Epilogue
Four Month's Later
"Lacie," Trent's mom coos rubbing my arm as she passes. "Always a pleasure to see you." She sends me a smile over her shoulder as she glides her way to the opposite side of the kitchen and I send her a big smile back.
I met Trent's parents a few months ago during spring break. Of course I was beyond nervous. I couldn't stop fidgeting the whole car ride there, but the second his mom smiled at me I knew everything was going to be fine.
I wouldn't say she's a very open person, but she's very kind and once I started to hang around the house more she became more genuine. She stands pretty tall and is curvy in places normal middle aged women are. Her dirty blonde hair fans out in layers behind her shoulders and she keeps two small diamond studs in her ears, in which she sometimes tugs on in habit. But I would definitely say that besides her height and hair color, the one thing Trent inherited from her is her bright green eyes.
His dad I met only three times because, like Trent mentioned, his job makes him constantly busy, but he seemed like a nice guy. He was just as tall, if not a few inches taller, than his wife with graying brown hair and brown eyes. So it seems that Trent got most of his looks from his mom, but the one thing he notably inherited from his dad was his grin. I'd be lying if I said it didn't freak me out when I saw them both grin at the same time.
Overall though when his parents stood next to each other I could tell that Trent definitely got lucky when it came to the gene pool.
Now when Trent met my parents for the first time I wouldn't say there was much of a difference except for the slight tension they had considering the events of our fall out. I couldn't really blame them though, them being parents and all. However at one point during the night Trent slipped up and called me vanilla in front of them, and when my mom called him out on it — he blushed.
Yes! Shocking I know. Trent Montgomery blushed — full blown, wide eyes, red cheeks blush and that was what officially won my parents over.
Also the second he walked through the door and introduced himself, he rendered Layla speechless which is rare. I wouldn't say she was ogling him the whole night, but that night when we were sitting in my room she told me that she was going to completely disregard high school guys and just wait for college in which I laughed in response.
I am very glad that she and my parents approved though.
I reach over the table and pick up a plastic plate as Trent reaches over from behind me following suit. However he gently hits the top of my head with it before proceeding to grab food. The chatter of our friends follows them as they head out the sliding glass door that leads to Trent's patio. The sun shines in through the glass proving just how nice the summer day is outside. I glance back down at the abundance of food in front of me seeing it's a mix between barbeque and just a plain old buffet.
Across the room the oven beeps and Trent's mom shoos Trent's dog away before opening it.
"Really? More food?" Trent asks incredulously staring at his mother as she pulls out a fresh batch of what appears to be chocolate chip cookies. Trent's mom shrugs placing the hot tray down and removing her oven mitts.
"We rarely have people over. I just wanted to make sure we had enough."
Trent snorts casting his gaze down to the table of food in front of him. "Oh, there's definitely enough." He glances back up in time for his mother to give him a stern look before she turns to me.
"Does he complain this much around you, or does he only do it around me?"
I give her an amused smile. "Oh, he complains all the time."
"I do not," Trent scoffs and aggressively plops food down onto his plate while his mother nods.
"Mmhm, so are you going to serve Lacie, or are you just going to get food for yourself?" She inclines her head towards me and when Trent just grumbles, she winks at me before turning back around. I smile to myself thinking that that's also probably where Trent got his wink.
Trent glances over at me over his shoulder. "Would you like some mashed potatoes?"
My nose scrunches up involuntarily. "No, thank you." I reach for some macaroni salad as Trent gasps. "What?" I ask glancing back over at him bemused and he brings a hand up to his chest.
"Why?" Is the only thing that comes out of his mouth and I resist the urge to laugh.
I shrug. "I don't like mashed potatoes." He shakes his head disapprovingly and I turn back around to scoop some food onto my plate.
So yeah, I hate mashed potatoes.
After I finish covering my plate with food, I go to take a step away from the table, but then feel something tickling my leg. I look down only to see its Bowser, Trent's bulldog.
"Hi, buddy," I smile down at him and then placing my plate on the table I bend down to pet his plump form. I graze my fingernails across the top of his white fur covered head a few times before he leans up and licks the side of my wrist.
And it turns out I'm not allergic to dogs.
"Okay, Bowser, that's enough." Trent pats his head for a second before nudging the dog away from me with his leg. "She's mine."
"Trent!" I stand back up giving him a crazed look.
"What?" He shrugs innocently with his plate in one hand.
"He's just a sweet little dog," I defend Bowser gesturing to his, almost depressed, retreating form as he waddles back over to his little dog bed. A pout forms on my lips and I take a step forward to go pet him again, but Trent sidesteps, blocking the dog from my line of vision.
"No, he's not sweet. He's a guy and," Trent taps a finger to the side of his head, "I know how guys think." I shake my head, folding my arms across my chest.
"Whatever you say."
Trent grins at my lack of a retort and grabs my plate off the table, balancing both of our plates in his hands. He walks over to the sliding door and I blow Bowser a quick kiss before following behind him. Walking out onto the patio Trent sets both our plates down at the last empty chair at the end of the table our friends are occupying.
"Oh look, the lovebirds are out," Zack says holding his plastic fork up before nudging Josh, who's sitting beside him. "I wonder what they were up to." He wiggles his eyebrows and I shake my head at him when he turns his suggestive gaze over to me.
Then a baby carrot smacks his cheek and I follow the direction it came from seeing it was Steph, who's nonchalantly stabbing a fork into her salad. It seems the table's divided, with Trent's friends on the left, and mine on the right. Trent drags another chair over and places it next to the empty one, in which I assume is for me. Then he turns and wraps his arms around me, pulling me to him.
He grins down at me through the sunlight and leans down, capturing my lips with his. This receives some 'boos' and whistles from the group making me pull back at little embarrassed. My eyes go down to the v-neck on Trent's chest as I feel my cheeks burn a darker hue. Before I can overanalyze anything though, something cold hits my cheek and I look down only to find a green pea caught in the strands of my hair.
"Zack!" I turn to him, giving him an accusatory look in which he grins, his boney shoulders rising up in response.
"Sorry I couldn't help it." He winks and I turn back to Trent holding the tiny green vegetable between my thumb and pointer finger. However when it suddenly disappears I look up only to see Trent chewing.
"Ew," I groan and scrunch my face up while Trent chuckles.
"Says the girl who doesn't like mashed potatoes."
"Hey," I slap a hand down onto his chest."It's not my fault my taste buds aren't compatible with the mashed up consistency of a potato." He just grins down at me and pulls me closer against him, leaning his forehead on mine.
"I love you," he says lowly only intending for me to hear and I smile back at him.
"I love you too."
Just like that, his lips are back on mine and our friends get louder with their protests.
"Ew, stop!"
"Get a room!"
"I'm trying to eat here!"
After a few seconds Trent and I pull back again and just stare at each other, grinning like fools.
From the moment I saw him somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that somehow, some way, my life was going to change. And all it took was one grin in my direction and I knew I was a goner.
So I, Lacie O'Conner, fell for Trent Montgomery.
Effortlessly. Hopelessly. Madly. Truly. And deeply.
Now are we going to be together forever? Well, that's just one thing only time will tell and I won't know the answer until that time comes.
But I do know that as of now we are just two crazy kids that fell in love.
And that's the truth.