Page 119 of Our Secret Moments

I sigh heavily, a weight falling right off my chest just at the thought. “She’s just it for me, JoJo. There’s no one else I could ever imagine myself with. I want to grow old with her, not next to or beside her, butwithher.”

JoJo’s eyes gloss over at my words. “Grow with her,” she repeats. “I like the sound of that.”

When Catherine emerges back in the room, a slightly confused and suspicious look on her face, her tightly curled hair framing her gorgeous face, I know she’s the one I want to marry. The one I want to spend the rest of my life with. The one I want to wake up next to and spend every spare minute with. The person I want to grow my family with and never let her feel like she’s alone again.

Sometimes I wonder how we’ve all managed to stay friends over the course of our lives. As kids, we were all forced to spend time together given how close our parents were, but when we got older, I thought that would fade. I thought we’d all eventually get sick of each other and wake up one day and realise that we’re no longer friends.

But that has never happened.

As much as Wes can get on my nerves and Archer can confuse the fuck out of me, moving in with these two has to be the best decision I’ve ever made. Archer might still be pretending he doesn’t enjoy our company, but he didn’t back down when I suggested going ice skating in the middle of April for the fun of it.

It’s the middle of the week and we’ve all got a day off from lectures and seminars, so I suggested we could do something fun together. After arguing in the groupchat back and forth for the most of the day, we finally managed to book a slot at the rink for the last hour it’s open.

“This is great family bonding,” Wes mumbles, gripping onto my arm for dear life as we skate around the rink. He’s a fucking mess on the ice, but I’m getting a kick out of watching the fear in his eyes whenever he thinks he’s going to fall. He leans over me to look at Cat. “How’s it feel? You’re going to officially be a football girlfriend next season, Cat. Are you ready for it?”

She squeezes my hand. “As I’ll ever be.”

“Wait, isn’t there a Taylor Swift song about a football player?” I ask and then I do the worst thing I could do, and start singing. “She wears short skirts and you wear T-shirts. She's the cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.” They both blink atme as if I’ve said the most ridiculous thing ever. I’m sure those lyrics are somewhat accurate. I bump my shoulder into Cat’s. “That’s going to be us, baby.”

She snorts, shaking her head. “That’s not what the song is about.”

“Really? I thought it was about football?” I ask.

“You’re going to have to educate him, Cat. Trust me, I’ve tried,” Nora shouts. I ignore her and let Catherine’s laugh soothe my annoyance. The Taylor Swift universe is too complex for me to understand right now.

“I’m enjoying this way more than I should,” Archer admits. His voice is low and quiet, but we all hear him.

Cat barks out another laugh beside me, trying to tug me forward, but Wes keeps pulling me back. She’s a fantastic skater. Of course she is.

We didn’t go to this rink much as kids because our parents thought it was too dangerous. Being the perfect child she is, she managed to convince her parents to do a summer of skating lessons since Elle was taking them. Nora was too caught up with theatre camp, so she’s also stumbling alongside Wes.

Elle speeds past us in the nearly empty rink, skating backwards. “Is Archer Elliot finally admitting that he can have fun?”

“I can have fun, Harper,” he murmurs. She smiles, shrugging as she spins away. Archer stares at her, completely taken away with her talent as she glides and turns on the ice. We’ve been to enough of her recitals over the years to know she’s a good dancer, but I swear we all almost lose our breath as we watch her. It’s fucking insane.

Wes bumps his shoulder into mine, but he’s the one who stumbles more than I do. “Did you see that?”

“See what?” I ask, letting Cat guide me so I can skate better. Wes turns around and I follow his gaze as Archer skates at theslowest pace known to man whilst Elle and Nora spin around. Well, Elle’s the one who can spin properly, Nora is just doing her own thing. “Oh, that.”

Wes shakes his head. “The guy hardly says a word to us for two years, but whenever Elle’s around he’s suddenly Mr Popular. It’s fucking weird.”

I scoff. “Speak for yourself. Me and Archer can have a conversation.”

“You mean the two minute one you had on your birthday,sixmonths ago?” he retorts, laughing at his own joke. I roll my eyes and Cat laughs beside me. The sound of her laugh is the only thing that stops me from pushing Wes into the wall. I finally shrug him off and he teeters slightly as he floats away. “Wait! You know I can’t skate well.” He’s shouting as if we’re not the only few people left on the rink. “Connor!”

“You’ll figure it out,” I shout back to him as she pulls me towards the exit of the rink.

He calls my name again and I ignore him, tightening my hand around Catherine’s gloved one. She looks up at me, her brown eyes shining as she laughs at Wes’s wailing. I love these moments with her. When she doesn’t have to say anything. Where I know exactly how she’s feeling without needing her to say the words.

CAT

“Where are you taking me?”

Connor’s shoelaces are not fully tied as he runs alongside me.Idon’t even know what I’m doing. I’m high on the energy he radiates, drunk on the love that he shows me and completely captivated by just being in his presence.

The huge building is deserted as we run through the hallway. His hand clasps in mine as I loosen the scarf I haphazardly wrapped around my neck in an attempt to keep warm in the freezing temperature of the rink.

Our run slows as we get closer towards the end of the hallway, the automatic lights turn on. It feels like we’re in a moment captured in time. Everything about us feels infinite without even trying. A vending machine lights up and whirs at the end of the hallway when we get to it, panting.

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