Planning Your Future

Fearless (Part 3)

March 28, 1994

Veronica's POV

Dear Diary,

Things the past three months have been good. JD and I worked out the weird feelings I was having. Alyssa and I have been really good. Today was my birthday and it was highly uneventful. I haven't even seen Erika since last night. Twenty two isn't exactly an important birthday. I got mainly books and music. Which I asked for those things so I'm satisfied. Alyssa and I are going to dinner tonight and then we're just going to go back to my dorm.

Erika keeps freaking out about how close we are to graduation. We graduate in less than two months. I don't even know what I'm going to do when I graduate. I know we'll still have the band, but Erika and I won't live together and things will be different. It's exciting but also terrifying.

Well I should get ready for my date with Alyssa. I haven't seen her in a few days so I'm happy we get to see each other.

Sincerely,

Veronica

As I start to get ready, Erika comes in. "Hey, sorry I haven't been here to tell you happy birthday." She says, holding something behind her back. "It's okay. But do you wanna tell me what's behind your back?" I sit on my bed. She sighs and takes the wine bottle from behind her back. "I think you and I should have a night to watch a movie and drink wine together. I know Alyssa and you are coming back here tonight, but I feel like you and I haven't spent time together in so long!" She sits across from me. "I'll ask if she's okay with that." I tell her.

There's a knock at the door so I stand up. "That's probably Alyssa." I say as I walk to the door. I open it and Alyssa is in fact the person behind the door. "Hey, you ready to go?" She smiles. "Yes." I walk out and close the door behind me. As we drive to the restaurant, Alyssa puts her right hand on my leg. "So I know we planned on hanging out at my dorm after dinner, but Erika wants to have a night with me since we've not really hung out in a while. So is it okay if we postpone the second half of our date?" I ask. "Of course! I have to be at work early anyways." She says. That was easy. "Great." I smile.

At the restaurant, we order our food and wait for it. Alyssa slides a small gift box across the table. "What's this?" I examine it. "Open it." She is clearly trying to hide a smile. I take the box and open it. There's a small ring inside. "A ring?" I look up at her. "I know we can't get married, but I want to marry you more than anything. And I think one day, we'll be able to. So this ring is a promise that when the time comes and we can make it official, we will."
She explains. "Aw. Babe..." I smirk. I take the ring out and put it on my finger. I lean over the table and kiss her.

"Excuse me. My family is trying to have dinner and we'd appreciate if you wouldn't do that in front of us." A man sitting near us says. "Oh. Sorry." Alyssa gives him a gentle smile. "Why are you apologizing. We just kissed. It's not like we're having sex. If any couple that was a man and a woman kissed, you'd say nothing. And that's stupid. How about you mind your business and leave us alone. You let it bother you when you could have just ignored it." I say. The man scoffs and walks over to a waiter, and asks for the check.

"Damn. That was very attractive." Alyssa laughs. "Well he was pissing me off." I sigh, taking a drink. Our waiter brings us our food and we eat, talking about work and school. I can't help but stare at the ring. It's absolutely gorgeous. After we eat, we walk around the area where the restaurant is at. "What are you thinking about?" Alyssa asks me. "Just thinking about how much I love you." I lightly push her with my shoulder. "Liar. What are you really thinking about?" She laughs. "I'm thinking about how good that food was. I just wanted to sound romantic." I smile. "You're ridiculous." She says. "I know."

Alyssa drops me off at the dorms, I kiss her before she drives off. "Hey." I say to Erika as I walk in. "How was dinner?" She asks. "Good. Alyssa gave me a promise ring. I shut down a guy who was being a dick about two girls kissing." I tell her. "Damn. What happened with him?" She gets up from her bed. "He got annoyed and left. I really pissed him off." I smirk. "There's the fearless Veronica I've missed so much." She laughs. "I was fearless, I was just annoyed that he had the audacity to tell me not to kiss my girlfriend." I shrug. "Your nonchalantness is making you seem more fearless." She says.

We forget about the guy at the restaurant and start a movie, cracking open the wine as it starts. It's some cheesy romantic comedy Erika picked. Lately her and Alyssa are becoming more and more alike. Every time I start to fall asleep, Erika shakes me. "Hey! You're missing the important stuff." I'm really only missing the dumb romantic montage.

I'm half asleep by the time the movie ends. Part of it is how boring the movie was, the other half is how much wine I drank. Erika is crying. Partly from the movie, but mainly from the wine. "Alright. I'm going to sleep." I stand up and make my way to my bed. "You're lucky it's your birthday. Or I'd be upset you didn't watch it." Erika gets up. "Erika, if my own girlfriend can't get me into these movies, why would you be able to?" I say, getting under my blanket. "Fine. But one day, one of us will get you to like it." Erika sighs. "You can try." I smirk.

Thanks for ready. It's a little shorter, but hopefully you enjoy. We're getting closer to the end. And yes: there will be a third and final book. It'll be shorter, but it'll have a good number of chapters. Anyways... Bye!