Over Him ✔

|Chapter Thirty-Nine|

THE TEMPERATURE  had gone up and I was beginning to feel the pricking sting of the sun on my body. Adjusting my sunglasses, I stretch out my legs and get off the beach chairs I had been on for the last twenty five minutes and move into the smoothie bar.

Cherry, Colt and Dad were all standing around a table playing foosball. Mum and Christine were seated in front of the bar, with coconut drinks in their hands as they chatted with their new friend.

Taking off my sunhat, I sigh and pull off my sunshades too before residing into a chair and silently watching them play.

I was beginning to get bored, everyone seemed to be busy except me and the stupid sun had chased me inside. At least while I was outside I could watch the foreigners and the locals play against each other in a game of volleyball.

It was rather entertaining.

The Nakupenda Beach Reserve was really pretty, with white torquoise sand stretching out across the place and unbelievably clear blue waters. The sand here felt different and this time around, I actually liked feeling the sand between my toes.

"Hey, wanna go for a walk? I'm kinda getting bored over here plus the guys are winning," Cherry frowns and I shrug. I had nothing better to do anyway.

Grabbing my sunhat off the table, I put it on again, along with my sunshades. A blanket of white fluffy clouds drift across the clear blue sky. Narrowing my eyes up at it, I slip on my sunshades and trudge behind Cherry who's busy kicking the sand about.

"I thought I was the only person who liked the sand here," I chuckle, watching her. She turns back to me and laughs, kicking more sand about.

"So how's you and lover boy?"she asks, picking up a few tiny shells and brushing off bits of sand from them.

"We're all right. Things are going pretty well," I reply, a small smile on my face as I stared across the shores at a cute white couple splashing water on themselves. They looked like they were older than us, maybe not by a lot.

"I know somethings being going on between the both of you," she states, shoving both her hands into the pockets of her shorts.

"What're you tal-" Before I can play it off, she grabs my hand where the promise ring is and waves it in my face.

"This doesn't look like your average everyday ring," she deadpans, clearly not pleased that I was trying to hide it from her.

Pulling my hand out of her grip, I sigh and stare down at it. "It's actually a promise ring that Colt gave to me last week. He went on one kn-"

"Last week?! And I'm just hearing about this right now?" She scowls, disbelief washing over her features and I exhale.

"We were going to break the news to the family once we got home not while we were still here," I reply softly.

"So? What would have happened if you told everyone while we were here? It's not like mum and dad didn't already give you their blessings."

She was right.

"Look, this was something Colt wanted to do when we got back home and I'm not going to go behind his back because I can't hold a secret," I reply, nearly losing my cool.

"Where did this even happen?" She asks, her tone a bit softer now as she stared at me.

"The second day we got here." At my response, she stares at me like I'd suddenly grown two heads.

"And you just said yes?"

Silence looms between us as I try to decipher what she's getting at.

Running a hand over her face and muttering something to herself, she says, "I hope he didn't do that because we're all having a blast." She places a hand on my shoulder, "Look, I support the two of you and wherever it is that you want your love lives to head to but people do things when they're feeling a certain way. I just hope he did this because he's ready and not because he feels like he's living a fairytale."

With a sigh and a pat on the shoulder she continues walking ahead of me but I don't turn around to go with her, instead I just stand there, staring into nothing, my brows pinched together.

The deeper her words sunk in, the tighter the knot in my stomach got.

•••

Tonight the evening sky was stripped off of any cloud, leaving just a beautiful layer of stars stretched out across the sky. This had to be the prettiest the sky has ever looked.

Hand in hand, Colt and I continue our daily night stroll. This was probably going to be the last night we'd spend here. Yeah, I know so soon, right? We had just tonight to make the decision on leaving and plus the house we'd paid would no longer be to our lease by midnight tomorrow.

For the past ten minutes, Colt had been ranting on and on about something he'd experienced back when he was in boarding school and I wasn't even catching on to one word. The only thing I was thinking about  was what Cherry had said.

She was right. Sometimes Colt had the tendency to make decisions whenever he was feeling a certain way. I had always been at the receiving end while growing up and I hoped I never did again.

"Are you even listening?"

I snap out of my thoughts and nod at him. He narrows his eyes at me as if thinking about something and archs a brow curiously.

"What's up with you? You've been acting weird lately," he says stopping to stare down at me.

"Nothing's wro-"

"Don't give me that c'mon." He tilts my chin up for me to meet his eyes and I look away. The longer I stare at him the more my heart feels like it's splitting apart.

What if Cherry was right

Sighing I back up a bit, creating some room between us. "Cherry found out about the ring without me even saying a word. She thinks you only did it because you were having a great time."

A deep frown carves across his forehead and he backs up too, disbelief plastered on his face. "Wait what?"

Crossing my arms above my chest, I watch his frown deepen. "When did she say that?"

"Earlier today."

There's a bit more silence and it's almost like he doesn't know what to do or say. I could understand that there was a lot to take in. Even I was shocked when she'd said that.

"You know I meant every single thing I said back then, right?" He says searching my face for an answer but I don't say anything.

Placing his hands on both my shoulders, he turns me to face him, "April, tell me you believe me."

Exhaling tiredly, I nod. "I believe you." I wanted to sound reassuring but even I don't believe myself. His hands fall to his sides as he stares at me in deliberation.

"I love you Colt, a lot more than you can ever imagine but I don't want you getting down on one knee because you're feeling happy about something or someone's pressuring your to do it-"

"No one's forcing me to do this. If I could have done this long ago, I would have in the blink of an eye. All those times we spent apart, I still thought about you," he says his voice gentle but alarm in his eyes.

I let a tear roll down my eyes as he wraps his arms around me. Those walls I'd built up after meeting him the first time was beginning to crumble and very fast too. They'd already weakened at a point but now, one after the other, those bricks were coming down.

"Wanna go home or-"

"No, let's continue with our stroll. I'm not exchanging this for anything in the world and besides who knows, we'll probably hop  on a plane tomorrow later in the afternoon," I reply, feeling a lot better.

"I thought we were leaving next week. I haven't even packed yet," he replies in alarm and I stifle a laugh.

"Don't worry. You've still got enough time. I could help you pack tonight, if you'd like?" He smiles and presses a kiss to my head.

"Sure thing, princess."

~~~~
I'm glad they worked things out. If you were in April's shoes what would you have said or done? I would have definitely freaked out if Cherry told me that ;D

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