The Smile That Made Me Smile

Chapter Sixteen

It was finally time for my picnic date with Kim tonight. I've never been more excited because this one was a special one. I had bought a promise ring Garrett was telling me about while we were at the beach over summer break. It was probably the best gift I could give to her. I had it all planned out. I was going to take her to the top of a hill, have all this fancy food while watching the sunset on a checkered blanket and ask her to be with me forever.
I double checked everything before I started to leave. My dad and mom were in the living room watching some kind of crappy drama.

"Are you heading out for your date right now?" my dad asked.

"Yep, I did everything you wanted me to do. I also have the ring so you both don't need to tease me about not having it." I replied.

My dad gave me a smile and turned back around, and my mom gave me a smile and a thumbs up.

I left the house and got in my car, double checking everything again.

Ring? Check. Food? Check. Blanket? Check. Radio and mixtapes? Check. Myself? Check. Kim? Not yet.

I started my car and backed out of the driveway, starting to head over to Kim's house.

I parked my car in Kim's driveway and started to walk to her door. I was nervous to still be around her, which was great. Although, she said earlier today that she had something serious to tell me tonight, which made me a little worried. I was expecting the worst.

I knocked on her door and waited for Nyx or Kim to open up. Me and Nyx have gotten a lot closer after prom night. He's basically been my bodyguard. Erza hasn't even decided to mess with me anymore, let alone even look at me or Garrett. I've never been happier when he got punched in the nose.

The door had opened, and it was Kim. She looked amazing, as she usually does. She was wearing baggy denim jeans and a baggy t-shirt with some kind of band on it. Her lavender scented perfume took up the air around us and it's never smelt better. I don't know many bands, but I knew it would be a good conversation topic on the way to the park.

She smiled and kissed me, with both of her hands on my cheeks. I was red and full of butterflies. It's only been 6 hours since I've seen her, but I missed her so much.

I grabbed her by the hand, and we started to walk over to my car. My heart has never raced faster before.

"You brought your notebook in that bag, right? I don't think I can answer 'yes or no' questions again." I said, chuckling.

She chuckled too and shook her head no. I sighed with a smile and opened the car door for her. Once she was in, I got into the driver seat and started to drive off to Silverleaf park.

We'd finally arrived. There was basically nobody here except for the occasional old couple. They were always so cute. They always feed the birds or just walk around with each other. I hope that one day that's Kim and me.

We started to walk up the hill and got everything ready. The checkered blanket was laid out on the soft and clean-cut grass and the chill fall winds made everything perfect, with the occasional dead leaves dropping around us.

I put Kim's favorite mixtape on the radio. It consisted of stuff from popular boy bands and pop music to indie stuff, which are the two most random genres to put together. We sat down for a little bit, smiling at each other, and just enjoying the food and the sunset.

After cuddling for a little bit, she grabbed her notebook. I was preparing myself mentally for whatever she was going to tell me. She gave me one more look before writing.

The serious thing I wanted to tell you in Mrs. Baptiza's earlier is that-

She stopped writing for a moment and kind of just stared at the page.

Maybe she doesn't want to be seen around you. What if she wants to break up? Maybe she has to move or something. Stop overthinking this, just let her write. I thought to myself.

She snapped out of her daydream and continued writing.

I used to cut myself. I'm sure you've occasionally noticed from my pairs of ripped jeans or my skirts. I was in a really dark and decrepit place freshman year, and it was mostly because of your group and everyone constantly harassing me. I was so tired of it, every single thing you said always had an effect on me. I stopped doing it by the beginning of junior year because I realized I was doing so much better. Once you came around and started treating me with kindness, I realized that not everything was as shitty with you as I thought, even if your kindness wasn't real at first. You've been the reason I can still believe in pure hearts, Noah. I will forever love you for doing that.

All I could do was stare at the page she wrote. My heart was racing, and I was so red. I was angry at my past self. I knew I was mean to her, but I didn't think it got that bad. 

"I'm sorry I did that to you in the past. I will never forgive myself for it, Kim." 

I caressed her cheeks and gave her a long kiss. I loved her. It was the first time I felt genuine love for a person. I put the promise ring in my pocket, hoping to give it to her on our next date.

I backed out of the kiss and started to pack up our stuff. We took thousands of pictures of us on the hill with the sunset behind us. We headed towards my car and got ready to leave, both of us with the biggest and brightest smiles on our faces.