Thank you for making it so far. Here's a small token of my appreciation for the love and support you gave me.
💗
I glare at the cardboard box in front of me. It doesn't even budge. Nor splits all the things out of it. There are five more beside it, standing like soldiers standing in front of their colonel, yet to be opened.
"Stupid excuse of a boyfriend," I grumble under my breath. "Why did I say yes when he suggested that we should move in together?"
My eyes fall on the shining object around the ring finger of my left hand. A smile spreads on my face unconsciously as I find the answer of my question, despite the protests of my logical mind.
This ring belonged to Ashton's grandma. She gave it to him before passing away, telling him to give it to the right person.
The little four-year-old Ashton didn't understand a word his grandma said. But he took great care of the ring.
'I think I finally found my right person,' Ashton's proposal rings in my ears.
A single happy tear appears in the corner of my eyes. When Ashton officially asked me to be his girlfriend all those years ago, he freaked out in the middle of the proposal and started blabbering about ducks.
Fucking ducks.
It's been eight years since the whole incident and Ashton and I started to date. It wasn't easy. Specially in the beginning. Yet, here we are today. Finally moving in together. It was hard to settle down because of our jobs, but we made it possible. We made it.
A knock on the door behind me brings me back to reality.
"Come in," I turn around and find Sue, Miles's girlfriend, entering the room. She's holding two cups in her hands. They smell like coffee.
"Did you guys sleep well last night?" I ask her as she hands me one cup.
"Yes. Thanks for letting us stay."
"The pleasure's all ours." Miles was so excited about the get-together that he even forgot to book a hotel for themselves. So now they're staying with us for the weekend. "I was a bit surprised when Miles told me he was bringing his girlfriend with him. I never thought he would be able to make a girl fall for his nonexistent charms."
Sue giggles, blush appears on her cheeks. I sit on the bed beside her. Miles met Sue in Japan while making one of his documentaries.
They travel around a lot and were making a documentary on Jordan when Ashton and I called this welcome party. They didn't think twice before packing everything and coming back to the USA for the weekend.
Grisbee walks into the room and jumps on my lap. She has grown old now, but still furious as ever. It was unfair of my parents to send her off to live with us when they have the whole house all by themselves. But of course, having a cat around the house does invade their privacy.
"I haven't seen Miles and Ashton ever since the morning," Sue says. "Do you know where they are?"
I roll my eyes. "Miles said he was going to buy breakfast for us and Ashton said he was going to receive the last truck. But that was an hour ago. I bet they went off together somewhere."
Sue laughs as I frown. The doorbell rings right then. "It must be them," she says and gets off the bed to open the door. I follow after her.
The apartment isn't huge, there's two-rooms, a small living space, a kitchen, and a bathroom down the hallway. And there's a balcony within the living space. It's not that big but solves our purpose.
As I pass by the hallway where Ashton has hung our pictures, a particular one catches my attention. It's the picture mom has taken when Ashton came to pick me for our Senior Prom.
I was grinning at the camera while Ashton was staring down at me. A smile was playing in the corner of his lips. And the look in his eyes-
If this is not true love, then I don't know what else is.
We've been through hell and back in the last couple of years. Ashton and I were lucky enough to go to the same college unlike most of our friends. But after graduating from college, I've been moving from job to job, city to city, until I finally got this job offer in Texas where Ashton settled after college to complete his degrees. I didn't think we would be able to continue our relationship like this, but Ashton was very supportive the whole time.
Grace was finally able to gain her courage before the senior year ended and asked Owen out. What surprised us most was Owen didn't even blink an eye before saying yes.
It's amazing how we still have good connections with everyone and have to get-togethers at least a few times a year. Even Cora and Asher join us sometimes.
After we graduated from high school, Tristan, Promy, and Bonnie ran the newspaper committee. More students started to join in, especially after Emery, Ashley, and their friends were arrested. The committee is now more popular than ever.
Derek kept his words and never crossed paths with me or Ashton again. No one knows where he went after graduating from high school. As for his delinquent friends, nobody ever heard from them after they were released from juvie. The Garrett twins went back to school the next year, but the rest others are still MIA.
Sue opens the door and reveals Ashton and Miles, standing behind them are Grace and Owen.
Grace squeals and hugs Sue. "I'm so glad to finally meet you. Miles talks about you all the time." Her rainbow-colored hair bounces as she jumps up and down.
Taylor Swift inspires her a lot.
Both Miles and Sue turn red. Miles introduces Sue to everyone and we move to the living room.
Grace comes over and hugs me, or tries to. Hugging is a real challenge with her seven-month pregnant belly. Yes, she is pregnant. Both she and Owen had moved in together after graduating from college. They also decided to settle down in Texas so now four of us can spend more time together than others.
Grace's eyes fall on my ring. "You haven't given me the details yet."
I look across the room and my eyes meet Ashton's. He's grinning ear to ear.
Owen nudges him. "When's the wedding?" He asks. "Remember I'll be your best man, not Nyako or Miles."
"Well, the list of applicants is long, but I'll try to put your name somewhere in the list," Ashton tells him. "Buy me dinner sometimes and I will try to put your name in the top 20."
Owen puts a hand over his heart dramatically, making the rest of us laugh.
"What're you guys doing here at ten in the morning?" I ask them. "The invitation was for the dinner party."
Owen gasps again. "See babe? Told ya we aren't welcomed here," he fake sobs. "Is this how you plan to repay our friendship?"
I roll my eyes. Drama king. I still have no idea how he managed to major in Chemicals and survived four years in college without blowing the lab. And let's not bring up the hotshot company where he works as an academic researcher.
"Well, if you guys are planning to starve all day, not that I will mind, more for Sue and me," Miles says holding up the takeout bags.
Owen immediately stops throwing tantrums and grins, taking the bags from Miles. "Thanks, dude, I'm sick of Grace's cooking."
"Well, then why don't you cook instead of forcing me to do them?!" Grace yells after him. Owen replies to her with a flying kiss.
I laugh silently. Both of them are horrible when it comes to cooking. At least I have Ashton to take care of that.
As our friends leave, Ashton walks over to me and buries his face in my hair.
"Did I mention how beautiful you look today?" He mutters, kissing my hair.
I smile and pull back. "We both know this is not going to work."
His smile flattens a bit. "My boss got me held up in a phone call."
I raise a brow. "You mean the boss who's out of the country for his second honeymoon with his wife?"
"My other boss?" But the tips of his ears say otherwise. They always turn red when Ashton tries to lie to me, like now.
"You were gone for a whole damn hour leaving me with all the work." I try to stay mad at him but he hits my sweet spot making that innocent-guilty face.
Ashton wraps his arms around me and lowers his mouth to my ears. "So tell me, girl, if every time we touch, You get this kind of rush, Baby, say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah..." he sings.
A smile creeps on my face and I wrap my arms around his neck. Trying to stay mad at him never works anyway. I stand on tiptoe and kiss his cheek. "You're lucky that you're adorable."
This cracks his facade. "You mean sexy?" He asks arrogantly.
"I mean cute," I say pinching his cheek. This bruises his manly ego-if he has any- as he pouts.
"Whatever," Ashton says, taking my hands in his. "C'mon, I want to show you something."
He takes me to the room where Miles and Sue are staying. Boxes are laid everywhere. Moving is a bitch I'm telling you.
Ashton's eyes search around the room as they fall on the large box in the corner and he goes over to open it.
"Ashton what are you..." My voice dies as he turns around with a poster in his hands.
The High School Survival Theory. My eyes start to move down. 'Life is never easy. Specially when you're a high schooler. You can-'
I turn my gaze at Ashton. "How did it get here?"
He shrugs. "Your mom must have sent along with your other belongings. Miles and I were talking about it and lost the track of time-" his eyes turned wide. "God! I'm such an awful fiancé, you might not even want to see it ever again-don't worry I'll just throw-" he stops when he hears my laugh.
"You're laughing?"
I walk over to him and wrap my arms around him. "Sorry but you look so funny," I say while trying to contain my laugh.
Ashton blinks. "So you're not mad at me?"
I shake my head. "Why would I be mad at you?" I pull back and look at the survival theory closely. "It was really ridiculous, right?"
He nods. "Yeah, like those cheesy movies where the heroines make a checklist and then boom!"
I giggle. "Then I'm lucky to have you to bring me back to reality."
"We should be actually grateful to Emery for that, if it wasn't for the stunt he had put we would never have got to know each other."
He takes the survival theory from me. "What're you going to do with it?"
The corner of his lips turns up as he replies to my question, "I'm going to save it for our grandchildren. They need to know what their grandmother once was." The looks in his eyes say he'll do worse if I dare to object.
"There's a Nikon in the box too. The one you hid inside your old room's closet and thought no one noticed." He turns to me. "Is there a story behind it too?"
I take a deep breath. This day was supposed to come up sooner or later. "Yes," I choke a split and continue, "I wanted to be a professional photographer and travel around the world before shits happened and I decided to aim for something more serious."
"But being a photographer doesn't make your job less important," says Ashton.
I smile a little. "I know that now."
"Do you regret your decision?" Ashton asks after a while.
I shake my head. "I love my job," I tell him. "Being a sports journalist has its perks you know. I get to stay with you in the offseason while traveling around the country during the games."
Ashton nods and kisses my temple. "I just want you to be happy with whatever you do." His breath tickles against my skin.
"How about you? Do you regret studying medicine to impress my dad?" I tease him.
After dating me for a few months and being around my dad a lot, Ashton's attitude towards doctors has changed. A new admiration for them was born inside him and he decided to become one himself.
Dad was almost in tears when Ashton told him this.
"I didn't study medicine to impress your dad, he loved me anyway," Ashton scoffs.
"Even though you didn't take biology in your senior year?"
There's it again. Red tipped ears. Ashton changes the topic by pulling me in a kiss.
"As long as I get to stay with you," he breathes against my lips. "I'm happy with anything."
I press my lips together. Studying in medical school is not a child's play. But I've never seen Ashton this determined about school. And I like this newly nerdy version of him. Especially those spectacles that he likes to pretend he doesn't need.
But now that we're going to live together, I'll get to see them every once in a while.
"What're you thinking?" Ashton raises a brow. I shake my head and chuckle. Ashton narrows his eyes and leans in for another kiss, only to get interrupted by the doorbell.
He groans and leaves to open the door, revealing the rest of our friends and families.
"There you are," Ezra says when he sees me. I walk over to them to hug him and Chris. Few months after the newspaper scandal, Ashton gathered his courage and introduced his family to all of our friends. They all were a bit shocked at first because Ashton hid it all this time but warmed up eventually.
Mom comes over and kisses my cheek. "Missed you like so much sweetie."
"You too mom."
"Is Ashton treating you well?" Dad asks me.
"Will," Mom warns. Dad grins and kisses her on the cheek.
Don't take this the wrong way, Dad likes Ashton. A lot. But he also loves to scare the life out of him.
My eyes move to the other side of the room. Ashton is talking with Nyako and Owen. Much to everyone's disappointment, none of them continue their sports career after high school. Nyako is the only one of them who went back to our hometown after graduating from college to inherit his father's business emperor.
Ashton's eyes meet mine and he nods with a dashing smile.
"Hey soon-to-be-big-sis," Riley greets me. She has grown to a pretty smart and beautiful girl, just like her brother-minus his playboy ways; which turned out to be a rumor (mostly) spread by gossip in our school.
"How's high school treating you?" I ask Riley.
"Don't even make me start," she groans.
I chuckle. "You'll get used to it."
As everyone moves towards the kitchen, my eyes fall on the open creak of the storeroom. The survival theory is laying there on the floor.
Ashton comes from behind and wraps an arm around me. He doesn't notice me looking at the survival theory. "The landlord will probably kick us out," he jokes.
I turn to face him. "Then it's good that we haven't finished unpacking yet."
Ashton throws back his head laughing and kisses my temple. "God I love you so fucking much Snow."
"Love you more Ass-ton." He groans at the nickname and leans down to kiss me. We break apart when Miles calls us.
"Let's go," Ashton links our hands. Giving the survival theory one last glance, I walk inside the kitchen with Ashton. Our friends are fighting over the only pepperoni pizza. Jason tries to calm them down but who's going to listen to him? It's pepperoni with extra cheese after all.
Ashton looks down at me and we laugh.
This all happened because of that one High School Survival Theory.
The doorbell rings again when we're halfway through lunch. "I'll get it," I tell everyone getting up from the stool.
When I open the door, I find Kat standing on the other side.
"Hey, you're late," I say hugging her with a smile.
"I know." She hugs me and pulls back. "But guess whom I've brought with me?" A tall figure appears behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.
The smile on my face drops when I recognize him.
Well, it's a story for another time.
📸
Thank you all for making it to the end. This book couldn't have been possible without your unconditional love and support. I had fun writing this book. I hope it has left a pretty good impression on you too. Every read, vote, and comment of yours made this book possible. Vote on every chapter if you enjoyed reading it. Also share this book with your friends and followers.
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