A Promise kept

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

FRIDAY AFTERNOON - THE WOODLANDS MALL

Her phone buzzed.

Caleb

hey Rory. U have plans?

My little cousin’s birthday party is at that trampoline place.

U wanna come? i promise it won’t be weird.

Aurora laughed out loud.

yeah. what time?

4. I’ll pick u up

See U beautiful.

It was chaos. Kids bouncing everywhere. Caleb’s cousin was 8 and immediately decided Aurora was "Caleb’s girlfriend."

"She’s not," Caleb said, ears red.

"Yet," the kid whispered. Loud.

Caleb bought her a pretzel and a blue slushie. They sat on the benches watching 20 kids lose their minds.

"You’re good with them," Aurora said.

Caleb shrugged. "I have 3 younger siblings. You get used to it."

She bumped his shoulder. "So you’re used to me too?"

He looked at her. "Trying to be."

SATURDAY NIGHT - DRIVE-IN MOVIE

Caleb texted her at 6pm.

Drive-in tonight? Bring a blanket. i got snacks

Luca saw her packing a hoodie. "Where are you going?"

"Drive-in. With Caleb."

Luca nodded. "Text me when you’re home. Curfew is still 11, Ro."

"Yes sir." She saluted and left.

The drive-in was packed. Caleb had the truck bed set up with pillows and fairy lights.

"Extra," he said, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"It’s perfect."

They watched some dumb romcom. She fell asleep halfway through with her head on his shoulder.

He didn’t move for an hour. Just let her sleep.

When she woke up, he was staring at the stars.

"You’re beautiful when you sleep too," he whispered.

Aurora’s heart did something stupid. "Caleb..." "Yeah?"

"Thank you. For this weekend."

He drove her home at 10:45. Walked her to the door.

"Friday was fun. Saturday was better," he said.

"Can we do Sunday too?"

He grinned. "Only if you let me win at mini golf."

"Deal."

SAME TIME - LUCA

Luca was on the porch when she got home.

"You good?"

"Yeah." Aurora smiled. Tired, happy.

He texted Ethan later. Just one line.

Luca: she’s smiling a lot this weekend