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Chidi chuckled to himself as Unforgettable started to play. He noticed Eleanor look at him and smile; they were remembering the same moment.
“We have to dance now,” Eleanor said to him, “that’s, like, a rule for us.”
“Yeah, it kind of is,” Chidi replied, holding his hand out to hold hers, “this song is ours.”
“It really is,” she smiled, putting her hand in his and getting up to dance. She then noticed Chidi’s eyes looking around the room, “what ya looking at?”
“Everyone’s watching,” Chidi said, strangely calm for someone who just realized an entire room full of their friends and many more strangers were watching, “this weirdly feels like a first dance.”
“This isn’t our wedding yet, weirdo,” Eleanor giggled, “that’ll feel way different.”
Yet . That word hit Chidi hard.
They were finally in the Good Place, so it was kind of like the calm after the storm, except their storm lasted three hundred years, and their calm would be eternal. Naturally, this made everyone leap at things that they didn’t feel they could do when everything was insane or when their memories were disappearing every other week. So, of course the first thing Chidi did was propose to Eleanor. They had eternity ahead of them, so why not promise to be together for it?
The gravity of his decision just hadn’t hit him. He was taken aback by how quickly he decided to do it too. Sure, Eleanor made him more confident and decisive, but even then, that sort of choice should have been paralyzing; yet, there he was. Dancing with his fiancée to a song they last danced to when their relationship was just… confusing.
“Remember the last time we danced to this?” Eleanor asked as if she could read his mind.
“Of course I do,” he replied, and Eleanor giggled.
“It’s kind of funny to me that there was a time where you didn’t,” she said, “and neither did I.”
“Kind of ironic too,” Chidi said, practically drowning in her eyes as Eleanor beamed at him.
“I think this is the best day of my entire existence,” she told him, leaning in closer to him.
Chidi pulled her in and held her hand just like he did the first time, except that time, everything felt like it was ending. The second time, though, as they danced in some ballroom in the Good Place, everything was beginning.
“You know, I was in love with you back then,” he began.
“I know that, Chidi,” she said softly, “that’s why you kissed me in the Judge’s chambers. You were in love, you just didn’t know how to tell me. You’ve never told me you were in love with me before you kissed me, you just always kissed me.”
“Hey, what about last time?”
“In the void?” Eleanor chuckled, “come on, man, you almost said it but you didn’t. You just kissed me instead. I didn’t mind that though.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“As I always am!” she laughed.
“Wow, it’s going to be a long eternity with you, huh?” Chidi joked, putting his chin on top of her head.
“It’s too late to back out now,” Eleanor said, cuddling closer to him. Somehow, even though at that point they were basically just holding onto each other, they were still dancing pretty perfectly in sync.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Neither would I.”
At that point, they had both closed their eyes and were just enjoying the feeling of dancing together. Eleanor could’ve rested her head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat forever. Chidi could’ve held her there forever too.
All they wanted for the rest of time was one another.
“I thought I was going to lose you that night,” Eleanor said suddenly.
“What?”
“The night we danced,” she said, “I thought we would go to the Bad Place and I’d never see you again. That’s why I told you how I felt, and that’s also why I leaned on you the way I did when we danced.”
“You’re never going to have to worry about that again.” he could tell Eleanor smiled at that.
“Chidi,” she said, pulling away from him to look him in the eye, “sometimes I wonder what you thought of me during the experiment.”
“I was trying to figure it out, and I felt really weird and guilty, but I was into you,” Chidi told her, “I thought you were like God or something, so it felt wrong and I knew you told me that Simone was my soulmate but you were just always… better for me.”
“I get it, I’m hot,” Eleanor laughed, “you saw me, ans you fell for me, as you should have.”
“I love you, Eleanor,” Chidi told her. Her extremely high self-esteem really felt like home to him, and with how crazy the afterlife was, that was one of the only things that could make him feel that way.
She closed her eyes and buried her head into the crook of his neck. “I love you too, Chidi. I can't wait to marry you.”
At that point, they had nearly stopped dancing. They held onto each other, and they swayed to the music gently.
Everything was calm for the first time in hundreds of years.
They could tell that everyone’s eyes were on them; especially their friends’ eyes, but they completely tuned them out. This was their moment, and this was their song.
To Chidi, nothing existed in that moment except for Eleanor. He closed his eyes and he could only feel her breathing and holding his hand softly over his heart.
She can’t wait to marry you. All he could do was smile.
Eleanor and Chidi didn’t even notice the song had ended until Michael came by and tapped Eleanor on the shoulder.
“Oh, hey,” she said, turning her head to face him.
“I hate to interrupt you guys, but you did say we’d only be at this party for an hour,” Michael reminded her.
“Yeah, I almost forgot about that,” Eleanor then looked back up to Chidi, “we have a wedding to plan.”
“You really want to rush this, don’t you?” he smirked.
“I can’t just keep not being married to you,” Eleanor responded with a twinkle in her eye that made Chidi melt.
“Fair point,” Chidi told her as she grabbed his hand to walk away with him; but she froze.
“Chidi,” she told him, “let’s not wait. Let’s do this thing, right now.”
He smiled. “Let’s do it. Let’s get away from all these people, and let’s get married.”
They walked out of the ballroom together, and Eleanor couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. Neither could Chidi.
Their new life was just beginning.