Bonus 2❤.

**Tessa's POV.**

"Does it fit?", I gave my new-found bestfriend a skeptical look, raising one of my eyebrows up and frowning at her,

"Are graduation gowns actually meant to fit?", yes, after four solid years in college, I was finally graduating. Honestly, I never thought I was going to even attend college but once I had the opportunity, I held on to it. I could still remember it as if it were yesterday, Gabe had suggested me going to college when I was completing my high school education. At first, I had been reluctant- college was expensive but that wasn't a problem for him as he had helped me apply to colleges that were nearby. I had worked hard and had managed to get into all of them but I chosen the one closest to home.

"I mean... yeah?", I rolled my eyes at her, Valerie Blossom although book smart was extremely low witted in some ways and I wasn't saying that to be mean. Everyone knew this and it lead to multiple questons as to why I was bestfriends with her but it was so simple; Valerie wasn't like other people. Obviously, but maybe I should've elaborated it.

Valerie wasn't friends with me because she wanted to get something out of my well-known fiance. Rumors spread like a wildfire in college and once word got out that Gabriel O'Connell was my fiance, I started recieving unwanted attention from both girls and guys- the girls just wanted to use me to get close to him while the guys just wanted to smash me to set him off. That period was the darkest time for me throughout college, minus the time that my professor failed me because I refused to sleep with him but he resigned a few days later.

Anyway, Valerie was the only one who wasn't fazed about the whole thing- she was actually clueless as to why everyone was making a big deal out of it. If you couldn't already tell, Valerie was born into money and was the heiress to a multi-billion dollar company owned by her father so she just thought that everyone had as much money as she had. I guess it was her attitude that drew me to her.

"I don't think they are, Val", I stated, she placed a frown on her lips,

"Sure...", she drew out, "So, did you bring your dress? You know, the one you're wearing under the graduation gown", I chewed on my lower lip, trying to remember, until it dawned on me,

"Shit, I forgot. I need to get back home and...", I was already grabbing my bag when she jumped in front of me. dread written all over her face and screamed,

"No!", I was taken aback by this, what on earth was the problem? She cleared her throat and relaxed, "I mean, no. Don't worry, I had a feeling you might've forgotten so I bought you a new one", how... conveinent.

"I can't accept it from you Val, you know that", I sighed, "Besides, it won't be right since I already have mine", honestly, recieving the dress from her would save a lot of time and stress but that didn't make it right. I wasn't going to eploit her like that, she deserved better,

"I guess I'll just throw it in the trash then", she sighed. My eyebrow shot up immediately, were we still talking about the dress I was meant to wear? Because if it was actually a duplicate of mine, that meant it was expensive, like thousand-dollar expensive, "What?", she shrugged and pulled the dress out of her closet, "As much as I would want to twin with you today, the dress isn't my size so, into the trash it goes",

"Are you out of your mind?", I mean, I knew she was crazy when it came to spending money, but this was just ridiculous!

"I think so", she said, giving me a sheepish smile. I grabbed the dress out of her hands and dropped my bag down,

"Fine, I'll wear it you crazy bitch", her smile turned triumphant, "Remove that smug look off your face before I remove it for you", I said as I slipped the beautiful dress on. It was a custom-made Dior dress which made me wonder, "How did you get a duplicate? It was my design", her face lost all color for a moment and it told me everything I needed to know- this had something to do with Gabriel.

***

After the service, Gabriel, Alex, his date whose name I couldn't recall since he had had so many off them recently, Valerie and I made our way over to our favorite restaurant, Le Barnardin- it had so many special memories and we were just about to make a new one. Gabriel had said that he had booked the entire upper lounge for us so I was surprised to see a buff man sitting there, that was until I got closer and the person became recognisable.

My chest swelled in excitement and I rushed over to my prodigal bestfriend who I hadn't seen in almost two years after being deployed to Iraq, "Kevin!", I squeeled, jumping into his out-stretched arms,

"What's up, doofus?", I rolled my eyes at his nickname for me, "I've really missd you", he said, pressing a kiss unto my cheek.

"Okay, that's enough, break it up", I heard Gabriel say behind me, I turned to face him and saw that he had a deep frown plastered across his face- he was such a jealous fiance. I grabbed his hand and intertwined his fingers in mine before turning back to Kevin,

"What are you doing here? And why didn't you tell me you were back?",

"I actually just got back a few hours ago, I am so sorry that I could not make it to the service, Congratulations", he smiled at me, "As for why I'm here...", his eyes left mine and found Gabriel's. The gesture was extremely confusing and I had to turn around to see if the other three were as confused as I was- they all had smiles on their faces, so clearly, I was the only one missing the joke.

That was until Gabriel turned to me and said, "You know how you said you wanted to get married in a small special place and you only wanted our family and friends to be there?", tears filled my eyes but I nodded, "Let's do it, let's get married, right here, right now", to say I was surprised was an understatement, I was overwhelmed! "Tessie?", his eyes were full of worry because of my silence but the thing was, he didn't know how happy I was, I couldn't have wished for a better way or place to get married to the love of my life in.

"Let's do it".

***

We made our way back home after a couple of drinks, "Mind closing your eyes, Mrs. O'Connell?", a smile made it's way to my lips as I realized that I was officially his wife, it made me feel so giddy and warm inside.

"Are you planning on killing me, Mr. O'Connell?", I teased back, he scrunched his nose up and so did I, "We're so cheesy",

"And I hope we remain this way", he said, placing a kiss on my lips. He took me by surprise by picking me up into his arms in a bridal manner, "Now close your damn eyes before I spank you", his words went down to my core as I had actually been aching for him all day long, especially after our morning session.

I heard the elevator door slide open but my eyes were still shut as he got us in, "Do not open your eyes, Tessie, just listen", we obviously had a long way to go since we lived in the penthouse, "I'm thinking we should buy a house, you know, to start a family? I mean, it's okay if you don't want to, there is no rush or...", I cut him off with a sigh,

"You worry too much, Gabe", I chuckled, "Of course I would love to start a family with you, wasn't that the idea from the on set?". I heard the elevator ding, signifying that we had made it to our destination, we began to move again,

"Yeah, I guess it was. I'm goig to set you down now, and then you can open your eyes", immediately my feet touched the ground, my eyes flew open and widened even further in shock, "Surprise!", it was a suprise indeed.

"What time did you have to do all this?", my heart was swelling in my chest and my eyes were welling up with hot tears of joy. Our entire apartment ground was littered with red and white rose petals and beautifully scented candles lit up the way to our bedroom, a slow, romantic song was playing in the background and I could feel my tears fall down my cheeks, "This is beautiful". He carried me again and led me into our bedroom, a loud sob left my lips when I took the place in, just like the living room, the floor was covered in rose petals while on the bed, the petals formed a large heart. On the bedside table was a champaigne in a bucket of ice, "I love you",

"I love you", he said setting me down, "May I have this dance?", he held out his hand and I nodded,

"Yes", at first, it came as a shock to me that he even asked that- Gabriel O'Connell never danced, if I knew marrying him would've made him crack, I would've done it sooner.

"You look beautiful", he said in a whisper, causing a blush to stain my cheeks, "I love it when you get flustered", his hand left my waist and went to stroke my hot cheeks, "Promise me something Tessie...", he stopped dancing and stared me deep in the eyes, "Promise me you'll always get flustered when I compliment you", I didn't think there was a chance in hell that I was going to get used to any of his compliments any time soon,

"I promise".