What is Love?

~ Chapter 11 ~

~ Now ~

It's been a full twenty-four hours since Mr. Calvin kicked us out. We haven't heard any word from him, his wife, or Naomi. Calum told me he had been trying to text Naomi and get her to understand why we didn't tell her about us but I think she ended up blocking him.

We left the hotel early this morning and Calum said he had a surprise for me. We hit the road and blasted Carrie Underwood's songs for the whole trip.

We pull up to the lake house and when I figure out that it is the lake house I nearly jump out of the car. It holds so many memories for us. Mainly memories between me and Calum, but there are some memories I have of Naomi and me here.

''I thought about coming here last night. I was thinking of buying this off my parents and turning it into our home.'' He takes my hand in his and I think I'm crying. I'm crying happy tears. I don't know how we've gotten to this place in our lives, but I'm so happy we're here.

''I want us to live here, Phoenix. You, me, and how many kids we decide to have.'' My eyes widen when he mentions kids. I didn't think he was planning on having kids as well. He notices my reaction and starts struggling to find words. I kiss him and his panic of trying to go back on himself fades. ''Our future kids will love it here.''

We get out of the car and make our way over to the dock to sit and look out. The water is still clear blue as well as the sky. It's just how I remembered it. I'm sitting in Calum's arms as he's rocking us side to side. ''I dropped out of medical school this morning.'' Calum freezes and turns me toward him. ''You did? Does that mean, you're staying here with me?'' I nod my head and I actually think Calum's going to burst with excitement. Or maybe I'm going to burst with excitement.

I hated medical school. It wasn't for me. It wasn't my dream. It was my mother's dream. I hated that I actually followed through with what she wanted for me. Before Calum woke up this morning I rang the school and told them I wasn't going back. I'm going to study music here in Dallas and hopefully, one day teach it.

''We're really doing this, Phoenix. Remember that day in the diner in Boston? When you said 'Maybe Someday, we'll be together forever.'?'' I cringe a little. I remember that day. I remember the cringy speech I gave Calum. I nod and let Calum get to his point. ''This is that day because from here on out, we're going to be together forever.'' He kisses my forehead and goes back to rocking us side to side.

We sit like this for a while until Calum lifts me up and throws me into the lake. ''Are you for real, Calum!'' I yell up at him. He's in stitches laughing at me while I attempt to remain afloat. ''Move out of the way!'' He rips his T-shirt off him and cannonballs into the lake. I nearly get knocked over with the water flowing back. He grabs me by the waist and pulls me up against him.

His lips crash onto mine with passion and love. He pulls away and looks down at me. ''I don't think we got to do that last time we were here.'' He's wearing his ridiculous half-smirk. I hate that smirk. But at the same time, I just want to kiss it. So I do.

We stay in the water for as long as we can until we're shivering. We head toward the side of the house and strip our clothes off until we're standing in nothing but our underwear. Calum's trying so hard not to look at me. He looks like it pains him. He grabs the hose and starts cleaning us down. He leaves to go get us towels. When he comes back he only has a towel around himself. ''Where's my towel?'' I'm standing freezing. I could really use a towel.

''I don't want you to cover up. I like looking at you half-naked.'' He flashes his half-smirk and walks around into the house. I follow after him like a puppy and we cuddle up on the sofa. My back is on Calum's chest and we're sitting watching some cheesy movie. ''Calum, I hate to annoy you but I'm actually really cold so do you think you can put a blanket around us?'' He hasn't changed out of his boxers as well so we're practically sitting on the sofa half-naked. He laughs and pulls the blanket along the sofa around us. ''I was waiting for you to say you're cold.''

He lights the fire soon after until we hear the front door open. We freeze and await to hear footsteps. Laken comes running into the sitting room and jumps up into my arms. I've only owned the dog for a few days and I forgot about it. How could I be such a bad dog mom? How did he get here though? We hear the front door close again and Calum wraps the towel around him and heads to the front door.

He comes back and plops down on the sofa. ''It was Naomi. She knows we're here now.'' I'm actually a bit shocked. Laken jumps off my knee and hops onto Calums. ''How did she know we're here?'' He looks down at Laken and scratches behind his ears. ''Security camera at the front of the house. I forgot about it. She left the dog food and cage at the door.'' He stands up and brushes Laken off his knee as he does. He looks out the window and back at me.

''We have to go over there and sort this out tomorrow morning. They know we're here so they could call the cops on us and claim we're trespassing. With the state my father is in at the minute, it wouldn't surprise me.'' I nod my head slowly and sink back into the sofa. Calum sits down beside me and puts his arm around my shoulders. ''We're going to be fine, Phoenix.'' He kisses me gently on the side of my head and then we nod off to sleep.

I wake up to the smell of pancakes cooking in the kitchen. I wrap up in the blanket we slept with on the sofa and follow the scent to the kitchen. Calum is standing in his boxers making pancakes for us. It doesn't feel real. Calum standing half-naked cooking us breakfast. When he spots me he points to the island and ushers me to sit down. ''Good morning, beautiful.'' He kisses me on the lips and then rounds the island and continues his cooking. ''This morning for breakfast we have, pancakes.'' He hands me a plate of pancakes covered in syrup with a little bit of whipped cream and a strawberry on top.

''How did I ever get so lucky?'' I say to Calum as he sits down beside me and digs into his own serving of pancakes. ''How did I get so lucky with you?'' He responds back to me. We sit through all of the breakfast talking about the things we're going to do once we clear things up with his family. We want to go hot air balloon riding, sky diving, race car driving, and surfing in Australia. We want to live our lives to the fullest.

We gather our stuff and give the lake house another going over to make sure it's clean before we leave. I put Laken into his cage for the car journey and we head off to our doom.

Somehow I survived. I survived and Calum didn't. The dog even survived and Calum didn't. Calum promised to love me to his last dying breath. He fulfilled his promise. Now I promise to love him until mine.