Bay City Runaway

Chapter 18

"Look," I said. "I want to be with you. I've been hoping that all semester. My friends have been helping me try to get you back. They think we belong together...and so do I."

We walked in silence for a few minutes, she took my hand, and we walked some more.

When we got to the restaurant, I stopped at the door.

"James, if we do this, that's it. There will be no more Staceys. There will be no more other boys for me. There will be no more you and me...we will be an us. Do you understand?"

I understood. It's what I'd wanted all along. I never wanted to share her with another boy to begin with. I never wanted her to leave Oklahoma to go to that college, but I could see now that all of that needed to happen. We couldn't be together like we were in high school again. We couldn't date in the summers casually anymore. We were becoming adults. We were adults now. This needed to be an adult relationship.

"I feel like I've wanted this my whole life, Laura. This is what I want. I want to be with you, and nobody else."

"Are you sure, James?"

But I didn't say anything else. I took her by the hand and our fingers intertwined. Our eyes met. I kissed her gently on the lips.

"James. I love you," she said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

And even though we'd said that to each other a hundred times, it never meant what it meant right then in that moment.

"I love you, too," I said.

"Ok, then. Let's get some burgers."

As we ate and talked and laughed, I felt a rush of euphoria and relief. I didn't realize how tied up in knots my stomach had been on a constant daily basis until then. I felt like I could truly breathe again.

After lunch, I drove her back to my apartment, put on some music, and we made love. We took our time with it. We knew each other's bodies so well, but it was different; it meant something more than it had ever meant before. There was something in the way we looked at each other in the eyes--so deeply and assuredly...with a sense of eternity.

Afterward, we snuggled in my twin bed, naked and under the covers.

I turned to face her, and she did the same.

Perhaps it was just an impulse. Perhaps I'd been hoping to say it for months or years. I'll never be sure, but I said it without hesitation and without a second thought. "Laura, will you marry me?"

She didn't blink. She didn't flinch. She put her hand on my face, kissed me, then nodded.

"Then say it," I said.

"Yes, I'll marry you, James Michael Roberts."

In a fit of glee, I rolled on top of her and kissed her madly on the lips and face. I wasn't sure if this was all a big surprise like I would never have expected this to happen today, or whether it was fate and it was always going to happen this way. Either way, I was ecstatic about it until a thought struck me. I stopped and said, "Your dad. I need to talk to your dad."

"Like, to ask his permission?"

"I dunno. Like, shouldn't I talk to your dad?"

"I don't need his permission to marry. This isn't 1955."

"No, but what about his blessing. I mean, we'll get married no matter what, but wouldn't it be a considerate thing to ask his blessing?"

"That's up to you. You're right," she said, rolling off me. "He would appreciate it. Then we can tell all the parents."