him gorgeous?!" Another mental facepalm. Mark just laughed.

"Gorgeous, huh?" He rubbed his newly stubbled jaw. "Is that seriously all he heard?!" "You're pretty gorgeous yourself." He smoothly said, smirking at me. I elbowed him in his side.

"With or without all this crap on?" I laughed.

"Without." The seriousness in his tone made me double back for a second. "You are gorgeous without all this on, but even more radiant with it. I couldn't keep my eyes off you when you walked outside." He smiled softly, meeting my eyes head on with those gorgeous cobalt blues.

We stared at each other for a long while. Music started playing in the background. People were scurrying past us to get to the dance floor which broke our staredown we were apparently having. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to what was going on around me. Mark smirked.

"You didn't win this battle." I pouted.

"Maybe not, but I will win the war." He winked at me. He held his hand out to me. "May I have this dance?" He smiled and bowed.

I stared at him, a smile creeping onto my face.

"Yes, yes you can." I grabbed his hand and he led us to the dance floor.

Present Day

The party had lasted a good few hours. Friends of ours were laughing, dancing, drinking, and talking. Everyone congradulated my dad and Celestial on the engagement. I had never seen her this happy, except on the day that they got married. I smiled as I wiped my forehead from the sweat I was building up. Mucking out stalls was the second to last thing I had to do.

Feeding the horses is the last thing I have to do. I grabbed my waterbottle, taking a long swig, before setting it back down outside the stall. I leaned against the door to the stall, thinking back on how happy they both were. How happy I was. My dad and Celestial got married, and everything seemed fine. After that night, I never heard from Mark. Sabrina said to wait a little bit before texting him, but my mind and body craved him. The feelings that swelled inside of me were confusing to say the least.

"Oh Sabrina." I muttered, checking my phone to see if I had any missed texts or calls from her. Nope, nothing. I shoved my phone back in my pocket, grabbing the pitchfork and going back to cleaning out the stalls. I finished mucking out the last two stalls, dumping the excriments outside in a large pile of crap.

"Well, at least that's all done." I said outloud to no one. "Time to go grab Classic and Punch from the arena." I went back into the barn, bringing the wheelbarrow with me to set it back in the doorway before walking over to grab their leads. As I walked out the the arena, I heard frantic neighing in the distance. My heart began to race. Without a second thought, I jumped over the fence and rushed out to the other end of the arena, where Punch was thrashing herself around.

"Punch, Punch! What's going on girl?" I yelled. Punch registered my voice and galloped over to me. I grabbed ahold of her halter, pulling her face down to my level, rubbing her neck to calm her down. I had never seen Punch act like that. I looked around trying to find Classic.

"Where's Classic, Punch?!" I questioned her, looking for signs she understood what I was saying. I kept looking around Punch, trying to keep myself calm to calm her down. I looked her over, no wounds. I sighed, well that was a good thing. I had calmed her down enough that she nuzzled my face with hers. I looked into her eyes, my stomach churning at the site. The one thing I never thought I would see struck me deep in my gut. I looked deep in Punch's eyes to register what I was seeing.

I was seeing fear.

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