Page 44 of Forever Mine
Ash rolls off Elijah, and I’m suddenly embraced in an enthusiastic hug.
“Do you need any help bringing stuff up?” Elijah asks him.
“I’ve got two more boxes and a couple of suitcases. Mom is waiting by the car. She’d love to see you.”
Elijah kisses me on his way out the door. “Be back in a few.”
“Take your time.”
I go back to unpacking the suitcase and putting things away. There’s something hard and rectangular hidden between the folded shirts, and a grin spreads when I find a framed photograph of Elijah and me. It’s one Liz took at the Fields. I’m leaning over the handlebars of his dirt bike, our lips locked in a steamy kiss. It was taken the week after I came out to my family and friends.
As I stare at the photograph, my heart expands with so much love. It’s amazing how that love never lessens, only grows bigger and stronger as time goes by. I kiss my fingertips, then touch the glass of the frame.
“I’m going to ask him to marry me,” I tell Fallon.
I knew he was standing there. The man has an unmistakable aura. He walks into a room, and it crackles with barely leashed energy. I may have also overheard some girls out in the hallway go apeshit when they saw him. Fallon has rockstar status on campus. The king of CU. Gorgeous, rich, full of aloof attitude. He’s the guy every woman wants, and every man wants to be like.
Fallon steps into the room and not so nicely slams the door shut in the faces of four girls who have congregated in the hall outside.
“About damn time,” he says.
Setting the picture frame on the desk, I turn around and lean back against it. “Is it too soon?”
Elijah wants to have the college experience. I do, too. But we’ve been together for three years now, almost four. I want all the trappings of marriage. The commitment, the life, him and me forever until death do us part. Elijah is my endgame. He’s the dream I’ve always wished for.
Fallon unwraps a stick of gum. “Fuck, no.”
Suddenly feeling anxious, I ask, “What if he says no?”
“He won’t.”
“He said no to moving in with me.”
A single dark-blond eyebrow lifts. “He did?”
“Yes.”
“Well, trust me when I say that you’ll get a very different answer when you go down on one knee.”
He smirks in that cocky way that gets him laid. I’ve seen the power of a Fallon Montgomery bad boy smirk and its effects on the female population. He smiles and panties instantaneously drop to the floor. Liz was the only girl who was immune to it. Maybe that’s why Fallon was so interested in her. Liz represented a challenge. The thrill of the chase. That unattainable thing you want because you can’t have it. Speaking of…
“Did you see Liz yesterday at the track when you were with Ry?”
Ryder said she had a blast. He taught her how to drift. Showed us a video he took. I couldn’t believe how good she was.
“No.”
Fallon’s tone makes sure to shut down any further conversation about the matter.
The door bursts open and a bumbling Elijah and Ash come stumbling into the room, arms laden with large square moving boxes.
“Why are there girls with their ears plastered to the—” Ash starts to ask.
“That’s why,” Elijah interjects when he sees Fallon.
“Fal-lon,” Ash chants. He drops his box on the floor and bumps Fallon’s fist. “What brings you to the peon side of campus?”
“Wanted to come by and see if El needed anything.”
