Page 100 of Resurrection
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 vocalsoften." 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."
