Page 35 of Fate Forever and Always

When he came out, he was wearing blue swim shorts and a Hawaiian shirt with his sandals that he bought at a local shop when we first got here. He had a bit of sunburn on his nose, so he sort of looked like a tall, skinny Rudolph, but I gave him a break and didn’t make fun of him.

Who am I?

I put on my favorite yellow bikini with a pair of white shorts and a yellow halter top. This bikini always made me feel rich. The pattern has always reminded me of the diamonds on a Louis Vuitton purse.

“You ready to act like my man?” I asked him jokingly as I hip-checked him.

He put his arm around my shoulders. “Forever and always, Sweets.”

He opened the door for me and then moved his arm down to my lower back to usher me out the door.

Forever and always.I love when he says that to me. I always thought it was kind of weird that he only ever said it to me, but when I finally got the courage to ask him about it, he stopped. It was right around the time I met Jake. I think it was a respect thing, but I’m really glad he's saying it again and has kept it as our thing. It makes me feel special. My insides were twisting inall kinds of knots as soon as his hand grazed my back. As he let go, my body shuddered, already missing his warmth.

We thought we were going to have to buy breakfast, but luckily we caught the end of the resort’s inclusive one. A few of the people from the bonfire were there and invited us to sit at the table with them.

“Hey newlyweds, how was your night?”

I looked at Nick, hoping he would answer, but he was already talking before my eyes met his. It was like talking about us as a couple came naturally to him. He didn’t even bat an eye.

“It was perfect. The only issue was the thunder. It scared my beautiful girl here. I didn’t mind, though. I got extra snuggles.”

Nick pulled me in closer and kissed the top of my head. He and everyone else chuckled a little.

“You sit, Sweets. I’ll grab your food.”

I smiled and sat down without saying a word.

“He is so sweet; you found a good one, girl.” I looked over at who was speaking, and it was the same brunette that spoke to us at the bonfire. I looked back over at Nick walking away.

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“So when did you know he was the one?” she asked.

“Huh?” I turned to look at her again. I heard her the first time, but I was trying to give my brain time to come up with something.

“When did you know he was it for you? Was it love at first sight or—”

I cut her off with my laugh. “Oh god, no. We used to be at each other’s throats all day, every day. I think he may have even hated me at one point. I had a major crush, but never told him. He took our other best friend Aubrey to prom becau—”

Nick's voice cut me off. “Because you were already going with Chris Alvarez.”

I turned to look at him holding both our plates. “What do you mean?”

Nick placed our food down. He was looking at me like he thought I was joking. “I only asked Aubrey to prom because you were already going with that Chris kid. Plus, everyone kept pestering Aubrey and me about dating, even though we knew we didn’t want to date each other. We were both going stag, so we just went together.”

He sat down, never taking his eyes off mine, and I nervously slapped his shoulder.

“That’s a lie,” I chuckled. “I was literally waiting for you to ask me, and you didn’t, so I said yes to Chris.”

He gave me a quizzical look. “Cal, I didn’t ask Aubs till three days before prom. I was too scared to ask you, so I figured I’d ask you to dance when we were there, but you went with Chris so I didn’t wanna steal you away.”

I looked around and everyone at the table had a look of awe. “You are joking, right?”

Nick shook his head no.

“I was so mad at you for asking her and not me. I thought I wasn’t good enough.” Looking around I realized people were starting to look concerned, so I hugged him. “Guess it doesn’t matter now. I have you all to myself.”

Nick had a distressed look on his face but returned my embrace. “Forever and Always, Sweets.”

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