Hope you enjoy the chapter my lovelies!
———————————-
I run my hand over my red dress as I look in the mirror. "You look beautiful." My mom says from behind me. I turn my head to look at her in the doorway. I hadn't realized she was here.
"Mom," I say. "How long have you been home?"
She walks in and sits down on my bed. "Just now. It's just me, your dad is back in Denver. I forgot some paperwork for our client so I came home to grab it."
I nod, "So you're not staying?"
My mom shakes her head before changing the topic. "What's the occasion?"
"It's me and Dean's anniversary, he's picking me up any minute."
"How many years has it been now? Two or three?"
"Three." I remind her.
My mom stands up and has me turn to look in the mirror so she can fix my hair. "It's getting so long." She says as she runs her fingers through my curls. I look at my mom through the mirror, her hair is almost as long as mine. The only difference is she puts highlights in hers.
This is always the hardest part about my parents coming home. I know I could leave and when I come back they'd be gone again. A part of me wishes they were terrible to me and didn't care about me. I feel like it would be easier since they're never here.
The doorbell rings and my moms motions come to a stop. "That must be Dean, I'll get it." She walks out while I grab a cardigan and make my way downstairs.
Dean is by the stairs laughing with my mom. When he sees me his face lights up, "Doesn't she look amazing?" He asks my mom as he kisses my cheek. Dean is holding roses and hands them to me.
My mom giggles and just like that she's under his spell. He's always been so good with my parents. "You don't look so bad yourself." I compliment as I take the flowers and look at their beauty.
"I'll put these in water, you two go have fun." My mom says, shoeing us out.
We say goodbye to my mom and get to his car. He opens my door for me before getting inside, when he starts driving I ask, "Where are you taking me?"
He takes his eyes off the road momentarily to look at me and smile, "It's a surprise." About half an hour into our drive we finally come to a stop at a lake in the middle of nowhere. How he even found this place is beyond me. Dean gets out and jogs to the other side to let me out. Before I can take in my surroundings he pulls something out of his pocket. "Here, wear this." Dean demands softly, pulling the blindfold over my eyes. Just as I'm about to protest he assures me, "Don't worry, I'll guide you." He takes my hand and we begin walking. When we come to a stop Dean takes my blind fold off. I gasp at the sight in front of me. We stand at the end of the dock where the lake is lit up by the candles on the table. In between the candles is a single rose inside a small vase. "Do you like it?" Dean asks.
I walk over to the table and notice the bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne inside it. "This is amazing I-" I turn to Dean, "How did you do all of this?"
At my question Dean smiles and walks over to a chair. He pulls it out and gestures for me to sit. Once he's done he crosses the table to his side and sits down, "The champagne I found in my dad's liquor cabinet and everything else was put together pretty easily." Dean grabs the champagne and fills the two glasses on the table. I've never had champagne but I go along with Dean's movements.
I look over at the lake, "It's really beautiful out here." I admit.
Dean's gaze stays on me, "I know what you mean." He says softly. I feel a blush creep up on my face and turn my gaze to Dean.
"Can you believe it's been three years already?"
Dean shakes his head, "Not at all, I can still remember you struggling in the library like it was yesterday."
"I was not struggling." I defend bemusedly.
Dean laughs, "You totally were, you would've failed if it wasn't for me."
"My hero." I mock.
"Are you hungry?" He asks, pulling out a picnic basket filled with containers of food. "I brought salad and Alfredo tortellini with me with tiramisu for dessert." As he makes up the plates and we begin eating I'm surprised by how delicious everything tastes.
"Did you cook this yourself?" I ask.
"Yeah, what do you think?"
"I think it's amazing." I admit.
I've never known Dean to cook or do anything this romantic. It's a nice change from the constant movie nights and the fighting. In fact ever since that night Dean has been much different towards me. I'm no longer scared of what might happen if I make him mad. I set my fork down and give him my attention, "Can I ask how things have been going lately?" I feel weird bringing up therapy but whatever he's doing seems to be working.
Dean does deflect my question as he explains, "It's really good. Mr. Mathews has been helping me with my anger issues and I feel so much better lately. I'm really sorry about everything I've done to you, Livia. I just wasn't in a good place." His sincerity catches me completely off guard.
"I forgive you Dean." I know most people wouldn't take someone like Dean back but I can see a difference. "I don't think I need space anymore."
A smile spreads across Deans face, making my heart melt. "I'm really glad you said that because I have something to ask you." Nervousness bubbles inside of me as Dean stands and walks over to me. He grabs my hands and lowers himself to his knees. His smile doesn't falter as he begins to speak. "Livia Jade Gardner, I know we're young and stupid. I know I've made a million mistakes and I don't deserve you. Despite all of that you forgive me and I don't know what I would do without you."
"Dean I-"
He reaches inside his pocket and pulls out a silver diamond ring. "Before you say anything I've been thinking about this a lot. We don't have to get married right away, we can wait until after college if that's what you want. All I know is I want to marry you, Livia. So what do you say?"
I know I want to be with him, and when I look into his eyes I see the Dean I met in the library. This is the Dean I want to marry, "Yes!" I say as he laughs, slipping the ring onto my finger. It's a beautiful ring but the look on Dean's face is pure happiness. Dean reaches up and kisses me, I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back. The heat I used to feel is back, the need, the drive for him is all I feel as we kiss.
"I love you so much." He says on my lips.
I smile, "I love you too."
Jenny screams in excitement while Bee just stares at my ring, "I can't believe this." She whispers to herself.
"Me neither." I admit with a small laugh. "The more I think about it the crazier it seems."
Jenny shakes her head, "When are you getting married?"
I shrug, "We talked about waiting until after college." Becca lets go of my hand with a dumbfounded expression.
"So Jenny's pregnant and you're engaged. Where does that leave Luke and I?" She runs her fingers through her thick hair.
I honestly don't know where it leaves them, however, I also don't think it's a bad thing. "That leaves you two living your lives and having fun." Jenny chimes in.
I nod in agreement, "Yeah you guys have always been the normal couple of the group."
"I guess that's not so bad."
I adjust my pillow and turn to the girls, "Can we just take a second and think about everything that's happened in just a few months?" They look up at me, "I mean, we're not even half way through our senior year and so much has been going on."
Bee sits up, "Yeah, it's getting kind of hard for me to keep up."
"None of it matters as long as we're happy." Jenny chimes in. "You are happy right?" She asks me.
I think about how Shawn made me feel and how Dean treated me not that long ago. Dean used to make me happier than I've ever been but then Shawn got in my head and confused me. I got a taste of that happiness again last night on our date. "I am happy."
Just as Jenny is about to respond, my phone starts ringing. I walk out of my room and down the hall, "Hey Dean, what's up?"
"Nothing I'm just checking in on you. Have you told anyone?"
"Yeah, Jenny and Becca are here. They took it well. You?" I ask knowing he's probably with the guys.
Just then I hear Luke yell my name in confirmation, "Yeah...they know." He utters calmly. "I was actually thinking that we should tell your parents at Thanksgiving."
My hair falls in my face so I push it back, "I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, not yet anyway." I mentally slap myself for being so weird about it. I need to just explain how I feel.
Somehow he still understands me, "I get it, I just thought that-"
I caught him off, "I want them to know. I just feel like I need to be out of high school before we announce that I'm engaged." Even saying it is weird to me.
He clears his throat, "Oh okay well, I'll see you at school tomorrow."
My phone buzzes and I pull away to look at Shawn's name pop up, "Okay I'm getting another call anyway. I love you."
When he hangs up I answer the phone, "Hello?"
"Is this Livia?" A woman's voice asks on the other end.
"Yeah, who is this?"
"My name is Katherine, I'm Kevin's girlfriend." I try to think about all the Kevin's I know but come up short.
I start pacing in the hallway, "I don't know Kevin."
She laughs curtly, "Oh! You know him as Shawn Morgan. He's your history teacher right?" My heart starts pounding.
Shawn never told me he has a girlfriend let alone the fact that she knows about us. "Yes?"
What if that's the reason he was gone for three days, or the fact that he's been off lately. "He told me about you." She says it very matter of factly.
I freeze, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Livia please, save yourself the drama and stay away from him. He's not who you think he is."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well for starters you're not the first student he's taken interest in. He lied to you, made you feel special. We might have our problems but at the end of the day he's mine." Her words ring through my head as I hear a door in the background.
Then I hear his voice, "Is that my phone?" Shawn asks.
"I just needed to make a call." Katherine quips before hanging up.
Did Shawn really tell her about us? Has he been lying to me this entire time? I think back to the club when he said he was being stood up. If he was dating then is Katherine an ex he got back together with? So many things don't make sense but I'm sure as hell going to figure out.