First & Forever

Epilogue

JUNE

"One more stop. Do you trust me?" Will flashes me that confident crooked smirk from the driver's seat and I nearly choke on the cherry I just took off my vanilla milkshake.

I lean across the console and plant a kiss on his jaw. "With my life, handsome."

"Yeah?" he asks with a brow raise more delicious than the milkshake in my hand. I nod as my face flushes, taking in every inch of his.

He leaves for West Point tomorrow. He's nervous, I'm nervous, but at the same time, I think we're ready. After the I love you dam broke with our feelings for each other on graduation night, we've found a peace in the change that's coming. Don't get me wrong, the closer it gets to his report day, the more my heart aches, but I'm so happy for him to start his new chapter that it outweighs most of the sadness. Plus, I've got a new chapter of my own to look forward to.

My eyes widen in surprise as he hits the blinker, signaling left. "One last time?" he asks tenderly, making sure I'm on board. I nod with a soft smile. "One last time."

We jump out of his car, milkshakes in hand, and walk through the gate to the football stadium. Both of us knowing exactly where we're going.

Five rows up on the far left side.

Will drops down in our spot and leans back against the concrete bleacher behind him, motioning for me to take my spot beside him. I nestle in under his arm as we settle in to watch the sun go down. It's only us here, just the way we like it, and for the longest time neither of us say a word. I close my eyes and try to hold on to the moment as long as I can. His clean spicy scent, his fingers running lazily through my hair, how he keeps dropping down every few minutes to kiss my head. I never want to forget it.

After a while I feel his body move with a soft chuckle. I smile and tilt my face up to his. "Want to tell me what's going on in that gorgeous head of yours?"

"Just thinking..." He looks around at the football field in front of us and the school beside us. "You know, I hated this place. Everything it stood for, everything it lacked, everything it made me feel." He looks down at me with those brilliant blue eyes, the warmth in them bubbling through my veins as he reaches over to tuck my hair behind my ear. "But how can I hate it, when it gave me you?" He cups my face in his hand. "When it's where we were meant to find each other, to find this." He smiles, pressing his lips to my temple.

I close my eyes and lean into his hand.

"William Rhodes," I meet his eyes with a sweet smirk, "I think I finally rubbed off on you. You might be a hopeless romantic after all."

I drop my head back on his shoulder, smiling up at him contentedly as his laugh surrounds us. I run a thumb over his adorable smile lines. "I love you, Will. So much."

He tilts my chin until my lips are in line with his, dropping down ever so slightly. "I loved you first, sweet girl. First and forever."

It's a whisper, a promise, a vow.

I don't know where we'll be in five years, but as his lips take mine my heart knows exactly where it will.

Atticus once said, "The beautiful thing about young love is the truth in our hearts that it will last forever." For me, it was and will always be, forever.