Darcy and her father return back to their old stomping grounds of New York City. With her, Darcy brings habits of being reclusive. She is perfectly content spending most of her time within the walls of her father's café and sees nothing wrong with t...
"I'll love you forever and always, and even more after that, Papa," I vowed, squeezing him tight. Additional curious words formed on my tongue, but I held back. Would you tell me what it was like to love her?
This could go one of two ways: he closes off or he opens up. Most typically, it was almost never the latter, and I did not want to deal with the aftermath of souring the night because I tried to broach the subject. Instead, the two of us collected our emotions and stood to join the others. Fortunately, with our trial adjourned, the rest of the night was normal and wonderful. Jessica and Rebecca gushed at how their old hopeless romantic dreams of us being together one day had finally come true. Reece gave a speech accepting his award for best wingman. Mark had to extensively explain to Camryn that this in fact did not mean we were getting married, and Papa nearly walked out of the room saying he "won't be able to handle me in a white dress."
When given a ten minute warning before our departure from the Radley home, Chris excused us, saying that we were going to call our friends up on the rooftop before I had to go. I was grateful for the escape.
Up top, I closed my eyes and greedily inhaled the cool night air. I let the distant noises of the city and the sting of cold on my exposed skin ground me to the reality of what happened. The night's unfolding was the biggest sigh of relief after the afternoon's events.
From behind me, Chris wrapped his arms around my middle and rested his head in the space between my neck and shoulder. I shivered at the movement of his lips against my skin as he spoke.
"I'm sorry about today, Darce. I really don't get into fights – not like Reece when he was our age. Tony can mess with me, but I imagined him making trouble for you and for us in the future, and it just made me so fucking angry. But I shouldn't have picked a fight. I'm so sorry if I scared you."
"You're more lover than fighter, but I know you're both. That's what Reece taught you, isn't it?"
His smile was response enough, but his next words were coated in concern. "Is your dad mad at me?" When I shook my head, he perked and asked, "So, we're good then? It's okay we're together now?"
Those were my exact words to Papa earlier, and he couldn't have made me more emotional if he'd tried.
I turned in Chris's arms. Those beautiful eyes of his roamed my face, searching for the answer to my question on my features. When I reached up to cup his cheeks, those eyes dropped to my lips.
When I kissed him, I kissed him with the full force of Papa's words. As if I could communicate his lesson through lips and tongue and touch.
Yes, we can be together. We can be alive and in love, so let's cherish every moment together.
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Despite operating on a haze of drowsiness and elation, I did not forget the specific task I had set out for myself the moment I stepped back into our apartment building.
