18 Years of Bonnie & Clyde

[33] Finally

Year 18, present...

Time seemed to have been flying by, because the young boy that once was their little baby, was now a senior at Riverdale High, who was about to leave for his last school trip. It was the highlight of the year, or maybe even of their whole time at the school. Charles had been looking forward to it for months and the day had finally come.

"Charles, your Dad is here!" Alice called loudly, to reach his bedroom from down the stairs. With FP followed behind her, she made her way into the kitchen to pack a few little things to eat for him in the bus.

She was so focused on making sure her son would always have some food on him that she barely registered the way FP was standing next to her, looking both nervous and a tad uncomfortable. If only she'd know what he was about to ask her.

"Hey... how are you feeling?" He finally dared to say something.

FP wasn't so sure what to do now she had rejected Hal's proposal and had broken off a relationship of four years. Usually, he could see right through her but it had been hard to notice if she was really heartbroken. With what he was about to do, he could create a lot of tension and maybe anger and he wondered if it was all worth the risk.

"I'm good. I'm great actually. It had to happen, you know?" Alice looked up and gave him a warm smile.

Her mind flashed back to barely a week ago, remembering the sight of Hal sitting on one knee in front of her, showing her a big diamond ring that she just couldn't accept. It had been a day before Charles turned eighteen, and somehow that proposal changed her perspective on her life for good.

"No."

"Wait, seriously? Your answer is no?"

"Yes. I mean No. I mean yes, my answer is no."

"You're saying no because you're waiting for someone else to ask you, right?"

"If you'd say yes, I'd know for sure you really wanted to be with me. But it's him. It's always been him."

It should've been a painful memory, but it wasn't. A weight had been lifted off her shoulders, one she had put there herself. She was surprised too about the way she had been so calm the last few days.

At first, she had believed that the tears would come eventually, but it seemed to pass. Actually, she felt very peaceful. Breaking up with someone when they asked you to marry them was everything but easy, but it felt like the way of the universe to tell her that he simply hadn't been the one. She wondered if the man standing next to her was.

"Good... good." FP gave her a small smile, noticeably shifting from one foot to the other, having no idea how to act.

"Are you okay? You're acting so nervous." She asked him, both growing worried and confused.

Usually when FP was acting weird something big was going on and she wasn't sure it had anything to do with Charles' eighteenth birthday, which happened last week.

"Yeah... I was just wondering if you would like to do something together." He took a step forward, closer to where she was standing.

"Yes, sure. You don't need to be nervous to ask me that." Alice grinned, trying to stifle a chuckle.

"I meant as a date. A romantic one."

There it was. The one thing had had been on his mind not just ever since the disastrous proposal, but ever since he was a teenager. Every single time there seemed to be a reason not to take the risk, for not choosing to be vulnerable but FP knew he was running out of chances. It was now or never.