“I agree.”
We held hands all the way to my car. When I unlocked it and we got in it was freezing. I turned it on as quickly as possible but we still had to wait for it to warm.
“Don’t you have remote start?” Ellery asked, shivering.
“Not all of us have fancy cars,” I said.
“You will soon,” Ellery said.
I rolled my eyes, revving the engine slightly to help warm it quicker the way my mom used to do. “I don’t think it’s in the budget right now.”
“It is for me,” he said.
“You are not buying me a car!” I exclaimed. I didn’t care if he was rich, that was too much.
“No, I’m buying me a car. I have no plans on getting into a car this cold again. And in the summer without the A/C already cranked? No thanks.”
“You are ridiculously spoiled,” I said.
“Of course I am. I’m the youngest, the handsomest, and rich.” He ticked his fingers off as he said it.
“And you’re about to get left in this parking lot,” I said.
It was finally warm enough to turn on the heat without it being freezing so I turned it all the way up. We still had to wait for the windshield to defrost, but at least we weren’t freezing.
“You wouldn’t do that to me,” he said. “You love me too much.”
Love. That word he used in the alley, the one I didn’t say back. I didn’t want to say it if I didn’t mean it, but… “I do. Love you, that is.”
His cheeks slightly pinked which was a rare sight. “Say it again.”
I cleared my throat. “I love you.”
“Fuck, I love you too.” He leaned in and kissed me hot and hard.
“Oh, I have something for you,” he said as he pulled back. He reached into his peacoat pocket and came back with the largest jewelry box I’d seen yet. It was the same deep pretty velvet every other had been.
“You didn’t have to give me this,” I said, trying to keep the emotion from my voice.
“I know. But I like seeing my woman wear the things I got her.”
I fidgeted with the earrings I was still wearing absentmindedly. Many times since the ball, I’d thought to remove them, but never did.
“Open it.”
I clicked the box open and gasped. It was a pendant with a golden crescent moon with a dangling star in the center of it that looked to be diamond, just like the rest of the set.
“It’s amazing,” I said breathlessly. “Will you put it on?”
He took the gold chain from me and I gathered my hair so he could clasp it. He ran his finger over it once it was done. I let my hair go and turned back to put down the sun visor and opened the mirror. It shimmered against my black coat. “It’s perfect.”
“Just like you,” he said, staring at it as well.
“Thank you,” I said.
His eyes met mine. “Anything for you, pretty moon,” he said. “Now, how about our first official date?”
Epilogue
