A/N: A little vignette inspired by “Secret Smile” by the Rascal Flatts.

Emmett was happy with his life.

Really, he was. He had a teaching job that he loved, and an apartment he shared with Elle, the best girlfriend he could have ever imagined. But sometimes, he worried. He worried that he was holding her back, that she deserved to have more than what he could give her. He was thinking about it for the hundredth time as they lay sprawled across the couch, a movie playing quietly in front of them.

“Elle?” he asked softly, glancing to where her head rested on his chest.

“Hm?” She replied distractedly, lacing her fingers with his.

“Can I ask you something?”

She looked up at him, her eyes concerned. “Sure, what is it?”

“Do you ever feel…trapped?”

“Trapped?”

“Like, you want to do something but you feel like you can’t?”

“Emmett, what are you saying?”

“I just…wonder if I’m holding you back.”

She immediately raised to a sitting position, turning herself in his arms to face him. “Holding me back? What would make you think that?”

“I mean, you’re doing so well, you’re going to become such an amazing lawyer. There are going to be so many opportunities for you, and I don’t want to be what’s keeping you from taking them. Sometimes…most of the time, really…I feel like I don’t deserve you. Like you could do so much better than me.”

Elle shook her head, tightening her grip on his hand, “Baby, no. Don’t think that. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you; you’re so kind and strong and perfect and I can’t see myself without you. You could never hold me back, because I would never go anywhere without you.”

He smiled, “Elle, you know…” he paused, making eye contact with her, “You know I love you, right?”

She smiled back at him, happiness shining in her eyes.

“I know, and I love you, too. So much.”

He pulled her into him, stealing a kiss. He felt like this is what he had waited for, this was the perfect moment to express how much he wanted to be with her, but it was the wrong time, the moment was all wrong-

“Marry me.”

Apparently his mind didn’t listen, because he blurted it out anyway.

Elle’s jaw dropped as she looked up at him, trying to form words.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to blurt that out like that, the moment was all wrong, I should have-“

“Yes.”

“What?!”

“Yes. I want to marry you.”

“Elle, are you-are you sure? I planned on this big romantic proposal, and you deserve that, but…”

“I’m sure. I could care less about some big, extravagantly planned out proposal. All that matters is that I get to be with you.”

She smiled against his lips when she kissed him, and he pulled the engagement ring out from where he’d been safeguarding it in his pocket, slipping it on her finger. When they broke apart, he found himself staring at her.

“What?” she laughed, laying herself back down in his arms.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, running a hand over her hair, “It’s just…I really love your smile.”

Oh, what a ride

What a perfect sky

Frame your hazel eyes

I scream on the inside

But right now it feels like I’ve been tranquilized

Oh, what a fool am I to be tongue tied?

Sitting next to her

The princess and the passenger

You touch the rain

And suddenly there’s waterfalls

Now everyday

There’s something more worth fighting for

Baby, you make the sun shine down

You make the sun shine down

You can take the darkest clouds and turn ‘em into rainbows

You take your secret smile

The one that turns me on

Hey, girl, you’ve been what I’ve waited for