Five Years Later

05 | A soft kiss

🎙2022🎙

The first week of school passed so fast and now it is a Friday. After getting everything that I needed from my locker to take home for the weekend. I walked out of the school's building and started making my way to my car.

"Aubs, please wait!" I heard my boyfriend's voice yelling his nickname for me as I unlocked my car.

Instead of getting inside my car, I just turned around facing my boyfriend's direction. "Cal, babe, do you need anything?"

My boyfriend walked up to me, leaning his back against my car then his eyes landed on me. "I just wanted to ask you a question."

I leaned my back against my car as I started looking back at my boyfriend over my shoulder. "Cal, let me hear what your question is."

My boyfriend reached for my right hand, intertwining our fingers together. "What are you doing today after school, Aubs?"

My lips formed a soft smile at the same time I looked down at our fingers together. "I am going to my mother's bookstore and Peyton is going to meet there. Cal, why are you asking? Do you want to join us?"

My boyfriend leaned his head softly down my shoulder. "That sounds fun, I hope that you and Peyton have a good time. The reason why I asked you is because I was wondering if you had plans with our friends or if you were going home. I wish that I could come but I already made plans to spend time with my younger sister today."

I smiled at my boyfriend's movements, I leaned my head on top of his as I let my eyes fall closed. "Originally, I was just going home after school but Peyton and I came up with this a couple of minutes ago. Aww, I love your little sister, what type of plans do you guys have for today?"

My boyfriend placed his free hand around my shoulders, softly pulling me closer to his familiar embrace. "I can't wait to hear how your plans with Peyton went tonight over the phone. Trust me, gorgeous, my little sister loves you too. Carleigh found a new local boba tea shop that she wants to try out."

I didn't dare to open my eyes, I just stayed in the moment, enjoying the feeling of my boyfriend's arm around my shoulders and the feeling of his hand on mine. "I can't wait to hear about your plans with your sister either. Cal, please tell her that I say Hi? I am not surprised that it sounds like something like Carleigh would love to do."

"I promise you that I will pass the message, she loves hearing anything that has to do with you for a good reason." My boyfriend began speaking as he brought our hands together to his lips. I felt his lips giving me a soft kiss on my hand. "Speaking of my sister, I should get going before my sister starts texting me asking for my whereabouts."

I laughed softly at his first sentence as I lifted my head from on top of his. "I should get going too as well, babe."

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To my surprise, I was the first one who had arrived first at my mom's bookstore even with my quick interaction with my boyfriend. I turned my car off, retrieved  my car's keys from the ignition. I unblocked my seat belt, picked up my phone and my backpack from the passenger's seat and then I hopped down from my car.

I started walking towards the entrance of my mom's bookstore as I locked my car. I pushed the door and walked inside. Quickly, I was greeted by a happy and warm welcoming feeling. Even before I was born, my mom always dreamed that everyone who came into her bookstore felt welcome and my mother successfully did that.

My eyes focused on my mother who was standing behind the register. My mom felt like she was being looked at because she stopped what she was doing. My mother looked at me as a soft smile appeared on her lips.

"Hello, honey, how was school today?" My mother greeted me, walking out from behind the register and she walked towards me.

"Hi, mom, school was good today." I responded to her question. I met my mother halfway and pulled her into a hug. "Can I leave my backpack with you behind the register?"

"I can't wait to hear everything about it during dinner tonight." My mother told me, she gave a kiss on my cheek before she pulled away from me, ending our hug. "Of course, you can honey, it would be safe with me. Are you going to be here by yourself or if one of your friends is coming?"

"I am excited to share everything about my day with you and father tonight." I told my mother, carefully placing my backpack on the counter next to the cash register. "Thank you, mom, you're the best. I am alone for now until Peyton gets here."

In my opinion having a mother who owns a bookstore is one of the best things in the world. For this reason, my best friends and I get the opportunity to attend books related events and sometimes my mother gives us some free books.

"Honey, I spoke with your father a couple of minutes before you got here. He informed me that we are going to be having lasagna for dinner." My mother shared with me the menu for tonight's dinner. She placed my backpack underneath the counter. "When Peyton gets here, I have new books that I would like to show both of you."

"Thank you mom, for telling me. Now I am looking forward to tonight's dinner." I thanked my mother, checking my photo to see if my best friend had texted me. "Mom, you know how much myself and Pey love discovering new authors. I really hope one of them is a romance book or at least has romance on it."

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Just two besties, reading romance books in a bookstore.