Through the Dark | ✓

Nineteen

Dinner was full of delicious food and laughs. Apparently Michael had hired a maid for the day so Joy and Jeffrey could get their day off, so she went on and cleared the dining table.

"Okay, now that we're done with dinner, I have a little surprise for our graduates." Michael pulled out a piece of white paper from his pants pocket and unfolded it. He cleared his throat before reading out loud what it said, "I know that you both went through a lot these past 4 years to finally be able to graduate, so I wanted to give you both a vacation. But when it came to planning where I would like to send you guys, I couldn't just choose one location so I chose multiple." He placed his finger on the paper, "you'll be going to Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, New York, Orlando, London, Dublin, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Tokyo, Sydney, Rio De Janeiro, Puerto Rico and Mexico City."

"Wait?" Danielle says standing up from her chair, her heart dropped hearing the entire list, "are you serious?"

Michael smiles at her question, "yes, you guys leave in two weeks."

She looks over at Ethan, who seems to share her same reaction. She practically ran up to Michael and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you thank you." She couldn't help the tears that escaped from her eyes, her family never bought her anything, so this gift was something she would've never expected receiving in her life.

Michael grabbed her and held her at arms length, "don't cry darling."

"It's just that I've never had someone care for me as much as you all do." She turns to look at Ethan, Jeffrey and Joy.

"You're part of this family now," Michael says, Danielle's heart skipped a beat when she heard those words. More tears came out and she hugged him one more time, but harder than before.

Ethan couldn't help the smile that appeared when he saw Dani so happy. He will be traveling the world with the girl he loves. Yes, he loves her! All the other girls he used to play around with were easy to get because they practically threw themselves to him. He was a total asshole before, but everything changed after his leg got cut off. The girls stopped throwing themselves to him after the accident. But Danielle has always been different, she never ignored him, instead she accepted him the way he is and how he looks. Which may be the reason he began getting feelings for her.

"Ethan." Danielle said with a showing-teeth smile, and approaching him with opened arms.

He put his arms out and held her close, inhaling her beautiful scent of roses.

"Did you know about this?" She asked him when they parted.

He smiled, "no, I just found out as well." He looks over at his dad, "thank you dad."

"You're welcome, but don't give me all the credit. Joy and Jeff helped me with choosing the locations and have been making the calls to reserve your hotels and flights."

Both Danielle and Ethan walked over to them and gave them each a big hug.

"I suggest you guys begin packing so you know what you will need so we can go shopping. You need everything for a 3 month trip."

"3 months?" Ethan asked.

Michael's smile grew, "yes, you'll be spending 6 days in each city."

Dani was completely overwhelmed with this enormous gift. She was very thankful for her new family.

"Now go on to your rooms, make your checklists."

Dani and Ethan both walked up the stairs, whispering how happy they were and how they would be spending 3 months all over the world.