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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 24, 2016 2:09:01 GMT
She wouldn't have believed it if she'd been told it a year ago, but Melanie truly felt like she'd been living the perfect life recently. It went back before she launched a lifestyle blog that had already amassed a significant amount of followers. It went back before her boyfriend had asked her to move in with him on their first Valentine's Day together. And it went back before the first "I love you" he'd uttered to her on New Years Eve. It went back to six months ago to the day when Melanie had travelled to Ithaca with her long time friend and short time ex-boyfriend and met Tripp VanderMill.
Everything had come together so seamlessly since then that it was as though she hardly noticed the changes until her mom pointed it out to her earlier in the day. On a whim, she'd gone to get a haircut - wanting to look her very best for their anniversary dinner. Once her attention was drawn to it she noticed it all - the hems of her dresses, her very demeanor - it was all different. Not really older so much as she'd found a version of herself she hadn't known could exist. And she loved it all just as much as she loved Tripp.
So she busied herself for the rest of the day waiting for Tripp to come home from work. She'd managed to not only post to her blog about their anniversary along with her new mini-makeover and how far she felt she'd come in the past half a year, but also had prepared the gift she'd gotten for him and started on dinner plans as well. Now all that was left was to wait for Tripp to join her.
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 24, 2016 2:55:00 GMT
It hadn't taken long for Tripp to realize exactly how much he enjoyed having Melanie to come home to. When he had first suggested it to her, he supposed that it had really been more because he thought that it was logical, at least in the sense that it had become excessive for them to try and manage their relationship going back and forth to and from each other's apartment. It took him actually asking her to move in with him to realize that it more than just the logistics of the situation, that it was the fact that he found his feelings for Melanie continuously increasing. Even in the short amount of time that they had lived together, the thought of coming home to her every day had put a smile on his face.
It was that thought, finding her at their apartment making dinner or wrapped up in one of her hobbies, or putting something together for her blog, that had made him look forward to coming home from work at the end of the day. Actually, he realized, that was one habit of his that he didn't necessarily mind that she changed. Despite the fact that he had spent much of his life focusing only on his career, his relationship with Melanie had put things into perspective. He now found himself leaving the office promptly at five and making his way home.
Walking into the apartment, he tossed his keys onto a small table in the entryway and sought out his girlfriend. When he found her, he looked at her for a second, smiling softly at her. "Hi. You look nice."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 24, 2016 3:01:11 GMT
Melanie smiled brightly up at Tripp when he walked into the kitchen. There was nothing on the stove that required her immediate attention, so she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. She was thrilled that it was their anniversary. For someone who'd never been in a serious relationship before, six months felt like a big milestone not just for them - but for her. She knew that long-term, it was a drop in the bucket and she intended on spending many many more months with Tripp, but that didn't mean she didn't want to celebrate.
"Hello, Sweetheart," she greeted, kissing him. "I missed you today," she told him. She'd contemplated asking him that morning to stay home from work, but she knew how important his job was to him. So she hadn't wanted to potentially pick a fight with him and risk not being able to appropriately celebrate later.
Smiling, she took a step back and then touched her hair at his compliment. "Thank you," she told him. "I thought today was the perfect day for a little change," she informed him. "I still need a bit to finish up dinner."
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 24, 2016 3:27:15 GMT
He smirked at her, enjoying the fact that she had missed him. For whatever reason he liked the fact that he had become such a fixture in her life, as she had in his. Tripp hated to compare their current relationship to his former relationship, but he had to admit that it had never been like this with Colette. Despite the longevity of his former relationship, his relationship with Colette had been based more out of convenience than it had been about serious feelings, something that he knew wasn't the case here.
"I like it," he told her, kissing her quickly. "It suits you."
At the mention that she still needed to finish up dinner, he nodded. "I have a little bit of work that I should finish up. I'll be in my office," he added. "Unless you need me for anything?"
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 24, 2016 3:38:07 GMT
She'd just been about to talk about what she thought they could do for the evening when he mentioned having to work. It struck her as a bit odd. Despite his dedication to his job, in the months they'd been dating she'd noted he always made an effort - especially on special occasions. Melanie realized that it was possible that he didn't know that today was their six month anniversary at all. Then a worse thought occurred. It was possible that Tripp didn't consider six months very special.
After all, it stood to reason that he'd been in serious relationships before. Perhaps six months was just peanuts compared to a year. Or four.
Taking a breath, she shook her head at him. "No, if you have to work, that's fine. I need another fifteen or twenty minutes," she assured him, pecking him quickly on the cheek before turning around to tend to dinner, doing her very best to mask her disappointment. Mentally, she tried to reason with herself. She hadn't mentioned it was anything special or even that she intended to do something special to mark the day. She couldn't really be upset with him if he had no idea what weight she'd been putting on it.
It's just a silly day she told herself as she checked on the stove and moved to get plates ready to prepare everything in a matter of moments, trying to keep herself from feeling extremely foolish.
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 24, 2016 4:33:30 GMT
When Melanie had started her blog, he had showed an interest in it by subscribing to receive updates on it whenever she posted something new. Not only had she shown her dedication to the blog, Tripp had been incredibly proud of her for everything that she had been able to accomplish so far. He had known that she had always had a rather impressive social media following and he was happy to see that it had transferred to her newest hobby or interest. Knowing all of that, it came as no surprise to him when he logged into his computer and found that he had received a notification that she had updated her blog.
It didn't take long for him to realize why he had thought that her dismissal of him had seemed a little strange. It had been the first email in his inbox and the title of the post made it click. If that hadn't been enough, he had read through her update and see the photos that she had included and had suddenly felt like he had made a terrible mistake. All of the pieces slowly started coming together and he only regretted that he had never taken better note of what day it was. He truly hadn't meant for their six month anniversary to go unnoticed. It was a big deal that they had made it this far, he knew, and he thought that Melanie was particularly deserving of at least acknowledgment of it.
Figuring that it was too late for a last ditch effort to send her flowers or buy her some sort of jewelry, he abandoned any thought of work and instead tried to come up with something big that he could do to make up for the fact that he had completely forgotten what day it was. He had planned on suggesting to her soon that they should go on a trip together, but he supposed that in this circumstance it was perhaps better to surprise her with it. A quick phone call to make the arrangements, he had been able to get them reservations to a nice hotel in New Orleans and had gotten them seats on the first plane out the following morning. Shooting off a quick email to let his boss know that he was going to be taking some personal time for the rest of the week, he felt marginally better about having forgotten to take note of the day.
By the time that he had gotten done taking care of what he needed to take care of, it appeared that she had already gotten everything ready for dinner. "I'm sorry," he said first. "I didn't mean to forget about today."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 24, 2016 14:54:21 GMT
Melanie was in the process of plating dinner. A braised short rib served over mushroom risotto with a side of grilled asparagus with a garlic aioli. Currently, she was bent down near the island in the kitchen so that she was eye level with the plate so she could make sure that everything was perfect. She was trying very hard to tell herself that she was being too sensitive and that really it wasn’t a big deal when Tripp walked in. She carefully placed a sprig of garnish onto the plate before standing upright again, she smiled a bit sadly at him and shook her head. “I see you read today’s blog,” she said gently and shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize.”
She picked up their plates and walked them to the table, placing them down and turning to look at him. “I was probably making a bigger deal of it than it actually is,” she nodded. “It’s just six months.”
Of course, she didn’t really feel that way. For Melanie it had felt so monumental. Until he’d forgotten. But she kept telling herself that she was overreacting and so she didn’t actually want to talk about it, because she was worried she’d get too upset. “Dinner’s ready, so you should wash up.” She untied the apron around her waist, hanging it up on the handle of a cabinet drawer in the kitchen. “I’m just going to soak some of the pans before anything sticks.”
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 25, 2016 1:43:04 GMT
Tripp supposed that the level of transparency that she showed on her blog was both a blessing and a curse. As much as he sometimes shied away from any mention of him on the blog, or as much as he wondered how of their personal life that she would share, there were obvious advantages to it. Without the blog he wasn't sure that he would have been able to make it all click - something that he knew was more his fault than it was anyone else's. Regardless of whether or not something like this was a big deal to him, it was obvious that it was to Melanie, and that was enough to justify doing more than just sitting at home like it was any other day.
After she hung up her apron, he walked up to her and taking her by the waist, shaking his head. "No, I'm sorry, it is a big deal." A lot of what they had done and accomplished together recently was a big deal, from moving in together to the fact that in the last six months they had gone from what she had thought was nothing more than a one-night stand to a full-fledged, serious, and potentially long-term relationship. He had to remind himself that for Melanie, six months was already a much longer term relationship than she was used to.
"Just leave the dishes," he directed her, keeping hold of her. "Six months is a big deal," he reiterated. "I'm sorry that I didn't pay attention to what day it was, and I'm sorry that I failed to realize it before I saw your blog. I love you and I appreciate everything that you did today." The guilt of seeing it all hinted at and detailed on the blog had been enough for him to decide that he needed to do something great to make it up to her.
He kissed her quickly, "That being said - after dinner, you should pack."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 25, 2016 2:15:11 GMT
When his arms wound around her, she looked up at him sadly. Despite the fact that he kept saying it was a big deal, she still felt a bit silly. "Really, Tripp - you don't have to apologize," she nodded, wrapping her arms around him and sighing. "I know that six months isn't even a very long time in the grand scheme of things. We'll have other anniversaries." And that much she knew was true. While her feelings were hurt that he hadn't realized it was their anniversary today, she knew that her relationship with Tripp had the potential to be long-term. While she didn't like to get ahead of herself, she believed there was a reason that Tripp was the first man to convince her to give a relationship a go and the only man she could see herself with again. "Because, well, if there aren't then living together might get awkward and frankly, I think you're stuck with me because you've gone and ruined me for all others."
She pushed onto her tiptoes and kissed him. "Now sit, eat - you know it never tastes as good cold."
When he mentioned packing, she looked up at him even as she gestured for him to sit for dinner. "Pack?" she questioned, placing her napkin in her lap. She tried to remember if he had a business trip coming up that he'd mentioned taking her along on, but she knew there was nothing in her meticulously organized calendar. "Where are we going?"
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 25, 2016 13:59:22 GMT
Tripp had to admit that it was a little strange hearing her admit that they were going to have other anniversaries, not because he thought that it wasn't true, but because he hadn't been sure if she thought that being in a relationship was for her. It hadn't been the easiest thing in the world to convince her to try it in the first place, and it had taken them both laying some ground rules and making a few compromises to even get to where they were now. And for as much as he hoped that he had been able to stubbornly convince her that this was better than having left it as nothing more than a physical relationship, he knew that he wasn't perfect and that he had made mistakes. Hopefully, he could make up for this particular mistake with a long weekend away.
He looked over at her and smiled, "New Orleans." For as much as he knew that she loved the culinary aspect of it, he was finding that he was already looking forward to just spending their first long weekend away with each other.
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Post by Melanie Benson on Feb 25, 2016 17:59:37 GMT
Melanie smiled brightly up at Tripp after a moment. “New Orleans?” she questioned. It was no secret that the city was high on her list of places to visit. She desperately had wanted to eat her way through the French Quarter and had wanted to do so even before she’d launched a blog to document it all.
Chewing on her lip for a moment, she forgot about their current dinner long enough to get excited at the prospect. “Really?” she asked with a broad grin. She leaned over the table and kissed him quickly. “We’ve never gone away together before,” she reminded him. “Kind of a big deal, Tripp,” she giggled.
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Feb 25, 2016 18:20:07 GMT
Tripp nodded. He supposed that if he couldn't have made tonight the big event that she deserved, the least that he could do was provide her with another large gesture that would make up for it. "It is a big deal," he agreed. "The first of many travel destinations."
Having so many firsts together still was part of what he thought made their relationship so exciting, though he had to admit that he loved their routines too. Combined it was becoming dangerously apparent to him that the longevity of their relationship was going to lead to something happening sooner rather than later, and that thought reminded him that perhaps it was also time for them to make amends with her family. "Maybe when we get back we could invite your family for dinner."
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