Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sophie
“Aren’t you worried you’ll get caught?” Carly asks me as Raven puts eyeshadow on my face. “I’m sure Harrington has spies all over campus.”
“No doubt she asked all the guards to keep an eye on you guys, too,” Addie says.
“Damian and I are leaving campus separately and will meet at the bookstore,” I tell my friends. “Unless Harrington is super paranoid, we should be good.”
The truth is, sneaking out with my boyfriend after the principal specifically told me I can’t date him has me beyond nervous.
I’ve always been a good girl and followed the rules.
But if following the rules means I can’t have the boy of my dreams, the one person in the world who makes me feel a way I’ve never felt before, what’s the point of any of it?
I’ve never considered myself a bad girl, and I hope I won’t turn into one, but I won’t let anyone dictate who I can and can’t love.
Because, yeah. I do love Damian. I love him so much my bones ache.
And even though I’m only sixteen, I know deep in my heart that Damian and I are endgame, that we’ll be together forever and live happily ever after.
Just like in my books. No, better than in my books.
And I won’t let anyone take that away from me.
“Should we review the plan?” I ask my friends.
“In case Harrington comes to our room and asks where you are, I’ll tell her you’re video calling your parents in the bathroom for privacy,” Raven says. “If she finds that odd or demands an explanation, I’ll use your dead siblings card.”
“She never seems comfortable when death is brought up,” Carly says. “It’s like she avoids any conversation that contains a teaspoon of emotion.”
“Thanks,” I tell them. “I doubt she’ll actually come to our room to look for me, but it’s good to have a plan.” I turn around to face my friends with a smile. “How do I look?” I’m wearing a pretty pink floral shirt with dark dressy pants.
“Beautiful!” they say.
I hug my friends goodbye, they wish me good luck, and I leave the room, grabbing my backpack, where I hid Queen Rose.
Since I suspect the guard is watching me like a hawk, I put on a long coat to hide my nice outfit and leave the dorm, heading in the opposite direction of the parking lot.
After walking a few feet, I turn around and zigzag behind the buildings, using some of the bushes for cover as I change my course and head to the parking lot.
My heart hammers the entire time because I’ve never done anything like this before. The thrill of it does cause an adrenaline rush, but I make sure to keep my head on straight and pay attention to my surroundings.
Damian will drive in the opposite direction, just in case the guards are indeed keeping their eyes on us. Then he’ll turn around when he’s a good few blocks away and meet me at the bookstore.
Once I get there, I kill the engine and wait in my car, reaching in the backseat for the book I placed there. I’m so engrossed in the story that I don’t realize Damian’s bike is right outside my car until he honks.
With a smile, I put my bookmark in its place and get out of the car with my backpack. Damian barely has a chance to get off his bike before I ram into him and throw my arms around him, burying my face in his chest. “I’ve missed you so much.”
We can’t sit near each other in class or at lunch, I’m no longer his lab partner, nor can I do assignments with him.
I certainly can’t talk to him or touch him.
His mom confiscated his phone, so I can’t even text him.
The only way we communicate is through our friends. They’re like our carrier pigeons.
“Sophie,” he breathes as his lips sweep across my temple and my cheeks. Whatever free spot on my face he can find. “I’ve missed you so much, too.”
I tighten my hold on him, never wanting to let go.
“How have you been?” he asks as his hand rubs circles on my back. From the ache in his tone, I can tell this forced separation hurts him just as much as it hurts me.
“I’ve been terrible,” my muffled voice says. “I just missed you too much.”
“I know,” he murmurs as he sweeps his lips across my cheek again. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” I raise my head to look into his eyes, which I realize are filled with pain and loss. “If this is the only way we can be together, then I’m okay with it.”
With a nod, he leans forward and presses his lips to mine.
“I want to take you to our special place,” he says as he slides his hand into mine and leads me to the bike. “My mom will definitely not have spies there.”
I unzip my backpack and pull out my helmet, then slip the backpack over my shoulders. Damian helps me slide on the helmet by tucking my hair inside. Before I get on the bike, I throw my arms around him again, my helmet knocking into his chin.
“Oops, sorry!” I say, jumping back. “Sometimes I forget how big it is.”
“It’s okay,” he assures me as he rubs his chin.
He helps me onto the bike, and once he’s on, I squeeze my arms around him. I no longer need to be told to hold onto him. I’ll hold onto him until the end of time if I could.
He kicks into gear and off we go. In the past, I might have soaked in my surroundings, but now?
I just close my eyes and relish the feeling of holding him in my arms. I etch every little detail in my memory so I can hold onto them when he and I are apart.
When I’m lying awake in bed and missing him so much that my stomach hurts.
Damian slows down when we reach the hiking trail and parks the bike. I take off my helmet and put it into my backpack while Damian tucks his under his armpit. Holding hands, we make our way toward our special place. It used to be his parents’ special place, but now it’s ours.
“Is she being a witch to you?” I ask as we walk to our destination. “Is she making your life a living hell?”
“She treats me like she used to. She just doesn’t let me use my phone, and she only gives me my laptop for homework. She immediately takes it away before I go to bed. I would risk emailing you or texting you with my laptop, but I’m pretty sure she monitors what I do.”
“I’m so sorry, Damian. You must really feel like a prisoner.”
“The only thing that gets me through the day is when I see you in class. Even though I can’t talk to you, it’s enough to know that you’re there.”
“Are we going to have to sneak around for the rest of high school?” I ask.
“It’s just a year and a half,” he says as we reach the clearing.
He leads me to the tree we sat at the last time, and he lowers himself on the grass, pulling me onto his lap.
Wrapping his arms around my middle, he presses his lips to the side of my neck.
“Once we graduate, we’re free to do whatever we want.
I’m walking away from that woman and the life she’s trying to force on me. I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
I turn around on his lap so I can look into his eyes. “Are you sure? I mean, I know you said you want to have a career in art, but do you have any dreams or goals? I don’t want to get in the way of anything.”
“You’re my dream. Wherever you go, I go.”
I gape at him. “You mean…?”
He nods as he cups my cheek. “I love you, Sophie. I think I’ve loved you the moment you stood up to me at our first tutoring lesson.”
“That early, huh?” My eyes dip to his lips as I rub my finger across them. “I love you, too, Damian. But I bet you don’t know when I first started having feelings for you.”
“When I took you to buy the helmet?”
I shake my head.
“When we snuck into the dining hall?”
I shake my head again.
“I don’t know. When?”
“When you offered to buy me my books.”
“Really?”
“Duh! That was the first nice thing you did for me. Well, not counting the ride to the bookstore. That’s when I realized you weren’t a bad boy at all. I knew you were kind and sweet.”
“Huh. I should have guessed that one.”
“Yeah, you should have.” I playfully slap his shoulder.
He envelops me in his arms and cradles me close to his chest, his eyes boring into mine.
“You have no idea how much you mean to me, Sophie. The fact that my mom is trying to keep us apart just makes me love you more. It’s like it proves we belong together because every part of me hurts when we’re apart. ”
“My whole body aches, too,” I say.
He presses his cheek to mine. “My mom doesn’t understand what true, deep love means. She couldn’t have loved my dad that way if she was willing to throw him away like that. But my dad truly loved her. I can’t believe she’s hurting me and you just like she hurt him.”
“I’m not even going to try to defend her. She might have her reasons, but I don’t care what they are.”
His lips brush my temple. “Despite what I’ve been through all my life, I’m glad I went through it. Because it’s the only way I could have met you.”
“You think we wouldn’t have met any other way?”
“I don’t see how. What do you think? You think people who are meant to be together will eventually find their way to each other?”
“Well, I do believe in fate and destiny and all that. I do believe every single person has a soulmate. I used to claim that even though everyone might have a soulmate, some people might never meet them. But now I truly believe in my heart that if people are meant to be together, nature or God or whatever will help them find their way to each other. Because the world would be too broken and too sad if they didn’t. ”
“That’s why the second-chance romance trope exists, right?” he says, his eyes smiling. “Or the enemies-to-lovers one. You know, because enemies would never find their way to each other unless they were thrust into each other’s lives.”
“What about the forbidden romance trope?” I ask.
“Uh oh. Is that us?”
I laugh. “Yes, that’s indeed us!”
“How does the forbidden romance trope usually end?”
“Well…”
“Do they have happily ever afters?”
I lean in closer to him and rest my head on his chest. “It doesn’t matter how other stories end. Ours will end with a happily ever after. I just know it. I feel it in my heart.”
“I feel it in my heart, too.”
We remain in each other’s arms for a long time.
It feels like hours, but it can’t be because we have to get back way before curfew.
But every second spent with Damian feels like an eternity.
We share more of ourselves with each other, what lies in our hearts and the hopes and dreams we have for the future.
Damian admits he didn’t have a lot of hopes and dreams for the future, but now that I’m in his life, there are endless possibilities.
He doesn’t feel like his hands are tied anymore by his mom.
For the first time since he moved back in with her, he feels free.
“I wasn’t excited for life when I was a young kid because I hated my life here,” he tells me.
“But that changed when I moved in with my dad. I finally felt like a normal kid. I finally felt like I had a place in the world. But all that changed after my dad died. Now because of you, I finally feel like I have my life back. I mean, I’m still nervous and worried for what lies in the future, but I’m very excited as well.
Mostly, I’m excited to see where life takes the two of us. ”
I smile and lock my arms around his neck, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Don’t make fun, but I was up all night imagining our future.”
“Why would I make fun? What did you picture?”
“I imagined us buying this cute little house near an area with gorgeous woods. It’s the perfect place for you to work on your artwork because there’s so much nature for inspiration, but it’s close enough to civilization for my job at the hospital as a nurse or PA.”
He smiles as he gets a faraway look on his face. “I like the picture. How many kids do we have?”
I slap his arm. “I didn’t think that far into the future!”
He chuckles.
“The only thing that mattered was that we were happy,” I tell him. “And of course we needed a few extra bedrooms for the gang.”
“Oh, definitely,” he says. “What’s a happy life without our friends?”
“They miss you, too,” I tell him.
“I know. They tell me so every time I ask them to deliver a message to you. I really miss them, too. Not only did my mom take you away from me, but she took away my new friends. I barely had a chance to get to know them well enough, but I know we would have hit it off.” He shakes his head with a frown.
“It’s ridiculous how she’s treating us like we’re little kids. We’re almost adults.”
“I know.” I stroke his head. “Let’s not talk about her anymore, okay? It just upsets you, and I hate seeing you upset.”
He nods as he caresses my cheek. “Thanks for caring about me, Sophie. I’ve never felt this loved since before my dad died.”
We bring our mouths together and kiss in a passionate and fervent manner.
He holds me close to his body as though he wants to protect me from the world, from anyone who wants to hurt me or snatch away my happiness.
This kiss is so different from the ones we shared in the past because it’s making up for all the ones we couldn’t have, and for the future ones that will be denied to us.
And we’re also making a promise to each other.
That no matter what happens, we’ll fight to be together.
Even if that means we might have to sneak around for the next year and a half, or if she kicks me out of the school.
We’ll find our way back to each other. Just like the heroes and heroines in my books do.
Because when you meet the person you’re supposed to be with? You don’t stop fighting for him.
“I love you so much, Damian Lawrence,” I whisper.
“And I love you so much, Sophia Reed.”