the buzz of the doorbell rang through the house, waking me up from my nap. I tapped on my phone to check the time. 7pm. 'shit', I muttered, jumping out of bed and hurrying down the stairs to answer. I swung the door open to see ross standing there with a huge smile on his face. he looked so adorable in his black hoodie and grey tracksuit bottoms, hair tied back into a clean ponytail, the leaves and trees of the garden framing him in red, brown and orange.
'hi baby', I said, diving straight into his open arms, letting him envelop me in him. I breathed in his scent, warm and comforting in the chill of the october air. 'i missed you darling', he said, pulling away slightly to look down into my eyes. 'I missed you too, the 9 hours you've been gone felt like too long', I replied truthfully. we'd been living together for 3 months and it still felt surreal, waking up beside the love of my life every day and spending more time with him than ever on days we had off from work (and in his case, touring).
it was then I noticed the shopping bag on the ground by his side. he saw me looking, and without me having to ask, said 'I thought we could have a little movie night to kick off the start of spooky season. I went to tesco on the way home and got all of our favourite snacks'.
my heart melted at the gesture. after the long week I'd had this was just what I needed. 'ross,' i cooed, pouting my bottom lip. 'what did i do to deserve you?' I asked, resting my chin on his chest. he smile at me before leaning down to kiss me gently. 'go in and pick a film love, ill get food sorted'.
~
10 minutes later he reappeared from the kitchen balancing a bowl of buttered popcorn, 2 cans of cherry coke, a bag of chilli heatwave doritos under his arm, sour cream dip and a bag of m&ms between his teeth. 'jesus, someone took advantage of their clubcard', I laughed, getting up to help him put everything down. 'I got it, I got it', he said around the m&m packet, squatting down to the coffee table. he flicked off the big light, leaving just the warm glow of the lamp in the corner and the tv screen. he then produced a lighter from his pocket and bent down to light the scented candle across from us.
once everything was set up he sat down beside me on the couch. the atmosphere was so cosy and cute, it truly felt like halloween season now.
I returned my gaze to the tv, flicking through the endless films under "halloween" on netflix. 'have you still not decided?' he asked. 'listen. there's a lot of options', I started, looking over to see him looking at me incredulously. 'fifteen minutes I was gone for, unbelievable', he replied, shaking his head. 'ten', I mumbled, pushing his arm playfully, still swiping through the catalogue of spooky films.
'what about one of them tim burton ones you have on dvd?' I snapped my head around, gasping theatrically. 'ross. you're a genius' I replied. I practically ran over to turn on the dvd player. I picked up the corpse bride, my favourite, and showed it to him. 'perfect, whatever you want darling', he said, grinning.
I put it on and sat back beside him. he put his arm around me and I lay into him contently as the opening credits played. I pulled the blanket down from the end of the couch over us and snuggled into him. his thumb rubbed up and down on my arm comfortingly, a constant reminder of his love for me.
I took a moment to look around the room. everything was perfect. ross, the film, the seasonal decorations, the pumpkin spice candle burning on the fireplace in our living room. our home. together.
{s/o to @abiiors for the cutest prompts I'm having sm fun reading n writing them 🤭}
