In My Art

Chapter 15- Always And Forever

Song- Luxury by Jon Bellion

…/…

“Jane, you dragged me out here to tell me that we should throw a party? I was halfway into the book. Now, I don’t think I will be able to get back to that position and I really need to finish it tonight”.

“Answer me! What do you think about the party?” Jane presses. “Why aren’t you disturbing Lexie and ID about it?? “Well, ID is unbothered but Lexie says she’s going with whatever you pick”. “So basically, I can say no and the party wouldn’t hold”.

“Yes, but you wouldn’t be a gutter girl and do that to me now, would you?” she says, as a threat. “Technically, you can call me anything as long as I have my way”. “Please Char, do this for me”. “Quick question, why do you want us to throw a party so badly, finals are coming up. I don’t think it’s the best idea”.

“Okay fine, I met this really cute guy three days ago and I didn’t want to jinx it so I didn’t tell anyone about it, but I want to invite him to our party, if at all we throw it, so we can have a reason to talk again”. “Okay, back up. Did you meet someone you like or did you meet someone that likes you? What about Tyler?” I asked.

“I’m going to tell him that there’s no spark between us and I know he isn’t blind, he can see too that we aren’t made for each other. I mean, he’s a good guy and all, but he just has different priorities right now and I know I’m not one of them”.

“So you plan to have this talk with him before the party?” I asked. “You’re agreeing?” she asked, with dilated pupils and her bottom lip jutted. “Let’s see, so what’s this guy like?” I asked. “He’s kind and sweet, always gives compliments even when we’re texting. I could tell he was holding back though, maybe because I met him when I was with Ty, so he’s trying to respect him.

The party would be the best avenue for me to tell him that I’m not with Tyler and he can ask me out if he wants to. Of course, I wouldn’t say that last part literally”. “Fine, we can throw the party”. She squeals so loudly. “Only because I want you to be happy and if you think this guy can make you happy, then okay”.

“She said yes, Lexie”. Jane shouts as she runs to Lexie’s room. “You said what?” Lexie says to me. “Okay, I’m not going to deal with this, I have a book to finish. Jane, do tell Lexie your love story so she'll understand. Bye guys!”

…/…

“Bryan, come on! You have to finish the book,” I said, trying to get him to focus. We’re currently in his room but Duke isn’t around. “Come on, we can take a little break”. “But you aren’t done”. “I promise you Char, I’ll finish tonight, as long as you come out with me briefly”.

“Go out? Go out? I was willing to let you use your phone for a few minutes but you actually want to leave where the books are?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. We had a lot to study and he wanted us to go out to have fun.

“Look at it this way, we would only be gone for a few minutes. We’d take a stroll, get some ice cream”. “Don’t you dare mention ice cream, you know I can’t resist”. “Well, ice cream is waiting for you outside and I’d get you all the flavors you want. Hell, I’d even get you some to take back to your suite, just come outside with me”.

I looked at his eyes for a second, searching for the truth. “I promise Charlotte”. “You just had to call the full thing. Fine, we can go”. “Yes! Come on”.

His excitement was suspicious. It doesn’t look like he just wants to get ice cream, but I didn’t push him for a while. When curiosity filled my heart, I couldn’t stop myself from asking him. “So, is this really about ice cream?” I asked.

“You’ve always been a smart girl,” he says, calmer than he was in his room. “Always and forever,” I replied. “Come on, I’ll definitely get ice cream for you but I want to show you something first”. “What is it?” I pressed on. My body couldn’t contain surprises even if it tried to.

“Well, I’m taking you there, aren’t I? You’ll just have to wait a bit”. “I’m just going to pull the ‘Are we there yet?’ classic. So, are we there yet?”

“You don’t plan on annoying me with that phrase every five minutes, do you?” He says as he leads me to where the surprise is. “That’s why it’s classic,” I responded. He stops abruptly, making me stop as well to look at my surroundings.

“I know this sounds like I’m trying to annoy you, but are we there yet?” He turns to face me and then he says, “We’re not there yet, but we’re almost there, so I need you to calm down so you can feel the impact in a better way”. He kisses my forehead after his short speech and that makes me calm down.

The calmness I feel is only for a while because it dawns on me that he could be taking me to a place where he could ask me to be his girlfriend. Gosh, what would I do? I don’t want to say yes now because we have examinations coming up. This might end up being a disaster because I might end up telling him to give me time.

At the same time, I don’t think he’ll ask me to be his girlfriend now, he knows we have exams, and I want to believe he’s smarter than that. “We’re here!” Bryan says. I looked around, saying, “What am I meant to see?”

“So, I see how much you’ve been studying and how hard you’ve been going at it and I just wanted to give you something small that can make you calm down whenever you feel stressed out about exams or something else.”

I’m brimming from ear to ear because his words were so sweet. He points to a spot from afar and I can see a life-sized teddy bear. “Oh, my! It’s huge”. “Yup, and it’s all yours. Let it keep you from stressing out or spiraling till you see me in person and I can”.

The teddy bear wasn’t there when we got to the opening because I looked around and I didn’t see it. Someone must’ve placed it there when he turned me around to speak to me. I didn’t go to check out the teddy bear first. I hugged him. A full hug, with my hands around his neck, as his arms circled my waist. “This has to be the sweetest thing ever, thank you”.

“I’m not done yet”. “Oh no, what else do you have planned for me, mister?” He chuckles lightly and I can see his dimples, which can be missed if one doesn’t look closely. He took out a small box from his pocket. Certainly, he wasn’t going to propose to me, so that’s out of the way.

My hands are covering my mouth when he gives me the box and urges me to open it. “Don’t worry, it’s not a worm, you can open it”. I opened the box to see the most beautiful necklace sitting pretty on a foam. “This is so pretty!” I exclaimed, and indeed, it was.

I couldn’t stop cooing. It’s gold and it has a star-shaped pendant. “Whenever I look at the stars, I always remember you”. Is this boy trying to get me to say yes, or marry him because I just might marry him. I wasn’t prepared for this many outbursts of emotions tonight.

“Thank you,” I said to him as he put the necklace around my neck. “You look most beautiful, it fits your neck,” he said. “You can stop complimenting me now because if you do not I am going to burst”. “We can’t have you exploding now, I haven’t gotten you ice cream. Let’s go get it”.

“Wait, how am I going to get the teddy bear to my suite?” “The same people that brought it here. I’ll have them move it to your suite. You don’t have to worry about that”. “Thanks, babe”.

“Come on, hop on!” He squats a little for me to hop on his back, piggyback style, taking me to the ice cream factory.