by Ivy Smoak
"It'll blow over. I'll report your professor myself. We can figure this out."
"I need this, Melissa. It's what I want to do."
"But I don't want you to move." She ran over to my bed and hugged me. "What am I supposed to do without you?"
"I told you, we can still hang out all the time. Every weekend if you want. And you have Josh."
"But he's graduating next semester. I don't want to be here all alone for two years. You're the only friend I've really made. You're right, everyone else here sucks." Melissa laughed. Her phone started buzzing and she released me from her hug. "You made me smudge my makeup." She lightly pushed my shoulder and grabbed her phone off the dresser. "It's James." She looked back at me.
"My James?" I looked down at my phone. I didn't have any missed calls or texts from him.
"What other James do I know? Does he know you were telling me that he's stealing you away? Is he calling to convince me that I shouldn't be mad at him?"
"I have no idea why he's calling you."
"Should I answer it?"
"Umm...yes." Why is he calling Melissa? Is something wrong?
Melissa put her cell phone to her ear. "I heard you were kidnapping my best friend and taking her to New York."
Silence.
"No, that's not how she worded it." Melissa smiled at me.
Silence.
"Yeah, she's right next to me."
Silence.
"Yeah, I guess. Hold on one sec." Melissa pulled the phone away from her ear and put her hand over the speaker. "He says he needs to talk to me in private."
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know. He said it was important. I'm going to go out in the hall."
"Wait, what's going on?"
"I don't know." Melissa left the room, closing the door behind her.
I tapped my knee impatiently. What were they possibly talking about? It was a long time before Melissa came back into the room. She didn't say anything. She just walked to the mirror and began to finish doing her makeup.
"What was he calling about?"
"We talked about a lot of things."
"Why are you torturing me? We both know that you're going to tell me. Just spit it out."
"We actually had a very nice talk. He's starting to wear me down."
"So he just called you to chat?"
"Kind of. He told me he punched your professor in the face. Several times."
"I'm not thrilled that he did that."
"It's kind of sweet though. He was defending you. He's like your knight in shining armor. With a violent side."
"He just wanted to talk to you about my creepy professor?"
"No, not really." Melissa frowned and then turned to me. "I think you're right. Maybe a fresh start would be good. I think James really does love you. Moving seems fast and crazy, but your whole relationship has been fast and crazy."
"So you're okay with me moving?"
"I mean, I'm upset that you're abandoning me. But I want you to be happy. And after my conversation with James, I think that maybe I've been too hard on him."
"You think?"
Melissa laughed. "I've just been looking out for you. You know that. You tend to like guys that are terrible for you."
"Just Austin."
"James counts in that list too. Dating a professor wasn't exactly in your best interest. Especially when there was a super nice guys who clearly adored you. With nice abs and a great personality."
"How is Tyler doing?"
"He wanders around the frat house like a sad puppy."
I looked down at my lap.
"I'm kidding, he's fine. I've even seen him make out with that Natalie girl he hangs out with. Like I told you before, he's a big boy, he'll be okay. Besides, he definitely needs to move on now since you're fleeing to New York with James."
"But I still don't get it. Seriously, why did James call you?"
"Because we're friends. Geez, not everything is about you. Stop being conceited. I thought you wanted us to get along."
"I do." She was definitely hiding something from me. "Do you know where he was?"
"He didn't say. You said he was with Rob and Brendan though, right?" Melissa suddenly looked worried. And it worried me that she looked worried.
"Yeah. Why?"
"I don't know." She turned away from me.
"Melissa, you're scaring me. What's going on?"
"I don't know. It was kind of weird. At first we were having a really nice conversation. But after a few minutes it didn't really seem like he had a reason for calling. He didn't really have anything to say in particular. And I was trying to avoid the subject because I didn't want to worry you. But he didn't sound like himself, Penny. It seemed like maybe he had too much to drink or something? He seemed off. Like maybe he had just drunk dialed me or something?"
I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. He told me he wasn't going to drink too much. He told me I didn't have to worry.
"Does he do that a lot?" Melissa asked.
"What? No." I tried to clear away my nagging thoughts. "Was there lots of music? Maybe he was at a bar or something?"
"No, I just heard a few people. Maybe it was Rob and Brendan? If they're with him, I'm sure he's fine. I'm sorry, I don't know why I said anything. I'm just being silly. Just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Do you think I should call him? Maybe he needs me to pick him up or something?"
"I'm sure he's fine. I really don't know him that well. Maybe I'm just misreading the situation. And you don't want to be that girl."
"What girl?"
"You know...that girl. The one that nags her boyfriend all the time. You have to trust him."
"Yeah, you're right. I do trust him. I'm sure he's fine." But I wasn't sure. I didn't want him to do something stupid again tonight. I was surprised that Professor McCarty hadn't gone to the cops. Next time James might not be so lucky.
"Speaking of the time, I need to get going."
"I didn't mention the time."
"I know, but I really am going to be late. Are you sure this is okay?" she asked, gesturing to her dress. "It's formal enough?"
"Very formal yet very sexy. It's classy. You look absolutely beautiful."
Melissa gave me a big hug. "Seriously, don't worry about James. I'm sorry I even said anything."
"Okay."
She laughed and released me from her hug. "I'm really bummed that you're not coming tonight. But you look kind of tired. Maybe you should just call it a night and go to sleep early?"
"Okay, now you're just being mean."
She laughed. "I just meant so you don't have to worry all night. I'm sure James is fine."
"Mhm."
"Bye!" she said and blew me a kiss as she left me alone in the dorm room.
I immediately pulled out my phone and called James. I didn't care if I was that girl. If he was drunk wandering the streets I needed to go pick him up before he did something stupid.
"Hey, hot stuff."
"Umm...James?" Geez, he really was hammered.
I heard laughter on the other end of the phone.
"James?"
"No, it's Rob. Do we sound the same on the phone?"
"Yes, you do."
"Damn it! I should have convinced you to have phone sex or something. Can we rewind a couple seconds? Hey, Penny, it's Professor Hunter."
"Gross. Rob, can you please put your brother on the phone?"
"Sorry, love, can't do that."
"And why is that?"
"You're going to be mad at me."
"What are you guys doing?"
"We ran a few errands and then I finally convinced my tightly wound brother to go to a bar. But, we both know how he is..."
"Can you please just bring him home?"
"In a bit."
"Rob, I'm serious. Bring him home right now."
"Don't be such a party pooper, Penny. We're having fun! If he's too drunk to fuck you when we get home, I'll be happy to stand i
n. Don't you worry."
"Stop being gross. Just bring him home safely, okay?"
"You have my word, sugar tits."
"You're drunk too, aren't you?"
"Mhm."
"You're impossible."
"You're impossible!"
"And you're seriously not going to let me talk to James?"
"Professor Hunter is currently unavailable. Please leave a message at the beep." Rob made a farting noise and the line went dead.
Chapter 35
Sunday
"Penny."
I immediately opened my eyes. James face was a few inches away from mine. "You're okay?" I reached my hand out and ran it along the scruff on his jaw line. "Thank God you're okay." Ow. I had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for him and my back ached.
"Of course I'm okay." He had a huge smile on his face.
I looked down and saw that he was on one knee by the side of the couch. Oh my God. Oh my God! I sat up.
"Penny, I love you so much."
He's proposing! My heart was beating out of my chest. I hadn't missed my chance. He was asking me again.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Oh, you thought..." He laughed. "No." He laughed again. "I just dropped my cell phone." He picked it up off the ground and stood up. "I said it would be romantic. This is hardly romantic."
"Oh, no, I didn't think you were proposing." I had thought he was proposing. For a brief moment when I was talking to Melissa last night I had come to that conclusion. I thought he may have called Melissa to ask her for my ring size or something. But then it seemed like he was just out getting drunk. I had been so worried about him. But when I woke up and saw him on one knee I thought maybe he really was just planning on proposing. I could feel my face turning red. I was so embarrassed.
"I was going to go get breakfast. I just wanted to see if there was something in particular that you wanted."
"I was worried about you."
"I know, I'm sorry. I should have called."
"And you shouldn't have let Rob answer your phone."
"Things got a little out of hand last night." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I'm sorry that I worried you, Penny."
I didn't want to fight with him. I was just glad that he was home safe. Maybe we could talk more about it later. I wasn't sure if him going out with Rob every night was a good idea. I wanted for him to be happy. But not if he was putting himself in danger. "What time is it?"
"7:30."
I was still tired. But I wanted to hang out with him. Now that his brother was living with us, we didn't seem to have nearly as much time together. "Can I come with you?"
"If you want."
I yawned and got up off the couch. "Just give me a minute." I quickly got ready and met him in the kitchen.
He wrapped his arms around me. "I missed you last night."
"I missed you too. What did you guys end up doing?" I already knew the answer. He got completely wasted.
"We went all over the place. Thanks for convincing me to go out. It's a lot of fun hanging out with Rob. And Brendan's actually alright."
"Why do you never seem like you're hung over?"
"I have a high tolerance to alcohol."
I bit my lip. I had convinced him to go out. So I couldn't be upset with him for having a good time. It wasn't fair that I had been worried when I was the one who kept telling him it was okay. I had thought he was going on another weird secret mission. But he wasn't acting mysterious at all this morning. He just seemed like his normal, perfect self. Whatever it was that he had done last night must have been normal after all. Just a bar and too much alcohol. I had a tendency to read too much into things. "When did you get home last night? I never heard you come in."
He grabbed my hand and led me over to the elevator. "I only just got in. Which is why I so badly need some coffee."
"Or some sleep?"
"We got a hotel in New York. I'm not that tired. I just need some caffeine." He smiled at me.
"Wait, you went to New York? Why?"
"I had some secret stuff to do."
I laughed. "Yeah, I got that." I looked up at him. "I like you when you're like this."
"Like what?"
"Playful. I think that maybe Rob is a good influence on you."
"I've always thought he was a bad influence on me."
"Well, in a lot of ways he is. He drinks too much and he says awful stuff. Really, you do drink too much when you're with him."
"It won't happen again." He rubbed his thumb against my palm. The way he was looking at me made it easy to believe him.
"But you're happy when he's here. So in that way, he's the best possible influence." I looked down at the floor for a second and then back up at him. "Are you sure you want to move? Rob just got here and I don't want to make you leave if..."
"Penny. I was just thinking that I can't wait to move." He smiled at me. He held my hand as we stepped off the elevator and led me toward the side exit of the parking garage. "And actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. The reason I went to New York was to talk to the dean at NYCU."
"About what?"
He rubbed his thumb against my palm again. "About you, of course."
"But I didn't even apply yet."
"I know. But I told her all about what happened. She seemed sympathetic. And impressed with your transcript. If you still want to go, you're in."
"Really?"
"Really. So, what do you say?"
I hadn't even realized that we were walking hand in hand on Main Street. There was no one around. It was the weekend before Halloween and it wasn't even 8 a.m. on a Sunday. No one would be up for hours. This is what I wanted. I wanted for us to be able to be us. That was only going to happen super early on the weekends if we stayed here. But New York was different. In New York we could be whatever we wanted to be. It was our fresh start. And I wanted that with him.
"Did you bribe her with lots of money?"
He laughed. "I didn't need to."
"So you didn't donate any money to the school?"
"I didn't say that either." He gave me an innocent smile.
"You're infuriating."
"No, that's you." He squeezed my hand. "So, what do you say?"
"I say we should start packing."
"I was hoping that would be your answer. Maybe we can go back up in the next few days to look at apartments? Something cozy of course."
"That sounds perfect."
"I guess there's just one last thing I need to do here." James stopped outside the coffee shop where we had first met.
"What, get a cup of coffee?"
He smiled at me and walked into the coffee shop, holding the door open for me.
When I walked in, I froze. There were rose petals all over the floor and there had to be at least a hundred candles. The whole shop was empty except for us.
"Penny." He grabbed my hand again.
I turned around and he was on one knee. Oh my God.
"This wasn't just where I first met you. This is where I fell in love with you. You took my breath away when you bumped into me. It was something that I've never experienced before. I've never been so attracted to someone in my life. It's very distracting when you blush."
His words made me blush even more.
He looked down for a second and then back up with me. "You made me realize that I hadn't been living. Really living. Because life without this feeling, the feeling that you give me, isn't a life that I'm interested in at all. You chose me even though I told you I wasn't good for you. You've always seen the good in me, which was something that I couldn't see in myself. You made me realize that it doesn't matter who I was before. It's about who I've become. Because of you."
"Yes."
He smiled up at me. "I have more to say."
"If you're asking me to marry you, the answer is yes."
He laughed and kissed each of my knuckles. "I'm yours, Penny. I've always been yours. I love you with all that I am.
And I don't want to go another day without knowing that you're mine. Not just for today and tomorrow and the next. I want you by my side forever and always. Penny Taylor, you are the love of my life." He let go of my hand and pulled out a small box from his pocket. "You asked me if I was a believer in fate. I am now. I don't know how I ended up as a professor in Delaware. But I know why I did. Because you were here. And my life would always be meaningless if I had never met you. Because without you, I'm not whole. Penny." He grabbed my hand again. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes." I threw my arms around him.
He laughed and pulled me down into his arms.
"James, I love you so much." I put my hands on both sides of his face and kissed him. This is what I had wanted to do the morning we first met. But everything we had been through, all the ups and downs, had led us to this moment. And this moment was perfect. I wouldn't have wanted to change a thing even if I could.
"Don't you want to see your ring?"
"How did you do all this?" I turned and looked at the candles and rose petals. "How did you know no one would be here this morning?"
"It's closed today."
"I've been here on Sundays before."
"It's closed today because I bought it and I closed it." He smiled at me.
"You bought it?"
"I don't want anything to ever change about this place. I want to be able to come back here when we're old and gray and talk about how this is where we first met." He put his hand on the side of my face. "This place changed my life."
"So last night...you weren't out drinking?"
"No. I didn't even have one drink."
"But Melissa said..."
"What I told her to say. I knew you'd be totally consumed thinking that I was out getting wasted and never suspect that I was planning to propose. I told her to say she thought I was drunk if you started to get suspicious. Which I guess you did."
"You're such a jerk." Even as I said it I was smiling. He knew me so well. He actually realized how much I cared about him. And I was so relieved. He finally realized how much I loved him. I felt closer to him than ever.
"I am sorry that I worried you. That wasn't my intention. I just really wanted to surprise you."
"You did surprise me. But wait, Rob was definitely drunk when I talked to him last night, though."
