High School Sweetheart

Chapter 22

It was bad judgement.

That's all that it was.

We decided to drive across the country instead of flying.

Well to start, it was a stupid decision.

But it really let us have time together.

We slept in the back of the new car that Alex and I bought. We traded in my bike and bought the bigger car. Alex had the idea, and I wasn't really on board with it. I love my baby. I got it a couple years back and it looked brand new, because I took care of it so well. 

Putting down the back seats and placing blankets and pillows all around, we lay down in the back of my car, a Chevrolet Equinox.

"You know, I think we should have flown instead of drove across the country" I whisper to Alex. We lay on our sides, inches away from each other's face.

Alex moves closer to me, so we're centimeters away from each other's face.

"I like this. Just me and you, not fifty other people. I like being this close to you" Alex says. I smile and kiss her nose.

"I like it just being us too" I say. "You know, there isn't any other person I would rather spend my life with" I say, and sit up. I reach into my bag and pull out the small box with the pearl necklace in it.

She cocks her head at me, causing her hair to fall off to one side. I open it and show it to her.

"This is the pearl that I thought was the most beautiful, for the most beautiful girl I bought it in a necklace. I hope you like it" I say, and hand it to her.

"But..." Alex said, obviously without any words.

"It's because I want to marry you, Alex. And until I get a ring and actually propose, I have to let you know that I do intend on marrying you. Maybe it's tomorrow. Maybe it's in a couple years. But I do want to marry you" I say, and her eyes water.

"Tobin" Alex wipes a tear and carefully takes the silver out and puts it on. She admires the pearl with silver around it. "It's beautiful"

"Like you" I say softly. She unexpectedly launches herself at me and smashes our lips together. I gasped at her eagerness, but pull her even closer.

"You're so perfect, Tobin" Alex whispered against my lips, and we lay back down, Alex nuzzled her face into my shoulder.

"You're the really perfect one" I say.

"Nothing can beat perfection" Alex counters.

"Nothing but you" I smirk, knowing I had won.

"Alright alright you win, but you have to admit you are pretty great" Alex says.

"Just great?" I ask.

"Amazing" Alex says.

"Just amazing?" I ask again.

"The next best thing to a parfait!" Alex exclaims, and I laugh, kissing her forehead.

"I'm just teasing babe" I whisper. Alex laughs.

We fell asleep to the sounds of the world around us, not caring what happened as long as we were still together. After a couple hours, I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. So instead of just laying there and doing nothing while insomnia took over, I decided to continue the drive to Florida State University. It was four in the morning and dark on the highway, with the occasional street light glowing. I decided to take it easy because Alex was asleep and unbuckled in the back.