I was having one of my bad days. I sat in my chair in band watching Cody from across the room, my heart aching. But then he caught my eye and winked at me. He jerked his head toward the door. I gestured to myself and mouthed "Me?" astonished that he had so much as made eye contact. He smiled my favorite smile and nodded. He got up and walked over the band director and asked if he could go to the bathroom. She nodded and he walked out the door.
My heart started pounding. I waited about a minute and then asked the teacher if i could be excused to the nurse.
"Sure, i hope you feel better." she said.
I walked out the door, shaking.
I was determined not to get my hopes up. He probably just wanted to tell me in a nice way to stop staring at him. But when i saw him standing there, it was impossible to supress the hope that bubbled up inside me.
Cody was standing down the hall a ways, leaning up against the wall on his side, grinning from ear to ear. At me. What was going on?
When I got close enough to him, he lifted my chin and leaned in to give me a long, soft kiss.
I kissed him back desperately as an explosion of joy brought tears to my eyes. But as soon as i could bring myself to pull away, I looked up at him, totally confused.
"What the heck did you do that for?" I asked incredulously.
"I was wrong, Leslie," he answered in a melodic voice. "I wanna be with you."
My heart felt suddebly whole again. A wave of unimaginable happiness flooded my body. But I still didnt beliebe this could be happening.
"Is this some kind of sick joke? What are you trying to do?"
"No, I'm serious," he replied, looking slightly hurt.
"You...want to...be with me?"
I choked out.
"Yeah," his grin came back. "I love you, Leslie."
"I love you...so much, Cody," I said between sobs.
He kissed the tears away from my eyes and took my hand.
"Let's get out of here. I know the perfect place we can go."
We made sure no teachers were around and snuck out the front door. He walked me to his car and opened the passenger door for me. Such a gentleman. We both got in and he took my hand and kissed it gently before starting the engine
The only thing i could do the whole ride was stare at his beautriful face with such astounding happiness that i thought i might burst. I didn't even pay attention to where he was taking me or how long it took until he stopped the car and smiled at me.
"Where are we?" i asked.
"You'll see," he replied, winking at me.
From what i could tell, we were out in the middle of nowhere, with woods to our left. Cody got out of the car and walked over to my side and opened the door. He led me into the woods. I was vaguely curious about why he was doing that but i didn't really care as long as i was with him.
He held my hand as we walked through the crunchy leaves, steadying me as i was so shaky with excitement.
After a few minutes, the trees cleared out to reveal the most beautiful place I'd ever seen.
We were in a large grotto, surrounded by picturesque vine-covered cliffs. A waterfall ran out of the grotto through a crack in the rock. Birds chirped softly and the sun shone down brightly, sparkling on the water.
More tears came to my eyes. I pressed my face into his chest and wrapped my arms around him. He held me tight, and in that moment, i felt complete and total contentment.
Later when i had calmed down a but he kissed me again. It was such a sweet, loving kiss that i knew then that all i wanted was him, forever.
Cody sat down on the grass and i laid down next to him. I felt his hand snake over and intertwine fingers with mine. i scooted closer to him and laid my head on his chest as he stroked my hair.
But then i heard a strange beeping noise, sortof like a cell phone. It grew louder and then i was drifting away.
