“We don’t want you to date anyone outside of this circle,” Spencer continues, finally sitting up the rest of the way and watching me from turquoise eyes. He’s struggled with jealousy the most out of anyone, so I’m curious to see where this conversation is headed. “But we won’t date anyone else either. Just us, and you.”
“For how long?” I ask, and Spencer’s gaze softens.
“For as long as you want. We’ll always be friends, Chuck-let,” he says, gesturing at the other guys. “We’ll always be family—you included. If there’s romance forever, then we’re okay with that. If there’s not, we can rearrange things and figure it out when the time comes.”
“What are you saying?” I ask, looking back at Ranger.
“We’re saying we like our crew as it is, so let’s stick with it. No other guys, no other girls, just us.” He gives me a look and then sighs, stealing the joint from Micah as he goes to pass it to Spencer. “We’re saying that unless something changes, we want to make this our thing.”
“We’re not going to pressure you, or just wait around for you to pick. We’re here, for the long haul.” Spencer exhales and then reaches up to touch the side of my face with a gloved hand. “That’s the biggest part of your birthday present, Chuck. We’re committing to this.” He taps the ring that Church gave me. “All of us, and you, for as long as you’ll have us.”
“You’re not jealous?” I manage to whisper, slowly losing my capacity for human speech. I’m floored. Beyond floored. Pulverized. Crushed. Splatted. But in the best way possible. This is all I want, for us to … be like this. Now and forever. If things change, we’ll figure it out, but for now, at least, this is real.
Spencer shrugs his shoulder, but then he smiles at me, a real, true genuine sort of smile.
“Maybe a little, but I figure that’s normal, right? If I wasn’t jealous, would I even be human? My point is, I’m saying it’s not relevant. I’m doing this for you.” He pauses and thinks for a moment before correcting himself. “With you.”
“With you,” Church agrees, and then he pours another round of champagne. The boys clink their glasses with mine a second time. “Till death do us part,” Church toasts, and we all murmur it in reply. What that means, exactly, I’m not sure. Hopefully it doesn’t end up being quite such a literal statement before the year is over.
That’s as far as I get before my eyes swell with tears, and I have to shove a chocolate strawberry in my mouth to hold back some ridiculously girly crying. Not that there’s anything wrong with girly crying. I just … don’t want to cry right now, I want to smile.
I want to be happy.
“Before we forget,” Tobias says, rising from his seat and grabbing a pink garment box from behind the table of food. It’s tied with a white ribbon, and decorated with a bouquet of pink, purple, and red flowers. When I open the card on the top, it just says Courtesy of the Student Council.
“What is it?” I ask, and Micah gives me a hard look.
“Chuck, open it.” He grins as I untie the ribbon and pull the lid off.
Inside, there’s a gorgeous pink gown with white lace on the shoulders. Tobias pulls it out for me and stands up, so he can hold its full, glorious length out for me to see.
“We had this custom made,” Church says, looking at me and not the dress. “It was a group effort this time. I know I can be pushy with these sorts of things.”
“It’s fucking gorgeous,” I say, standing up and touching my fingers to the delicate lace, the full skirt, and the ruched bodice. “What’s it for?”
“This isn’t just your birthday present, it’s your …” Ranger pauses and grits his teeth like he’s in pain. “God, the word is too stupid for me to say. I can’t do it. Somebody else take a crack at it.”
“Promposal,” the twins say in unison, and I grin, throwing my arms around Tobias’ neck, and then giving each of the other guys a hug just like it. “So, will you go to prom with us?”
“I accept. Yes on all accounts,” I tell them, brimming with energy and excitement as I help Tobias put the dress back in the box. “Any chance I can also get a group snug under the stars?”
“A … snug?” Micah asks, tilting his head to one side.
“Snuggle, idiot,” Tobias says, shoving his twin onto the mattress. “And of course, you can. That’s what we brought all this stuff up here for.”
He crawls in on Spencer’s other side, Ranger on the far end. I’m in the middle with Micah on my right, and Church on his other side.
