Forever & Always

Chapter 24

Within the next couple of days, I was riding high from my birthday. My mother and I had had a really nice night, just the two of us, watching movies and eating junk food, and my friends took me to this pier in the next town over where a huge amusement park was located. 

We went on a bunch of different rides. We split up to go on the log floom, boys in one car, girls in the other. By the time we reached the big splash and we all got off the ride, the one person that didn't want to get wet that we had to practically pull onto the ride, Lacey, was soaked to the bone, much wetter than any of us. 

"I. Hate. All of you," she grumbled, as we explored the rest of the park, content to just let our clothes air dry. 

We even went on the Ferris wheel. The cars were kind of small, so they made us split up again, but this time, Shane wanted to come with me, so we split from the other three and yelled to each other from our separate cars. We rode it around twice, and when we stopped at the top, the sight was beautiful. You could see the ocean stretch out in the distance, and it reflected the lights of the pier in the light of the setting sun. 

I sat back and sighed. "This is beautiful," I said, mesmerized by the view. I rested my head on Shane's shoulder and he put his arm around me. 

"That it is, babe," he agreed softly. "That it is."

Plus, that night, I got to drive my new car for the first time on the ride back home. Shane insisted that he drive to get to the pier initially because they wanted the location to be a surprise, but with their GPS opened on their phones, they let me drive on the way back. We put the top down and cruised with the radio blasting. It was so much fun and like Shane had said, it was one of those nights that you never plan for and never forget. 

****

Over the weekend, my grandparents made another push to get me to bring Shane to come meet them, so I sighed and popped the question to Shane the next day at lunch, as we sat on the beach on towels, eating some sandwiches from the deli in town. 

"Really?" he asked, sounding impressed. "They want to meet me?" 

I nodded. "I'm one of their only grandchildren they actually get to see, making me their favorite by default, so they're pretty invested in my life," I explained. 

He sighed, looking out into the ocean. "I will agree to this on one condition," he said, looking at me over his sunglasses and propped up one one elbow, like he was Tom Cruise in Top Gun. 

I mirrored him to make him see how ridiculous he looked. "And what is that?"

"You do the same for me," he replied. 

I cocked my eyebrow at him, still not moving from the mirrored position. "What does that mean?" 

He chuckled, finally moving. "My grandfather has asked to meet you as well," he said. "I am his only grandchild, since I'm an only chid and so is my mother. And ever since my grandmother passed away, he's been very bored and my mom likes to keep him busy, so he asked to meet you."

He sat up and stared at me. "I'll meet yours if you meet mine," he said cheekily. 

I laughed. "I think the expression is something completely different, in wording and meaning, but I understood where you were going with it and I accept." 

So it was settled. Part of the day would be spent with my grandparents and my mother, and then I would switch off and go with him and his mom to visit his grandfather. 

I was somewhat anxious about the whole thing. I had never been in this kind of situation before to be introducing someone that wasn't simply just a friend to my family and my extended family. Also, I was never anything to anyone that it should be of concern for them to be introducing me to their extended family members. How was I going to come off?