Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 72: Sunset

*Violet's POV*

We were walking to Vice Principal Nero's violin recital and I had butterflies in my stomach... I hoped Duncan wouldn't back out of our plan. I tried to reason with myself that the worst that would happen is we'd have to watch Nero eat a bag of candy in front of us, and maybe a couple days of detention.

"Are you two okay?" Isadora asked, and I looked over at Duncan. He seemed anxious about sneaking out too, but I could tell he was still excited.

"Oh, yeah, we are," Duncan said with a smile.

"Don't worry about us." I beamed.

Isadora gave us a curious glance, but Quigley stepped in. "Alright! If something is bothering you guys, just tell us after this though, okay?"

"Alright, Quigley, thanks." Duncan said with a smile.

I couldn't help but notice that Duncan kept running his hand through his hair, then fixing his hair only to mess it up again. It was so cute, but I imagined he hadn't done much sneaking out like this if this was his reaction. I didn't want to force him to break the rules if it'd make him uncomfortable... "We can stay here if it'll calm your nerves..." I whispered to him.

"What?" He whispered. "No, I really want to go; I'm just a little nervous."

I smiled brightly. "That's understandable, but don't worry. I'll be right there next to you." I whispered back, scooting closer until I was close up against the arm rest. I could see Duncan blush a little in the semi-darkness of the auditorium, and he quickly glanced down at his feet.

About forty minutes into the recital, I nudged Duncan and looked over at the backdoor of the auditorium. He followed my gaze and turned back to me with a grin. We usually found spots near the wall, and the main source of light was the spotlights on stage, so someone would have to be really looking to spot us. Duncan carefully opened the door to try to avoid making noise, and he shut it just as quietly behind us. We looked at eachother and started giggling.

"We did it!!" Duncan said excitedly.

"C'mon! Let's get out of here."

We walked away from the back of the auditorium, quietly celebrating our success. It was beautiful outside, and I was glad that I had gotten lucky enough to spend such a lovely evening with such a cute journalist.

"This is a great idea, Violet," he said, "but if we get in trouble I'm gonna-"

"Gonna what?" I asked, smirking.

Duncan cleared his throat. "I'll be upset." He said meekly.

"I won't," I said.

"You won't??"

"Nope. Getting in trouble is worth it if I even get to spend a little bit of time alone with you." I answered, and grinned as I saw him blush and he quickly looked away from me. I smiled proudly. He's so unbelievably adorable!!! We ended up walking in silence, but it was such a comfortable silence. It didn't feel awkward at all, it was very calming, and happy, and I just felt safe. I always felt safe with Duncan, but still, it was so great. We had wandered over to the athletic field and I spotted the sunset in between the bleachers.

"Look at that," I said, dragging him up to the very top. We sat down and looked at the sunset. "A long time ago, my parents promised us one day that we would come and see a Hinterlands sunset. It really is wonderful. I understand why they wanted us to see it..."

"It is very nice," Duncan agreed. "There's nothing out here, so you can actually see the sky..."

"Yeah... It's amazing."

"Well, uh, you know... The sunset isn't the only beautiful thing out here..." He said shyly, and I felt myself smile wide.

"You don't mean me, do you?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know who else I'd mean..." He said, chuckling softly.

"Thank you..." I said. "You're too sweet..."

We sat and chatted until the sun went completely down. The stars shining brightly made it even more romantic. It was definitely worth sneaking out at this point even if we got in a lot of trouble. I just wished he would fucking kiss me already!!! I could kiss him first, but I wanted him to make a move first!

We decided to keep walking and Duncan smiled at me when we got off the bleachers. "I'm having a great time, Violet," he said. "Thanks for inviting me to hang out with you."

"It's my pleasure." I replied. "I don't think I'd do this with anybody else." I giggled a little bit.

"Oh, heh, yeah... You're really great, Violet..."

"Oh... Thank you." I beamed.

"I mean like... You're so smart, and kind, and gorgeous... And badass and talented. You're just so incredible..."

I giggled. "Thank you... Is this leading somewhere or are you just trying to boost my ego to dangerous heights?"

"Mmm, little bit of both."

"So then why are you telling me all this?"

Duncan thought for a moment. "I love you," he blurted out. "I am so incredibly in love with you, it's not even funny, and I've been wanting to tell you forever, but we were never in a good enough situation but I just always want to be by your side and keep you happy and safe and fuck, you cannot smile at me like a dork like right now- smiling like a flustered dork is my thing- and it's really making me want to kiss you!!!"

It was true, I was smiling like an absolute idiot but I didn't care. "Now you know how I feel," I giggled. "I love you too, Duncan." I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a hug and he hugged back tightly. When we finally let go, I saw his face was all red from blushing and he was smiling uncontrollably. That's it. He just looked too cute!!! I leaned in to kiss him, but Duncan quickly leaned in the rest of the way. It wasn't a very long kiss, but it definitely wasn't short, although I wish it lasted much longer because it felt absolutely magical...

"I love you so much, Violet." He said, grinning from ear to ear. "Will you please be my girlfriend?"

"I love you so much, Duncan," I replied. "And yes!! Of course! You didn't even need to ask!"

We held hands and walked around, talking about how excited we were to finally be together and how much we absolutely adored eachother and just all-around being sickeningly sweet, but I didn't care about that. I was finally with Duncan!! Nothing could make me happier. I didn't want to let go of him, and we had ended up falling asleep cuddling. Hopefully our siblings weren't too confused by that, but of course, I knew they'd be happy for us.