Together Forever (3 page)

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“Isn't this just wonderful? It’s just like high school! We were PA partners!” Ryan squealed at me.
“Yeah, I don’t think the teachers would let us be partners if they knew of us,” I smirked sadly.
He frowned at me and was reaching for my hand but the teacher has called for our attention. We were halfway through class and the teacher was still talking, when Ryan reached over to me. “What do you think he’d do if I kissed you here, right now?” he asked me.
“Don’t you dare,” I whispered back to him
He just smirked and reached for my hand. I glared at him, and he gave me a puppy look, so I just
giggled quietly and turned my attention back to the teacher but inched my hand to hold his. They were theater seats, nobody would ever see.

~/~/~/~/~/~

“Can we
please
get out of the premises already?” Ryan whined. I looked around, making sure nobody was around. I kind of figured out who Audrey was referring to, and I really did not have time for any drama. “What are you looking for?” he asked irritated.
“I really do not want to start drama Ry,” I sighed as I made sure everything was clear and we walked to his car.
“What do you mean start drama?” he asked me as he opened the passenger’s seat.
“You transferring here is all over the campus. 99% of the girls are crushing on you-“
“But I’m yours,” he assured me.
“Yeah but-“
“Hold that thought,” he said as he jogged to his side and started the engine. “Continue,” he told me as we backed out of the driveway.
“Seriously, we need to keep this on the DL. I love you and everything, but when things get out there, it gets out to the media and us, it would be difficult,” I sighed.
He looked at me. “I’m sorry I got you into this,” he apologized.
I gave a dry laugh. “Don’t worry, from the first day, I knew it came with a price,” I smiled at him. “Plus, don’t you think it would be fun?” I asked him, trying to light up the mood.
“What do you mean fun?” he raised an eyebrow.
“You know, hiding from teachers, us just harmfully flirting with each other. Nobody knows that we’re together and all that,” I wiggled my eyebrows.
“What? Are we gonna sneak around like Romeo and Juliet? Babe, have you been reading any romantic books lately?” he smirked lightly.
I shrugged innocently. “What do you think?” I bit my lip, awaiting for his answer. “It’ll be just like you’re going after me, but you’ll be confident instead of the scaredy cat you’ve been when I first moved in,” I grinned.
“Bring it, DeLuca,” he smirked at me.

Our Future.

We were at the park eating ice cream and cuddling, watching little kids run and play. It was around 4 o’clock and we were being bad kids. We were having dessert before dinner. I cuddled up next to Ryan when I’ve finished mine and looked up at him, eating the remainders of his own ice cream. When he was finished, he had this huge smile on his face and dabbed the napkin to clear away excess ice cream around his mouth.
He looked down at me and noticed me staring. He smirked and raised an eyebrow at me. I blushed, looking down and moved my eyes to look at the kids playing around. They were carefree at the moment, and I wanted to be like that.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Ryan asked softly.
“You think my thoughts are that cheap?” I asked, looking up at him. He was about to defend himself but I just let out a soft chuckle. “I was just thinking about how the kids have it so easy,” I mumbled, snuggling close to him.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, they don’t have to worry about college and not being able to kiss their boyfriend in school,” I joked.
I could just
hear
him smirk. “We’re not in school right now, are we?” he chuckled.
“I guess not,” I laughed and looked up and pecked his lips - realizing there were kids around us. I snuggled up closer to him (if it was even possible), and we stayed silent just enjoyed the park - The birds were chirping, the wind was blowing, the kids’ laugher, the smell of the trees-
“Do you want kids?” Ryan asked me out of nowhere.
“What?” I was caught off guard.
“Do you
want
children?” he repeated.
“I heard you the first time,” I said rolling my eyes.
“Then why did you ask?”
“Because…,” I frowned.
“Answer the question,” he said rolling his eyes.
“Uhm.. Someday I guess,” I said to him, with a soft smile on my face.
“How many?” he asked, interested.. Why was he asking me this now?
“2. 3 at most. I want the two older ones to be boys and the youngest to be a girl,” I chuckled.
“Why?”
“So it would be like me and my brothers. My little girls’ brothers would kick any guy’s ass that breaks my daughter’s heart,” I laughed.
“She wouldn’t need brothers,” he told me. I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “I’d kick anybody’s ass that would break my baby girl’s heart,” he smirked.
I blushed furiously, looking like a tomato and looked away. Ryan immediately took hold of my chin and made me look at him straight in the eye. “Have you ever thought about us?” he asked me softly.
“What do you mean?” I croaked.
“Us. Our future,” he smiled slightly, rubbing my arm absentmindedly.
I looked at him, trying to analyze him if he was serious. I came to the conclusion that he was serious. “We have so much ahead of us. College takes up most of our time that we don’t really have time to think about things, but I do. I do think about it. But decision like that is so far away that I don’t even know if you’d still be here, I don’t know if you’d-” I broke myself off because I realized what I said. Ryan had a look of hurt on his face. He had stopped rubbing my arm.
“
Kate
, you
know
I’d always be here. I’m not gonna leave you. Ever. I’m always going to love you,” he assured me.
“That’s the thing Ryan. I
don’t
. I don’t know. I’m so scared,” I finally said out loud. I’ve never really admitted it. I only kind of admitted it to myself, but never to anyone else.
“Why are you scared?” he asked worriedly.
“I’m scared that the most perfect guy that I could ever dream of will walk away from me one day, deciding that I’m not good enough for him,” I sighed.
He gave out a dry laugh. “Are you kidding me right now,
Kate
?” he asked. I still avoided eye contact and kept silent. He then again made me face him. “I’m the one that’s scared
Kate
,” he said to me. “Sometimes I think I’m not trying hard enough to be good enough for you. I’m scared that I might drive you away somehow. I’m scared that if the press and the public find out about us, you’d walk away from me because of all the hardships,” he said to me.
I stood up and glared at him. “You think that way?” I snapped at him. “I hope you know Dolciani, that I will
never
walk away from you because of other people,” I said and stormed off towards the street. I guess I’m walking back to the dorm.
“
Kate
!” Ryan called out from behind me. I ignored him and kept walking. I heard heavy footsteps against the pavement and I was instantly spun around. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that I’m scared. I’m really really scared. You shouldn’t be, because I’m the one that’s scared to lose you. And if you haven’t noticed, I’m
crazy
about you,” he said to me.
I sighed and hugged him tightly, some tears falling on my cheeks. “I love you Ry,” I sighed.
“I love you too baby - so much that it scares me,” he whispered to me, his own tears making their way down his beautiful face.

~/~/~/~/~

We just got home from dinner, and Ryan brought me over to my dorm. I was sitting outside in the car in Ryan’s Commander, looking out the windshield.
“I had fun,” Ryan told me.
“Me too,” I smiled back at him.
“I love you
Kate
. I hope you know that,” he said to me seriously.
“I love you too Ry,” I said to him. “Can we make this work?” I asked him.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we barely made it through last year,” I sighed.
“But we did make it through,” he pointed out.
“We did.”
“Then it’ll work out fine. Plus, now that I’m only a mile or so away - maybe 5 minutes away, it would be easier on both of us,” he smiled assuring me.
“Yeah,” I said to him. I think I’m only fooling myself. I don’t know if I really want him here. I have a feeling something is gonna go terribly wrong. “Goodnight babe,” I said to him as I leaned over the console and kissed him.
“Goodnight,” he said when we pulled away. “Call me before you sleep. I can't sleep without hearing your voice,” he said, pouting. Which I knew most guys say that to multiple girls but I knew that Ryan was serious. We had this fight once over the summer and I didn’t talk to him. I fell asleep and he was awake all night long because apparently he didn’t hear my voice and it killed him.
Maybe this could work.

~/~/~/~/~

“So, have you seen the cute guy yet?” Audrey asked me first thing in the morning, Tuesday. I laughed and nodded. “Isn’t he so fucking fuckable?” she asked dreamily. I almost gasped. “I’ve seen him on magazines and stuff, but fuck, I didn’t know he was that sexy in person.”
“What?”
“He’s the son of the owner of Forbes,” she grinned.
“Ohh, that’s nice,” I said playing dumb.
“Was that sarcastic?” she asked me.
“Kind of,” I chuckled.
“Even early in the morning, he looked so fucking sexy,” she gushed.
“I know,” I said right away, and covered my mouth.
She beamed. “You think he’s hot too!” she accused.
“He’s pretty fine,” I smiled
“I call dibs,” she smirked at me. It might’ve sounded like a joke she was dead serious. But then again, I had nothing to worry about, because he’s all mine, bitch! Ehh, that went overboard. It just sounded right. “Anyways, so I heard that he went to high school in Santa Monica. Did he go to your school?” she asked me
“Yeah,” I told her. No point in lying.
Her eyes widened. “So, what was he like in high school. Is he hotter now, or back then?”
“Definitely now,” I chuckled lightly.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. In high school, he was pretty fine. I mean football and basketball did him well, but he didn’t really work out during the end of senior year, so I told him that he was starting to get belly fat. He got scared and started working out so he looks a lot better now,” I told her, remembering Ryan’s reaction when I told him that. He was … Let’s say when you go up to Crystal Dane and tell her that she’s fat. That gasping face? Oh yeah, that’s what Ryan looked like.
“You’re getting fat,” I told my bestfriend/boyfriend.
He gasped. “I cannot believe you just said that!” he told me.
I poked his belly. “See, it’s jiggling,” I told him, holding down my laughter.
He lifted his shirt, showing his 6 pack. “I still have my 6 pack though!” he frowned.
“But it jiggles,” I said poking it again.
“But I still have it!” he argued.
“But it jiggles,” I argued back.
“I’m hitting the GYM when we get back home,” he said.
“Good,” I smirked.
“And when I get my figure back,” he said, and chuckling at how that sounded. “When I get my hot bod back, you aint getting none of this,” he laughed at me, poking his tongue out.
“It’s all mine babe, it’s all mine,” I chuckled and kissed his lips softly, making my way to my brother.
“Hello! Earth to
Kate
,” I heard from beside me.
“What? Sorry,” I frowned.
“Wait, so you say
now
he looks good, meaning you
saw
?!,” she asked her eyes widening.
“I uh…,” Damn I'm dumb. “Well, you know. He’s friends with my brother, and when they went swimming with the guys, they’d take off their uhh.. shirts and stuff and you know the rest,” I stammered
“Wait, so was this over summer?”
“Yeah.”
“So, you
do
know each other?” she asked.
“I guess you can say that.”
Know? More like Dating.
“Tell me more about him,” she said to me - scooting closer so she could hear me better.
“I uhh.. don’t know. All I know is what everyone else knows. He plays football and basketball,” I said. “Oh, and some fooseball,” I smirked, thinking of his reaction when I beat him. With the minion face, going “Whaaaaat?! Did you just beat me?!”. “Oh, and he has a girlfriend,” let’s keep that line there.
“So, you know his girlfriend.”
“I guess you can say that too,” I bit the inside of my cheek.
“Is she pretty?”
“I don’t rate girls,” I frowned at her.
“Tell me, is she pretty? Nice? What’s she like?”
“I don’t really know. She and I aren’t really close so I don’t know,” I frowned. Closer than you think, bud. She sighed. “Why?” I asked.
She smirked at me. “You’re really asking me that?” she asked.
“Why not?” I shrugged.
“Isn't it obvious? I’m going after him,” she smirked.
Oh damn.