Page 79 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

Months of worrying. Months of fears. Months of doubt all culminated in that moment, and I simply couldn’t keep myself conscious anymore. I only barely heard Tristan whisper, “I love you,” as I drifted off, wanting to say the same back, but not having the energy to do so.

The sun was bright and painful against my face the next morning. I looked around, but expectedly, Tristan wasn’t there. He’d been smart enough to get the hell out of Dodge before my mom got home, but then my eyes landed on the vase of flowers he’d gotten me sitting on my bedside table. They hadn’t been there the night before, so he must have brought them up as a way of silently telling me that all was well.

I was buried in the blankets of my bed, and a shirt I didn’t recognize had been pulled over me, but when I sat up Tristan’s cologne wafted off of me and I smiled.

Good call.

Hazelnut was curled up at my feet, just like always, so rather than disturb her, I lifted my phone from the table where I’d set it and unlocked it. Immediately, I was hit with a rush of notifications, specifically those that said people were liking and commenting on a post I’d been tagged in on social media. My stomach knotted and I was sure I was about to walk into the same situation that happened the night after Sadie Hawkins.

I unlocked my phone and nervously clicked on the notifications to take me to the picture, but when I saw it my heart soared.

It was a picture of me, covered in puppies from the shelter the day before. It was posted directly to Tristan’s page, and had the caption, “I am one hell of a lucky guy.”

There were dozens of comments beneath it, and apart from an isolated few from his former friends dogging us both, most of them were comments about how cute we were as a pair, ribbing Tristan and asking him how he landed someone so hot, and someone even commented “#Prom2021” which had garnered a lot of likes. As I was looking at it, comments from Taylor started pouring in, in all caps, cheering on the relationship. I liked a few of them, which only seemed to spur him on.

I could have kept looking at it all day, except my phone rang in my hand. I answered it and Arden’s face popped up on the screen. “Hey.”

“Hi,” I said with a smile.

“Didn’t I tell you, it’d all work out?” she said.

“Oh, sonowyou can say I told you so?” I asked.

She nodded. “Hell yeah. This one feels much more vindicating.”

34

Tristan

Riding to school with Aria sitting next to me was like a dream I couldn’t have imagined would ever come true. I had one hand on the steering wheel, one hand sitting on her leg, and it should have been a sin to be as blissful as I was.

We pulled into the parking lot, and even though I’d been excited for the date, and certainly for what came after the date, I was excited for this part too. This is what I’d been waiting to show Aria most, and even though I gave her a preview of it when she tried to take the fall for the post that Lucky had done, I wanted her to see it in action.

How unashamed I was to be with her.

I parked in my typical spot and then climbed out of the car and walked over to her side to open her door. Several people standing around stopped and looked, a few even cheered, which made Aria a little coy, but I was happy for it. She deserved all the attention, and I wanted her to see me boldly loving her regardless of who was watching. I pulled both her and my backpack out of the backseat of my car and threw them over my shoulder, then I laced my fingers into hers, kissed the back of her hand, and we started off for the front of school.

My post had been up for a couple of days, so it wasn’t like it was news that we were together, but there still seemed to be a handful of people who were shocked to see it. Every chance I got, I kissed her hand, or better yet, her lips, and kept her close to me. I wanted everyone to know that she was mine.

Did I throw petty gazes at guys like Devario and Yunmir as we passed them, maybe? I didn’t feel bad about it.

“Well if it isn’t the happy couple!” Arden greeted once we got through the door, then she faked like she was emotional. “My baby’s all grown up.”

“So where are we on the Arden as Aria’s filler parent thing?” I asked. “Because I gotta be honest… freaks me out.”

“That’s fair,” Arden said. “I can’t promise it will stop. I can’t even promise I will try.” Arden’s voice went up at the end of the statement, so I waited patiently for the end of it, but then she just said, “Oh, no. That’s the end.”

“Great,” I said, and Aria laughed.

I felt a hand on my back and turned around to see Hannah standing behind me. She had a huge smile on her face and I released Aria only to give her a hug. “Congrats,” she whispered in my ear.

“Thanks,” I said. “Couldn’t have done it without your help.”

She shook her head. “Well, I don’t know that that’s true, but I appreciate you for saying it.” She ducked around me and walked up to Aria. “Hey…”

Aria smiled. “Hi.”

“We’re friends-in-law now, so you have to deal with me,” Hannah said.

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