Chapter 25 Naomi [The Past] #2
Later in the evening, after Dad had taken out one of the industrial heaters from the garage since the temperature had dropped, Ty dragged me behind the oak tree in the far corner of the yard.
We stood under a string light, but the tree was massive, so it hid us from the squealing guests trying to dance to a new Christina Aguilera song.
Adri had gone into the house a while ago, not wanting my girlfriends to flirt with him, and I wondered if he was spying on us through a window.
"I have something for you," Ty said in that quiet way that made it feel important.
I was shivering because I’d worn a lightweight dress, and the heater didn’t reach us.
"Come here," he whispered, snaking his arm around my waist. My hands were cold when he pulled me closer. He smelled like he always did, like he’d just put his guitar down. My back hit the rough trunk, and before I knew it, Tyler was holding a velvet box.
My knees shook.
I felt strangely light and heavy in my chest. A weird combination.
"Ty…" I breathed out.
He plucked the box open, and I saw a ring. It was modest, silver, with a tiny white moonstone.
"This is my promise to you," he said, sliding the ring onto my finger.
"What promise?" I muttered, absolutely shocked. I was eighteen and this was the most romantic gesture he’d made for me. It was too much.
I didn't mean to cry, but it happened. He wiped the tears away with his thumbs, and I knew that wherever he was going, I wanted to go too.
"My promise to take care of you, Nomes. Always."
I couldn't remember ever seeing him nervous, not even when he and Adri would butt heads after their mysterious falling-out. But here he was, his cheeks flaming red like a shy little kid.
"You're not gonna serenade me, are you?" I teased, nudging him with my shoulder.
He laughed, the sound as fresh as the night air. "I’m not that great of a singer. We both know why I play the guitar and don’t handle lead vocals often." He took my hand and kissed my knuckles, staring at his doing, at his ring on my finger.
"You’re a good singer," I countered. "You have a nice voice."
"You’re just saying that because I’m your boyfriend."
The night felt alive. The string lights blinked above us, stars in their own little sky, and I could hear the laughter from across the back yard where my friends were glued to the heater.
It sounded muffled and distant like they were underwater, and we were on top of the world.
And I think at that moment, we truly were.
At that moment, we didn’t know things would turn out differently.
"Hey," Ty said, brushing away another stray tear. "Don't go messing up your makeup." He kissed me, and I melted into it, right there against the tree.
I knew there was a chance my parents saw us, because my friends definitely did. Brittney giggled with delight and clapped her hands. The other girls laughed too.
"Go Ty!" someone shouted.
"You better treat her right, Ty," another voice added.
"You're crazy," I told him, the ring feeling solid and perfect on my hand. "And I'm crazy about you." I kissed him right back.
The cold was biting, and everyone moved inside to watch a movie and play some games. Ty disappeared for a bit. I wasn’t certain where he went, but right before the party ended, he took me outside again.
"I have something else for you," he said, pulling me to the old oak tree and gesturing at the spot on the trunk. He was the first guy to write my name in a song, and now he had put it on a tree.
My voice shook a little as I stared at our initials. "Seriously? You vandalized more property. First a bench. Now a tree?"
"I’ll write our initials on every stone and plant in this town if I have to."
"Silly."
He grinned. "Will you go to prom with me?"
"Like you have to ask," I said, feeling so weightless, I might have floated away if he wasn't holding me so tight. "I thought it was obvious." I wiggled my ring finger at him.
We stood together under the wide-open sky, my head resting against his chest, listening to his heartbeat instead of my own.
He rocked us slowly, back and forth, back and forth.
The air smelled like sage and sand and deergrass and maybe forever.
He ran his fingers through my hair, like he could untangle the knots of our future with a single touch.
"I love you," he said, so soft I barely heard it. "Wherever we go, it's gonna be good."
I held up my hand, watched the ring catch the light from inside the house. "You really mean it, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do."
The desert stretched out around us, vast and full of possibilities. We were just two kids with a crazy plan, but I believed it. Believed him. "So we're really doing this."
"Think you can handle it?" He tipped my chin up, kissed me again.
I giggled and held on tight, thinking maybe, just maybe, I'd figured it out after all.
A few days after my birthday, I was sitting in Ty’s Honda with my bare legs propped on the dash, a suspiciously perfect strawberry slush in my hands, and a jumbo popcorn bag balanced on my thighs.
It was a drive-in night, which was the best way to watch movies in Sageview Ridge when the weather was nice.
Ty looked sideways at me as the pre-movie trailers started, all close-mouthed and broody, the way he always was before he was about to say something that made my insides roll up and hide.
"Hey," he muttered, clearing his throat. "So, you want the popcorn first or should we start with Red Vines?"
I squinted at him. "You ask like it’s a choice. I am not a monster. Obviously, a Red Vine straw first, then popcorn for maximum salt-sugar ratio, then a slushie chaser."
He grinned, all teeth and hint of a stubble, and dug out the Red Vines.
The movie on the screen was a replay of Blade, which we both loved, but the real show was out the windshield, where the other cars formed cliques: minivans with stickers families, tricked-out pickups with their tailgates down, and a sprinkling of sedans with steamed-up windows and high schoolers making out like they’d die tomorrow.
Welcome to the desert, I thought to myself.
We didn’t make out right away. First, we talked about whatever was bugging us, which was mostly my family not liking the idea of me going to LA, then we watched at least half the movie, and only then did we get to the kissing part.
Tonight, Ty was twitchy, though. His knee bounced, probably tapping the rhythm of one of The Rejects songs.
Something was up. That much I could tell.
I tilted my head. "You seem…antsy. Bad popcorn batch?"
He snorted. "Is there such a thing as bad popcorn?"
"Yes. It’s called unsalted and unbuttered, which is what you got. Freak."
He shrugged. "They were out. I like the plain stuff anyway. Less gets stuck in my teeth."
He was lying. He always drowned his popcorn in butter. I squinted harder.
He glanced at the dash, then back at me. "Adri still giving you a hard time?"
My brother. The sore spot. I made a face. "I just ignore him."
Ty was quiet for a beat. Then he nudged my foot with his. "I got something to show you."
His tone was casual, but there was a flicker in his eyes. He shrugged off his leather jacket and twisted his arm toward me. The sleeve of his black T-shirt rode up, and I caught the glint of new ink on his inner bicep. It was still red around the edges. Red and angry.
I narrowed my eyes to be able to see the tat better.
It was my name, scribbled in a font that looked like it was written by a lovesick poet on a diner napkin.
I went silent. So silent, you could practically hear the popcorn fluffing up in the bag.
Ty was watching my face like he was waiting for me to laugh or panic, but I just stared at it, at my name on his skin, like it was the only thing holding him together.
"Tyler," I said, and my voice cracked right down the middle.
He smiled, all sheepish and shy, which was so not Tyler Brady that it was almost funny. "I’ve wanted it for a while. Couldn’t think of a good reason not to. You know. Since you’re stuck with me."
I lifted his arm a little to be able to see the tattoo better and poked the skin around the fresh ink gently. He winced, then grinned even wider.
"That’s permanent," I said, like maybe he forgot.
"Yeah." He leaned in until I smelled the faintest trace of his cologne. "I know. So are you."
For a second, all my systems shorted out. I thought about how I doodled our names together in the margins of my school notebook. But Ty? He went a step further.
"Did your parents see?" I asked.
"Not yet."
"I hope they won't be pissed."
"It's not like they'll be inspecting my underarms. Plus, I'm an adult now."
That much was true. The tat wasn't in a very obvious spot. You literally had to twist his arm to find it.
"Now, you'll always be with me," Ty added smugly.
I didn’t even bother with the slow-burn tonight. I yanked him by the front of his T-shirt and kissed him so hard, the car fogged up almost instantly.
Someone in the next row honked at us.
I flipped them off over Ty’s head, and he laughed into my mouth.
"You’re insane," I said when I came up for air.
"That’s why you love me."
I pressed my lips to his tattoo, right over the red, swollen skin, and he shivered. "You know, there are cheaper and less painful ways to impress a girl."
"Like what?" he asked, cocky again.
"Like a pizza. Or a puppy. Or a necklace with her name on it. Not, you know, your actual flesh."
He shrugged. "The other stuff seemed temporary."
There was a moment where I could say something clever or brush it off or make a joke, but I didn’t. I just watched the way he looked at me.
The movie was almost over, but neither of us were paying attention. I leaned into him and allowed his hand tangle in my hair.
After the credits rolled, we were still sitting there, popcorn all over the floor and the slushie in my cup melted to pure syrup.