Always & Forever (A 'The Last Of Us' Fanfic)

Chapter 11

They arrived at the local skating rink and quickly got down. They grabbed their skates and were on the rink within minutes. They skated for hours as Coldplay resonated in the background. They held hands the whole time. Beth couldn't remember the last time she was as happy as she was at this moment with the man of her dreams. She was still trying to wrap her mind around everything that had gone down today. She had forgiven him. The second he had confessed that she was all that he thought about, everything else didn't matter. She now knew how he felt about her and there was nothing that could diminish that. The smile she carried on her since they left the station was not going away any time soon.

Joel was totally thrown off guard at the events that had happened today. He was so sure that Beth would never want to see him again after what he did. The mistake that he should have never made in the first place. If he could take it all back, he would. He had wanted her to be his first and he completely screwed that up. But she was here, with him. Had she forgiven him? He hoped with everything he had that she did. And he would spend every single day trying to make it up to her. He never wanted to hurt her again. He never wanted to see that look of pain that was now embedded in his mind from last night. Whatever could be done to keep that from happening again, he was gonna do. He wanted to be with her all the time and tell her how much he truly loved her. But as he kept on thinking, he knew that their time together was gonna have to be cut short. She had to go to New York and he knew that. As much as it pained him, he knew she had to.

Once the two of them had skated as much as they could, they turned their skates in and headed back to Joel's truck.

"So, where to now?" Joel asked.

Beth couldn't stop smiling. She looked over at him, leaned in and kissed him. He kissed her right back and savored the taste of her lips.

"That was nice but it didn't answer my question," Joel retorted afterward.

Beth chuckled lightly.

"I don't want this day to end," she said resting her head back on the seat.

"Neither do I," Joel said taking her hand in his.

"How about some ice cream?" she suggested.

"Dairy Queen?" he retorted.

"It's as if you read my mind," she said.

They buckled up and headed to the nearest Dairy Queen. They each got an Oreo Blizzard and sat in the truck enjoying them.

"What happens now?" Beth asked once she was halfway through with her blizzard.

He looked at her. He really loved her. There was no way he could ever deny it. He sighed.

"We get you ready to go to New York," he said.

She knew this topic was gonna come up. There was no way to avoid it. She took a few minutes before she spoke again.

"How could I go, now that we've started...this," she said.

"You have to go. It's something that you've dreamed of for so long," he said.

"What if I don't want to go anymore?" she asked.

"You do. I know you. You can't give up this opportunity, Beth. It's too great," he said.

"It's not fair. I'll be honest...the only reason I accepted that internship was cause I figured space away from you would be good for me. But now that we've started this...I regret doing it," she confessed.

"I wasn't expecting this to happen. I figured you'd be mad at me forever. But even if we hadn't started this, I would have still encouraged you to go," he said.

"Joel..." she started.

"Beth, don't. Okay you're not talking yourself out of this. You're going and that's final. You have to follow this dream you've seen for yourself since you were ten," he said.

She tried her hardest to fight back the tears that could fall any minute.

"I'm gone in two and a half weeks," she said softly and looked away.

"Look at me," Joel said.

She took in a few breaths before she turned to look at him.

"Then we'll make the most of these two and a half weeks that we have together. I promise," he said leaning in to kiss her again.

The sun was barely starting to set. They sat in the truck with their foreheads pressed against each other's.

"I'll take you home," Joel said.

He started the truck again and turned toward her house.

***

The next two and a half weeks were exactly as Joel had promised. Aside from the day she had promised her dad, they spent every day together. They'd go out to the movies, take walks in the park even spend some time together with his brother and her father. Beth had received a package in the mail from New York. In it, it contained everything that she needed to know along with where the studio was located. It was all starting to become real to her. She was gonna go and spend the whole summer in New York. She was gonna have to leave Joel behind. She had suggested that he come with her but he was to start his summer job as a bag boy in a few weeks. He would have loved nothing more to accompany her but he needed the cash. He was looking into to purchasing a new guitar. Beth was just going to have to beat him to it. June 1st came closer and closer and with the date fast approaching, Beth was nervous. She had finally accepted that this was going to be the start of something spectacular. She was starting on her dream and she couldn't have asked for anything better. She had booked her flight for the 30th. Now, the night before she was to leave, she was gonna be spending at Joel's place. Ever since they started dating, this was a common occurrence. She would spend the night at his place or he would spend the night at hers. Their parents had enough faith in the two of them to know that they wouldn't try anything. And to make sure of that, they were always around to keep that from happening. But Beth had wanted to spend her last day in Texas in the most intimate way a couple could. Joel wanted the same thing. They had talked about it and decided that tonight would be the night.

Joel had bought some condoms and snuck them into his room that afternoon. Before Beth had headed to his place, she packed a bag with the essentials. She had butterflies fluttering around in her stomach like crazy. Tonight was the night that she was gonna give herself to Joel. The night that she had had many dreams about, was finally here. And she was ready for it.