She looked away shyly. I needed her to say the words. I needed her to know how much I loved her and how eager I was to make love to her. She was so beautiful.
“Maybe our first time can be right here,” she said, gesturing at the couch. “Where you asked me to be your girlfriend. Sounds pretty special to me. What do you think?”
I hesitated. It wasn’t exactly how I envisioned, but the timing and significance of the location did have a special charm. I couldn’t resist the way her eyes pleaded.
I brought my lips to hers, kissing her with as much love as I could muster. I lay her on the couch, and we explored each other’s bodies for the first time. I fell even more in love with her. “I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too,” she responded between kisses.
We made love and lay on the couch together in pure ecstasy.
Once we were dressed, I grabbed my computer, and we sat at the dining table. I went to the university website to accept my offer.
“What are you majoring in?” she asked.
“Since technology continues to grow, I was thinking about something in that field—maybe computer science. Oh! They have computer engineering.” The major excited me.
She giggled next to me. “You’re such a nerd.”
“And you love it,” I said, kissing the hand that rested on my shoulder.
“Yeah, I guess I do.” She shrugged her shoulders, smiling widely.
We heard Gram's car pull into the driveway. Soon, Lu rushed in like a storm, talking a million miles a minute. “Whoa, slow down,” I said, getting down to her level. “Now tell me.”
She told me all about the Dragons and Vikings movie she saw. “There was even a boy who had a crush on a girl like you do with Avery.” She was a ball of energy.
Gram soon came in, and I was excited to tell her my decision to attend the university after all. “I have some good news.”
She looked at me skeptically. “Go on and spit it out instead of just standing there.”
I laughed. “I accepted my offer to attend the university in the fall.”
“It’s not too late?” She scrunched her eyebrows worriedly.
“No, I have until May, so I almost missed the deadline.”
She walked over to me, pulling me in for a bear hug. “I am so proud of you. I raised a pretty good man, didn’t I?” she asked.
“A damn good one,” Avery chimed in.
We all laughed.
“What about you, dear?” Gram asked Avery.
“I’ll be going to school in town and sticking around to keep you company.” Gram gave her an apologetic look and patted her shoulder.
“Did you hear that, Lu? Brother is going off to a big school to get really smart so he can make lots of money and build us a castle.” Luna's eyes widened.
“You better,” she chimed in.
“I’ll be home every weekend, holiday, or any random days off. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you three.”
I felt so lucky to be surrounded by so much love.
TWENTY-TWO
PRESENT
