Take Me There

Parties and Promises

Chapter One

"Class of 2013, bitches!"
Of course I wasn't surprised that those were the first words I heard whenever I walked through the backdoor of my boyfriend's house. I couldn't help but grin when I saw all of the seniors that had been on the football team standing on top of the kitchen table, their shirts off, and beer in their hands. Tons of people were crowded around them, all lifting their glasses as they cheered together.
I honestly couldn't believe that only eight hours ago, these same people were sitting on a football field with me, about to recieve their high school diplomas. Thankfully we were done with high school, because a lot of them were obviously going to lose many brain cells tonight. If there was one thing the classes before us taught us, it was to save the extreme partying for graduation. Apparently it didn't matter how many brain cells you lost at that point, because you already had your diploma.
Smart thinking?
"Dallis!"
I looked to my left, towards the huge table of alcohol, at the sound of my name. I grinned whenever I saw my best friend, Sadie Harrington, sitting on top of one of the other tables, a bottle of Jack in her hand. She was surrounded by a few of the girl's we'd cheered with, all of them waving at me and giving me huge fake grins. I returned the gesture, plastering a fake smile onto my own face even though I absolutely hated these girls. I'd only talked to them during the school year because I'd been the cheer captain, so I had to be respectful to everyone. But school was over now. And these girls were dumbass bitches.
"I didn't think you were ever going to make it," Sadie said, jumping off of the table and wrapping her arms around my neck in a sloppy hug. "You've missed out on so much!"
I took a deep breath. "You know how my parents are. They wanted to know exactly where I was going and what time I'd be home."
Sadie frowned. "But it's graduation!"
"Yeah, Dallis, you have to stay until everyone leaves. You're, like, the life of the party," Hadley Jenner said, giving me a huge smile. Dumb bitch.
"I wouldn't go that far," A very familiar voice suddenly said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
I grinned up at my boyfriend, Drew Lawrence. He leaned down and placed a kiss on my lips, the taste of alcohol on his lips. "How was your graduation dinner with the 'rents?"
I shrugged, grabbing one of the cups of beer off of the table and taking a sip. "The usual. Just kind of weird."
"Because Austin wasn't there?"
I glanced over at another girl that was standing beside Hadley, her eyes widening whenever she realized what she said. My jaw automatically clenched at the mention of my brother, my eyes glazing over.
"Why would you even say that?" Sadie asked, giving the girl a cold stare.
Drew sighed from beside me before looking at me. "Don't worry about it, baby."
I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't until this bitch said something."
Drew grabbed my hand and started walking, pulling me along with him. I followed him out into the backyard, where tons of people were dancing and swimming. I noticed a huge group of people sitting in the hot tub, making me cringe as I thought about all of the sperm that were probably swimming around in the steamy water. It was safe to say I wouldn't be getting in that thing any time soon.
As we walked passed everyone, I glanced up at Drew. "Where are we going? Don't you want to go play a round of beer pong and whip everyone's asses?"
Drew smirked but shook his head. "Not tonight, baby. I have other plans."
My eyebrows immediatley shot up. "And what exactly are these plans of yours?"
"Will you just be quiet and enjoy this lovely stroll we're taking?" He asked as we continued to the back of the yard, where a path lead down to a gigantic vineyard that literally spread over a good seven or eight acres. I couldn't help but smile as his hand tightened around mine, pulling me even closer to him as we started down the path.
The Lawrence Vineyard had been around since the early 70's and had practically tripled in size since his grandparents started it. It produced some of the best tasting wine in the southern part of California, especially in the semi small town that we lived in. So of course whenever Drew's grandfather died two and a half years ago, his family jumped on the first plane to California from Georgia and decided that it was time to take over the family vineyard.
Everyone took an immediate liking to Drew. It was nearly impossible not to like him, with his inviting smile, striking green eyes, and friendly personality; he was the perfect combination. He became the quarterback of the football team, the baseball's team best pitcher, the student body treasurer, and my boyfriend.
We'd been inseperable ever since.
"The stars are really shinning tonight," Drew said, pulling me from my trip down memory lane.
I looked up at the sky as we walked, taking in the beautiful specks of gold. I let out a deep breath, completely content with everything as I held onto Drew's hand.
We were nearly halfway to the vineyard whenever he suddenly stopped walking, causing me to nearly trip over myself. I gave him a look. "Uhm, what are we doing?"
He reached down into his pocket and quickly pulled out a lime green bandana, the same one that I'd given him at his last baseball game for good luck. After I'd worn it around my wrist at every baseball game, since his favorite color was lime green, I'd decided that it had to bring him some sort of good luck.
"Why do you have that?"
He gave me a cute smile and walked behind me, placing it in front of my eyes and tying it behind my head. I immediatley groaned.
"Drew," I whined. "I can't see shit."
He laughed. "That's the point."
"I swear I think you're trying to kill me," I mumbled. "Everyone knows I can barely walk whenever I'm not blinded."
He grabbed my hand and tugged a little so that I would start walking. I placed one of my hands on what I assumed was his waist, standing slightly behind him so that I wouldn't trip and die.
After a few minutes of nothing but crickets chirping, Drew finally stopped walking again. I felt his hands grab my sides, steadying me so that I wouldn't fall.
"Can I take this off now?" I asked as I pointed to the blindfold still covering my eyes.
He laughed. "Yes, miss impatient."
I took a deep breath and pulled the blindfold off of my head, handing it to Drew before I turned to look in front of me. Whenever I saw what was in front of me, my eyes widened and my mouth fell open slightly.
"You were serious," I whispered, staring at the huge pond that now sat right in front of the gates to the vineyard, a gazebo on either side with twinkeling lights covering them both.
He was quiet for a second as both of us stared. "Since the vineyard is going to be ours one day, I decided that I wanted to go ahead and do something that you actually wanted."
I thought back to two weeks ago whenever I told him how beautiful it would be to build a pond in front of the gates. I never even imagined it looking like this though. This was absolutely extravagant. Just like everything else Drew owned.
"Wait," I said, turning to look at Drew. "Did you just say ours?"
He gave me a sheepish smile, running a hand through his hair. Instead of actually answering my question, he decided to change the subject. "I found out a few weeks ago that my grandparents were married for sixty eight years before my grandpa died."
I gave him a curious look. "Wow."
"That's a really really long time to be with the exact same person, every single day," He took a deep breath. "But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that you'd have to love someone a hell of a lot to tolerate them for that long."
I nodded my head in agreement. "Of course."
He suddenly reached into his pocket, pulling out a rose gold diamond encrusted ring with a huge square white sapphire in the middle. He held it between his thumb and index finger, staring at it before looking back at me.
It was safe to say that my heart had practically stopped beating at the sight of the gorgeous ring and the thought of whatever he was going to say next. I mean, we had literally just graduated from high school. And now he was going to propose?
Oh hell no.
"Uhm, Drew, what the hell is that?" I asked, pointing a shaky finger at the ring.
He shrugged. "It was my grandma's wedding ring."
I nodded my head, trying to act calm. Maybe he just wanted to show it to me? "Okay. But why do you have it?"
"I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few months," He sighed, "About my future. Your future. Our future."
"What about it?"
He gave me a cute smile. "You're kind of really great, Dallis."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Kind of?"
"I mean if I have to spend the next sixty eight years with someone, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mind if it was you."
"Pretty sure?"
He smirked, grabbing both of my hands and pulling me to him. He rested his forehead on mine, a smile growing on his face. "You know I love you, right?"
"You better," I said, poking him in the chest.
I could feel the ring in his hand, pressed against my palm and practically burning a hole in my own. As much as I did love Drew, there was no way in hell that I was anywhere near ready for marraige. Even though I knew Drew could take care of me, I didn't want that right now. I'd just gotten a full scholarship to the college my parents had always wanted me to go to. And yes, Drew would be attending the same one, but that didn't mean I wanted to go into college married.
"So, are you going to tell me why you have that ring?" I asked, pulling away from him slightly so that I could stare at him.
He held it up again, admiring it for a second. "I can tell that you're really freaked out."
I frowned. "As much as I love you, marraige isn't my top priority right now, Drew."
He practically died of laughter, literally doubling over. I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched him laugh. "What the hell is so funny?"
He stood up, chuckling. "Dallis, this," He held up the ring again, "Is not a proposal."
"Then what is it?"
He grabbed my left hand and slid it onto my ring finger. "This, Dallis Anderson, is a promise ring," He placed a soft kiss on my lips, "Because I promise that no matter what, I'm always going to be here for you. And I promise that one day I'll get you a wedding ring and one day we'll get married and start a big family."
I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. I stared admiringly at the ring on my finger, wondering how in the hell I got so lucky.
I looked up at him, my grey eyes staring into his green ones. "Promise?"
He kissed me again and wrapped his hands around my waist. "Promise."
I guess you could say that Drew Lawrence was quite the keeper.