Page 46 of Surviving You, Scotch and Sammy 1

We lay there for a while, as our breathing grows heavy and our bodies melt against each other, but eventually he lifts his face and his icy gaze comes back to mine. “I’m gonna start early.”

My brows pinch together in question. “Huh?”

“I said I’d wait till you were eighteen to ask, but seeing as it took three years for your last yes, I figure I’ll get started now. Will you marry me, Sammy? We were made to fit. We just proved that. Let me prove to you we can make this last for the rest of our lives.”

“Okay.”

“I swear I won’t ever let you down. I’ll support you and I’ll never hurt you.”

“Okay.”

“As soon as I get the yes, we can make it happen. I’m going to marry you as soon as you --” His eyes snap back to mine in shock, and he swallows heavily. “Huh?”

“I said okay.” My lips pull up to the side at his poor confused face. I laugh as he literally shakes his head to clear the cobwebs. “I’ll marry you, Sam. Who cares if we’re young? We’re in love more than any other couple I’ve ever met. That has to mean something, right?”

He sits up quickly, his penis falling out of me suddenly, and though my face scrunches at the weirdly gross feeling, he cups my jaw firmly and drops a kiss on my lips. “Okay? So… that’s a yes?”

“Yup. Twenty-three days until I turn eighteen. I’ll marry you.”

“Holy shit.” His body slumps with exhaustion. “I was ready for a three-year battle. I’m almost disappointed it was that easy.”

“Do you want me to say no?”

“No!” he shouts on a laugh. “Definitely not, Ricci. Definitely keep that yes! Holy shit… So it’s really happening?”

“Yeah,” I answer softly. “It’s really happening.”

“You wanna make it a big to-do? Tell me what you want. I wanna make it the best first day of your life.”

I think about it for a short moment, but I shake my head. “No. Nothing big. I just want it to be me and you. We’ll tell the guys once it’s done.”

“Just me and you?”

“Yeah. Is that okay? I want to do it before someone gives us the ‘but you’re so young’ look. I want to face people as a united front.”

“Anything you want is okay with me, Ricci. Anything.” He lays down beside me, stretches his naked body out and pulls me over so my head rests on his chest and my leg over his. “I haven’t forgotten your first worries though.”

“Which ones?”

“You want to escape this place. I’ll come with you, I promise. I want you to fly, and I’ll help you. I won’t keep us here. We can fly together, Sammy.”

He drops a soft kiss on the top of my head, and I let out a deep contented sigh. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Sammy. I’ve known it since the day you sat behind me in class.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?”

He shrugs casually. “It worked out. So where do you wanna go? What do you wanna do when we get there?”

“It’s just that easy, huh? What about your own plans? Your own family?”

“It is that easy. My family will understand, and the guys will probably sleep on our couch a lot. I’ll go to school wherever you go. We’ll make it work, I swear.”

Sam and I lay together until the sun breaks over the horizon the next morning, and we discuss exactly the towns I’ve already circled and noted down. I have a folded and worn map under my mattress at home, but I’ve looked at it so many times, I can recall it in exact detail. I tell him which town I want to live in based on school prestige and availability. I tell him what towns would be the best for work. Then I tell him about the towns that border the coast, because sitting with him on the beach sipping cocktails and squishing my toes in the sand sounds magical.

I tell him my exact plans to work with children, to help children in the foster system find homes. I want to give them a better life than I had; and I don’t mean financially. I mean love and happiness and acceptance. I tell him how I’d even like to have my own kids someday, and how I’d like to foster a few so they can have a nice in-between stop before they find their forever homes.

I fall asleep curled against my teenage fiancé’s strong body on the night we both attended prom, the night we both lost our virginities. But none of that registers in my mind, none of the potential challenges we would eventually face, because he kept telling me he loves me and that that would be enough.

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