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“Then let me make one for you,” I say.
She looks at me and wipes her eyes while shaking her head. “No. I’ve got one now.”
After making her wish, she looks over at me. “What now?”
“Now,” I say, grabbing the present, “I think you should open this. It will help explain some things.”
“Okay,” she takes the present and carefully unwraps it. Her eyes widen seeing the velvet jewelry box. With one last glance at me, she flips it open and gasps.
She runs her fingers over the two twisted gold strands, one white and one yellow, braided together. In the center of the white gold chain is a small yellow gold loop with a white gold charm on it. Tears fill her eyes as she touches the charm.A slide.
I don’t have to tell her what it represents.Our love.
“It’s always been you, Rae. From the moment I kissed you under that slide, hell probably from the day we first met. It was always you, and it always will be. I know we’ve done all of this wrong, but I still want it. I want us.”
Rae
I blink at the necklace a few times, then turn to him. “When did you get this?”
I need to understand. How long has he had this? What was he planning? Where are we going from here?
Meeting my eyes, he says, “I got it a few weeks after I ended things with Caity. I was planning to ask you to be my girlfriend tonight. That’s all I’ve wanted since the night I kissed you on my truck. It’s what I still want.”
“Ace,” the word flies off my tongue without a second thought. His eyes roll over my face when he hears it. “Why did you date Caity?”
He sighs and looks up at the stars. “I convinced myself you weren’t ready. The morning after homecoming when I—well, I thought I’d scared you. That you weren’t ready. I’d spent a month without you and it sucked. I couldn’t take the thought that it might happen again. So, I leaned into my fear and did something stupid.”
A laugh erupts out of me before I can stop it. He squints at me in confusion.
“Sorry. It’s—that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I left that morning because I didn’t trust myself.”
“What?”
I shake my head and move a little closer. I can’t believe I’m about to say this. “I woke up to you having a… naughty dream. And something hard poking my butt.” His eyes widen and his cheeks turn pink. He’s so freaking cute. “I rolled over and kissed you, but you didn’t wake up. Then, I almost… helped you fulfill that dream.”
“You—what…” he chokes out.
“I was reaching for a certain muscle,” I squeak, my face a deep crimson.
“Oh, really?” A pleased look crosses his face.
“I wanted you, but I knew I wasn’t ready forthat. I went home all worked up and decided to take a little time and figure out exactly what I was ready for before I talked to you. But I knew I was ready for us. It was just a matter of how much I could handle.”
He shakes his head. “Damn. I should have talked to you.”
I nod slowly. “Yeah. You should have. But I should have talked to you, too. Especially on the snow day.”
His eyes close for a second. When he opens them, there’s a pained expression in them. “Why didn’t you?”
“I felt like every time I put myself out there with you, you didn’t choose me. Homecoming, dating Caity, even when you broke up with her—I guess I was doing what you did. Leaning into my fear, trying to protect myself.”
“Rae, I only stopped that day because I realized how far we’d gone without talking. I wanted us on the same page. And I didn’t want us to go that far without knowing for sure you were ready.”
I nod as tears fill my eyes. “I understand that now. And… thank you. Thank you for stopping it. No matter how badly I wanted it in the moment, I would’ve regretted doing that. Thank you for thinking of me, for protecting me, even when I chose to hurt you.”
He cups my cheek and looks at me tenderly. “I’ll always protect you.”
It takes everything inside me not to wrap my body around his and kiss him. But it’s not that simple. And there’s one more thing I need to know.
