I leaned into his chest and cried as I wrapped my arms around him.
“Lily bell why are you crying?”
“Jace, I feel like one day I’m going to wake up and you’ll be gone. I’m scared to go to rush camp, because I don’t know if you’ll be here when I return.”
“Lily, if it is within my power, I will be. Don’t give up on me. Expect what you want and somehow I know it will be fine. You are keeping me where I am. Believe that with all your heart. Promise me.”
“Okay, I will promise you. I expect you to be here when I get back.”
“Then I will be.”
He gave me his best Jace smile and I knew it would be okay for now. I wondered what he meant by I am keeping him where he is. It was like I was a mission or something. It always seemed that way to me. I didn’t quite understand that, but I let it go. I didn’t want to waste any time I had with him on something I didn’t understand.
The next Monday I left for a week long rush camp in Savannah, Georgia. Brianna’s grandparents owned a little bed and breakfast there. They allowed her to use the place because this was a slow month for them. Chelsea, me, and Jillian rode with Brianna. Our caravan of about six cars, each having a sign with our sorority letters on it, made our way to Savannah, Georgia to the Bremlin Bed and Breakfast. It was beautiful.
I had always heard that Savannah, Georgia was a beautiful old southern city lost in the modern society. They had their own ways about them and it screamed old south, like Gone with the Wind old south or at least where her grandparents bed and breakfast was. There were porch swings all around the wrap-around porch, weeping willows scattered the lawn around the edge, a huge brick barbeque pit was in the back and the beautiful charm of an antebellum south two-story mansion held its grace. There were ten rooms and five bathrooms. Each room held two double beds or four twin-size beds. I brought my camera and took pictures so Jace could see how beautiful this place was. I thought of him and my heart ached and I felt tears fighting to come to the surface. I didn’t try to fight them back; I knew I would feel better if I cried. Today was free day and we were given free reign of what we wanted to do. I decided to write Jace a letter and mail it to him. Wouldn’t he be surprised? I sat on one of the porch swings and began writing.
Dear Jace,
I sit here in this beautiful place and I think of you. My heart aches because you are not with me. I love you more than words can ever say. I wish you were here so I could share the beauty of this place with you, but since you’re not I am taking pictures to share with you when I come home. It feels like I am a million miles away from you and I cannot phone you. This place only has a pay phone. I didn’t bring enough quarters. I wish I had. Just hearing your voice right now would make me feel so much better. I hope you are keeping your promise to me, that you will be there when I come home, because I am counting on that. Every moment I am away from you feels like an eternity and we still have four days to go. Good Lord willing we will be home Friday afternoon and I fully expect you to be standing there waiting on me when I pull into the driveway. We have to go back to college in a week and then Rush is on, the rush to get everything ready. I look forward to the times on the quad with you and me just sitting on our blanket and watching people. I will feel better knowing that all I have to do is pick up the phone and call you. I love you. I will see you soon.
Yours Forever,
Lily Grace
I folded the letter and addressed it and mailed it off that next day at lunch. It would probably get there Thursday. Today though was only Tuesday. We still had three more days to go. I was glad that Rush practice kept us so busy. That gave me less time to think of Jace, although he was still in the back of my mind and at the forefront of my heart. Our schedule was rigid and packed. Chelsea had definitely done her job. We barely had time to breathe. We actually had to exercise before we began to get our muscles warmed up, because some of the dance steps were rigorous. If I didn’t know better I would have believed Chelsea was bringing some of her dance line training into our skits. The more I thought about it the more I realized that is exactly what she was doing, but that is also why we always had a huge number of girls wanting to be an ADPi. Some of them lasted and some of them didn’t but we had so many. Each night we were tired and barely able to keep our eyes open through dinner. It was amazing to see that many college girls all get in bed by nine o’clock at the latest, but we also had to get up at the crack of dawn to start practicing.
It went that way the whole week and then Friday dawned, and although we were up, Chelsea, as well as Mrs. Harper, and Sydney went easy on us because we had done such a tremendous job that week. We ran through each skit one last time and it was almost perfect. Chelsea had written up—well told me to write up—the schedule for the week before rush week and she had copies made and gave one to each of us.
“Sisters, don’t lose these, they will be your lifeline the week before Rush. I am proud of all that we have accomplished this week and I will see you in two weeks. Get ready! We are going to have the best Rush yet!” We all cheered and then went to get our things; we had to check out by ten.
We all thanked Brianna’s grandparents for the use of their place and packed up the car and traveled home. I couldn’t wait to see Jace, and Chelsea, Jillian, and Brianna were looking forward to seeing their guys too. We also couldn’t wait to get back into the normal routine of a typical college day and that would only be one more week.
I had left my car at Brianna’s house and so had Chelsea and Jillian. So they would be ready for us to get into and head home. I thanked Brianna and jumped in my car after I pulled my stuff out of her trunk and threw it in mine. In twenty minutes I would see Jace. I had to keep myself from speeding home. I pulled into my gravel drive and creeped my way slowly down the road and turned into my driveway and there was Jace and Ally too. He held up the letter that I had mailed him and as soon as I parked he was at my door about to rip it off the hinges. We couldn’t get to each other fast enough. He pulled me out of the car and I jumped up and wrapped my arms and legs around him as he spun me around. You would think we hadn’t seen each other in a year instead of a week.
“Oh Lily, I missed you so bad. I didn’t think it was possible to miss you that much.”
“Jace, I missed you too. I missed you so much it hurt. Don’t ever let me go.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” He let me down and then we kissed more passionately long than we ever have before. He pulled away gently and mouthed “no regrets”. I understood what he was saying as Ally cleared her throat really loudly. I almost forgot she was there.
“Well sis what am I the evil witch with a wart on her nose?”
“No, Ally, I missed you too.” I went to her and hugged her.
“I’m glad you’re home. He (pointing to Jace) has been bugging me and Connor to death.”
“Where is Connor? I don’t see his car.”
“He went to get him some lunch. I had already eaten by the time he came over and Jace had too.”
I looked at Jace. “How long have you been here?”
“About two hours. I was hoping you had left early.”
“You were able to bug my sister to death in a matter of two hours? I think that’s a record.”
“Well I just missed you so much and according to this (he held up the letter) you fully expected me to be waiting in your driveway when you drove up. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
I kissed him again. “Definitely no disappointment here.”
“Good, so what do you want to do first?”
“Can you help me unpack my car?”
“I most surely can.” I popped the trunk and he carried my suitcase and overnight bag into the house. Two more weeks and then our junior year of college would begin.
* * * * * * *
We were sitting on my deck stairs. That last week of regular summer went by fast and by the time it came for me to leave again he couldn’t stand it. “I can’t be without you Lily, I am comi
ng with you.”
“Jace, the only dorms open right now are the dorms with sororities in them, where are you going to stay?”
“I’ll stay at the fraternity house. It’s only for a week, well, actually three days. They are opening campus Thursday. Then I can get into my room. Do you mind?”
“Do I mind if I get to see you during a week I normally wouldn’t have, now that is a stupid question?”
“Good, I was hoping you would say that.”
“Why would you doubt that?”
“I don’t know; I feel like I am bugging you to death.”
“Why?”
“It’s just I have never felt this way about anyone before and I want to spend every waking hour with you. I would even be driving me crazy.”
JOKINGLY, I said, “Well then why don’t you just marry me Jace and get it over with?” (Although I wanted nothing more in the world than that.)
He actually thought about it. “You know, I could find me a job and a place and we could get married and I could finish college later.”
I looked at him dumbfounded. “Are you serious?”
“Well, yeah I’m serious. I love you, Lily, I can’t imagine my life without you.”
Then I found myself saying no to him. “Jace, we can’t do that right now. We both need to finish college and then find jobs and then maybe, but you know as well as I do we can’t do that now.”
Reality hit him in the face as his smile dropped, and was replaced by defeat. I never would have thought what was to be.
“Yeah, you’re right; we can’t get married right now. I just wish there was a way.” He looked up to the sky and choked up as tears came into his eyes. He didn’t want me to see that I guess, even though I did anyway. It was as if his heart just broke. It scared me the way he reacted.
“Jace, what is it?”
He looked deep into my eyes. “Do you promise to stand by that pact we made at the beach before you left for rush camp, no matter what?”
“Yes, I promise with all my heart to stand by that pact. I love you, Jace. I cannot imagine my life without you.”
His answer was strange. “I sincerely hope you never have too.” The way he answered made tears well in my eyes.
“Lily Grace, please don’t cry; I never want to be the reason for your tears.”
“Then stop saying things like that, Jace. They seem so final. We promised to make the most of the time we are together. All that makes me feel is we don’t have any time left, almost like you are going to break up with me or something.”
“Well you are very wrong there. I‘m afraid you’re stuck with me for the rest of my life.”
He never mentioned the rest of my life. I tried to skirt around that and pretend that it was just a confusion of words, although something nagged at me that he meant it. I just wish I knew what he meant by it. I couldn’t fathom the possibilities it held. I didn’t want to.
Chapter 7
RUSH—anyone that has ever been a part of this yearly Sorority event knows what I mean when I say hectic and exhausting. Each night I would go to bed right around ten when I really wanted to be in bed by nine, but Jace and I needed to see each other. It renewed me to an extent, but I would be so glad when Rush was over.
Jace stayed at the fraternity house for the next three days after I went back. Thursday the bookstore opened and after morning Rush practice Jace met me and he and I went to buy our books for the next semester. He worked during the summer, part-time, for his Dad's business to buy his books and things. It was an architecture firm. That is what Jace did every summer. He made pretty good money too. He assisted on drawing plans and things like that.
* * * * * * *
He and his dad were a great team. They were really close. That was a big thing with Jace, his family. He was close to all of them. I could tell too. It made me love him that much more, because family was a big thing with me too. Sometimes when Jace and I were together he would talk about his plans for us and I loved hearing them, but I always wondered in the back of my mind if those plans would ever come to be. He said he couldn’t wait to be Ally’s big brother. That is how we spent much of our time, making the most of each moment we had together. Dreams are beautiful, but sometimes you chase them and can’t catch them, because they are gone so soon.
* * * * * * *
RUSH WEEK—Jace knew that I would be busy until about nine every night, but he requested that I save him at least an hour each night. We would spend that hour either on the quad or walking the campus, even though I was exhausted. I felt, however, that I owed him that much, because even though I was busy with Rush, I knew he was sitting in his room or at the fraternity house missing me as much as I missed him. Thank goodness Rush Week was almost over.
The final Rush, the big choice day, Jace had called me and asked me to come by his room when I came back from the Pledge party at Jessi’s house. All rushees were on the quad along with every sorority. This was a big deal; people even came to watch, especially the guys from the fraternities, all the fraternities, and Jace was front and center and it was hard to keep my mind on what was going on, I was nervous about our meeting later. I thought he had finally decided to break up with me. I tried not to think about that. It was Chelsea’s turn to call our choice girls. She called out twelve names and each of the girls seemed so excited to be chosen by us, the First and Finest, plus we were a really nice down-to-earth group. ADPi’s were known for that.
After the excitement died down we all took our cars to Jessi’s house. Each car was required to take at least one pledge; they were not allowed to drive themselves, so ten cars pulled up in Jessi's monstrous driveway that went with her monstrous house. It was beautiful. They had a pool and everything. It reminded me more of a country club than a house. Her Dad was a doctor.
This was a get-to-know-you party. We were supposed to make small talk with the new girls and get to know who they were. It ended up being fun, but the pressure was tremendous. I was truly glad when it was all over, but nervous about seeing Jace later. By the time we made it back it was around five o’clock. Chelsea went to see Ty, Brianna went to see Dave, and Jillian went to see Mike.
I brushed my teeth and made my way across the quad to see Jace. I still had my ADPi jersey on from the party. I walked in and Jace was waiting on me. “Took you long enough, I saw Brianna, Jillian, and Chelsea and then expected to see you right behind them and you weren’t. I thought you might have decided against coming.”
“Jace cut the small talk, what’s this about.”
He grinned. “Come walk with me.” He took my hand and led me out of the dorm and across the quad. I felt a little less nervous. He had a smugness about him and I knew he had something up his sleeve. We walked across to the education building and sat on the picnic bench where we did that night back in March when we began. We had been together seven months. “Lily Grace can I see your chain?” I wore a gold rope chain around my neck that held my ADPi lavaliere. I pulled it up out of my shirt and showed it to him.
He laughed. “Would you mind taking it off for a minute?” I did and he slid the A∆π lavaliere off of my chain and gave it to me. “You know I don’t wear jewelry, but I want you to wear this.” He slid his ∆X lavaliere onto my chain in its place and put it back around my neck.
I started crying. “Do you mean it?”
“Yes, I do. I am yours and you are mine. I love you, Lily Grace.”
“I love you too, Jace.” We sat there for a moment in each others’ arms.
He had committed himself to me and I was thrilled beyond all imagination. As the days went by things just seemed to get stronger between us, we never went back on our pact to make the most of each moment we had together. We spent Thanksgiving together and Christmas break. My parents loved him and my little sister Ally just adored him. He was very good to her. His parents loved me too, but had since March of last year at our spring break retreat at Seaside. This year though we were not having a retreat during spring break, but his par
ents had still planned to go to the beach. They invited me and Ally and Dave.
* * * * * * *
Dave needed a break away from campus; he and Brianna had broken up and it really hurt him, because he had fallen for her. I didn’t know why at first, but I was the one he came too, although I understand that fully now. At that time, he claimed he just needed a friend, whom knew Brianna well, to talk through things with. I thought he was looking for a few answers, and Dave and I had become really close since Jace and I had been together. I thought I helped him understand the reasoning behind it.
Brianna had been trying to transfer to Samford University because of their law program there—she was working towards becoming a lawyer. She finally received her acceptance letter and knew she was going to have no time for a social life once she started on her law degree. She was not as in love with Dave as he was with her, but she cared enough about him to set him free so he could find someone who felt the same way about him. All I can say to that is “WOW”.
Ally needed some time away too. She knew her time with Connor was coming to an end. It was March and he was trying to prepare her for their parting. They had both mutually decided that since they were both going to be on two separate ends of the state that they would part ways and date others and that if they were meant to be, they would be in the end. I was so proud of my little sister. That was a very mature decision that she had made, and although it hurt her, she knew it was for the best.
Dave and she became friends that time during spring break and they had some fun together, but she was the same age as his little sisters so that is what he viewed her as, just another little sister. I thought it was sweet. My boyfriend and one of my best friends absolutely adored Ally, but I have to admit she is absolutely adorable. Cute, cheerleader with dark brown ringlet curls, petite and loved life, still does. No one was ever a stranger to her or has ever been a stranger to her. I sometimes worried about her, as little as she was. She was tough though. I just hoped that when she went to college she would not run into a Chance. I would have to kill him then, something told me Jace and Dave would be right behind me too if that ever happened.
Years of Summer: Lily's Story Page 8
