Forever & Always

Chapter 12

**Two Weeks Later**

My relationship with Shane had progressed nicely to say the least. We had gone on a bunch of dates and I was really opening up to him. More than I had ever with anyone and the best part was that it felt so right because he was one of my first best friends, which are the people you tell everything to anyway. 

We sat on the beach that night, on a blanket, my head in his lap, Shane playing guitar softly as the waves crashed against the shore in front of us. At this time of night, the only light was coming from the pier and most people were off the beach, with the exception of a couple of teens further down the beach that were smoking a couple of joints. It was so calming just the two of us, and I wiggled in a little closer into the crook of the cross in his legs. He stopped playing suddenly and sighed. I was getting a little drowsy to be honest. 

"That was really nice," I said, looking up at him and smiling. 

He leaned down and softly kissed me upside down. We laughed together at how strange it was trying to kiss upside down. Seriously, like Spider Man made it look enjoyable, when in reality, it's super fucking weird. I laughed, thinking about how different this whole thing was from what I expected it would be. I never thought I would be in one of those lovey-dovey relationships. People kissing upside down on the beach would make me vomit. But here I was, lovestruck like a fool. 

"So, I can only assume you're looking at colleges already," he started. I sat up and frowned at him. 

"And what makes you say it like that, may I ask?" I asked falsely defensive. 

He laughed seeing he got me riled up. "Well, you plan everything, and don't try denying that to be true. I just know that you said you wanted to go for music and I was wondering what you've got on your mind." He ruffled my hair a little. "I can't read minds. Sometimes, I just want to know what's going on in that head of yours."

I fixed my hair, with a mopey frown on my face, making him laugh at my childish behavior. "Laugh all you want, but plans help you out in the long run," I defended. "Think about how lost we would all be if we were just improvising every part of our day, every day." 

Shane held up a finger to cut me off. "But isn't that technically what we do every day?" 

I frowned. "What do you mean?" I asked.

He set the guitar down next to him and fixed his t shirt. "Are you telling me that in the course of your every day life, everything always goes the way you plan it to?" 

God, I hated being word played. He continued. "For example, did you plan on the two of us getting together at some point this year, or was your goal to make it through the year hating me until you never had to see me again?" 

I shrugged, looking away from him for a second. He had a point there. I didn't really have a plan when it came to Shane. There was no way of making a plan with him. He was unpredictable, which was mostly why I liked him. I made my life as planned as it is. I preferred it that way because, call me a control freak, but I'd like to know what's happening in my life. I hated surprises. So far, the only decent surprise was when Chris came home. Everything else, my dad's affair, us moving to Florida for my mom's new job, hadn't been what I would call positive surprises. Not like getting  a present on your birthday kind of surprise, that's for damn sure. 

"Fine, you got me! I had no idea this was going to happen between the two of us. Though, I did figure that at one point, we would talk about the whole childhood friends thing." 

He laughed. "You'd think. That would be the practical thing." 

"Exactly!" I said. "And what is so wrong with practicality?!"