The Story of Us (23 page)

“Come here,” I order him, placing the
cup of coffee down on the bedside table.

He raises an eyebrow at me in
question.

I put my arms around his neck and pull
him down into bed with me. And then I kiss him.

“Ahem.” It’s Hailey. I try to ignore
her, but she continues, “Just so you know, I’m awake.”

“We’re just kissing,” Craig responds,
not taking his lips off of mine.

“Fine. If I hear more than that, I’ll
disown you both,” she says, turning around to go back to
bed.

Reluctantly, I pull myself away to get
up and start getting ready for my classes.

It’s a boring day, full of lectures
and paper assignments. I don’t see Craig much now that we don’t
have a class together, which is unfortunate now that I actually
want to see him all the time. When my classes are done for the day,
I go back to the dorm to get ready to go shopping to find a gift
for Craig. Before I can leave again, I get a knock on the door.
When I answer it, I’m surprised to see the same guy that instilled
a fear in me like never before. Of course, he’s completely
innocent, but for a brief moment waking up in Craig’s bed and not
knowing where I was, I thought this guy, his roommate, had taken
advantage of me while I was too drunk to stop him or even remember
it.

“Um, hi?” I say, which turns into more
of a question.

“Hey. Craig wanted me to bring this to
you,” he says, handing me an envelope. Then, before I can even say
thanks, he leaves.

I open the envelope and find a gift
certificate inside for a nail place down the street, with a note
that reads, “Go pamper yourself. And don’t you dare buy me one
thing. I never had the chance to get you a Christmas gift.
Valentine’s Day is my day to surprise you for a change.”

I smile at the note and then I head
off to the salon.

When I get back, there’s a box on my
bed. He certainly is full of surprises today. I open the box and
find a winter hat, gloves, scarf, and finally a WSC fleece that’s
probably two sizes too big for me.

“What’s all that?” Hailey asks, just
walking in from the end of her classes.

“I have no idea,” I respond laughing,
“But I can’t wait to find out.”

She gives me a strange look and then
goes about her business.

About twenty minutes later, I get a
text from Craig.

“
Wear all of it and be
ready for eight.”

“Tell me where we’re
going.”

“No way.”

“

please?”

“Be ready.”

“Puh-leeeeeaase?”

“Princess, stop being a
baby. You’ll find out soon.”

“Ouch.”

“Love you.”

“Okay, you’re forgiven.
Love you, too.”

I rack my brain trying to figure out
what on Earth he has planned. Obviously something outside, in
February, which doesn’t sound thrilling to me. Any time I have to
bundle up to keep warm, doesn’t sound like a very fun time at all.
But I go along with it. At seven forty-five, I’m ready to go, minus
the ‘gifts’ from Craig. At seven fifty-five, I pull the fleece over
my head and watch it hang past my knees. I roll up the sleeves as
best as I can, but it’s still too long. I put on the gloves, the
scarf, and then finally, and reluctantly, the hat.

Craig walks right into my room without
even knocking.

“Breaking in again, I see,” I joke,
turning around.

He takes one look at me and
immediately starts laughing.

I instantly get mad. “You know, you
told me to put this stuff on. It’s Valentine’s Day and I don’t feel
very attractive right now and to make it worse, you’re
laughing!”

“I’m sorry,” he says. But he’s still
laughing.

“Why aren’t
you
bundled up?” I ask
him, getting angrier.

“I’m wearing a sweater. And a
jacket.”

“I’m swimming in fleece and every inch
of me is covered!”

He’s still laughing. “I wanted to make
sure you weren’t gonna be cold. I’m not worried about
myself.”

“Let’s go,” I huff out in
frustration.

“Princess, don’t be mad. You can take
some of it off, but just take it with you just in case,
okay?”

I immediately take off the hat, scarf,
and gloves. I still give him a dirty look.

“I always thought you were adorable
when you’re mad,” he says, smirking.

I only end up being mad for a few more
minutes though. Once I see what he’s planned, there’s no way I
could continue to be mad at him. He takes me to the Grind, which I
think is weird at first, but then he leads me back behind the
building. It’s there that I see he’s set up a ladder, leaning
against the side of the building.

“You and your ladders,” I tease. He
just smirks back.

He motions for me to climb up first,
and when I do, he follows. When I reach the top, the sight takes my
breath away. He has the whole rooftop of the Grind set up
romantically. Any anger I felt towards him melts away instantly. I
look around in awe, taking it all in. There’s lights strung all
around the edges, twinkling magically in the dark of the night.
There’s four space heaters going, along with a pile of blankets in
one corner of the roof. And set up in the middle is a table and two
chairs.

“It’s more of a picnic than an actual
dinner,” he says, “just some lunch meats, bread, crackers, and
such. Nothing would stay warm up here, so I had to do cold
food.”

I’m trying to concentrate on what he’s
saying, but I’m still awestruck. “I can’t believe you did all of
this.” Then something dawns on me. “Wait. Is this legal? Do we have
permission to be up here?”

“Princess, if you really have to ask
that then you might want to consider the idea that you don’t know
me very well at all.”

I give him a disapproving look, but
then he steps towards me and wraps his arms around me, and once
again, I can’t stay mad. “This is perfect,” I whisper.

We sit down at the table and dig into
the sandwiches and wine.

“Now don’t go crazy with that stuff,”
Craig teases, referring to the wine. “I really don’t want to sleep
on the floor again.”

I shove his shoulder
gently.

“Time for your gift,” he
announces.

“I thought this was my gift,” I tell
him, gesturing around to the rooftop.

“This,” he says, making the same
gesture, “is a date. This,” he says, holding out a small box, “is a
gift.”

I smile as I take the box from him and
begin to open it. When I open it, my smile is gone. I’m actually
sort of… terrified… at what I see. I freeze, unable to move or say
a word. I just look at him for some kind of an
explanation.

“Okay,” he says calmly, “I can tell by
your hesitation what you’re thinking. It’s not an engagement ring,
princess. I’m not down on one knee or anything. Just hear me
ou-”

“Oh, thank God,” I interrupt, exhaling
the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

He laughs, “I’m a little offended,” he
tells me, placing his hand over his heart. “But seriously, it’s a
promise ring… if you’ll have it? It goes on your right hand, not
the left.”

I relax and then smile up at him. “I
love it.”

“But in all seriousness, would you
have really said no if it was an engagement ring?”

I shrug my shoulder. “I
guess you’ll never know,” I tell him, smiling. I
am
thankful it’s not an
engagement ring though. I know that I love him. I know it beyond
doubt now. But marriage? I don’t think either of us are ready for
that. I slide the ring on my right ring finger and it fits
perfectly. “How did you know my ring size?”

“Hailey,” he simply says.

“I love that girl,” I declare as I
hold my hand up in front of my face to inspect the beautiful
ring.

It’s old-fashioned, yet
timeless in its elegance; white gold, encrusted with diamonds all
around it. Looking at it, I
can
picture myself engaged. Although it scares me, I
can imagine marrying Craig. Someday.

We’ve finished our sandwiches, so I
stand up and hold my hand out for him. He grabs a hold of mine in
return without question. I lead him over to the corner of the
rooftop where the blankets are. We sit down together and he offers
me a blanket to wrap myself up in. But instead, I straddle him,
hold his face in my hands, and kiss him fiercely. I can’t believe
he was worried about me being cold. Snow starts to fall quickly
down on the rooftop, but neither of us seem particularly concerned
about it. I feel his hot breath all over my skin and it’s enough to
warm me, despite the frigid weather.

The snow does end up being a concern
the next day though, as classes get canceled for the day. We wake
up to the screaming of excited students in the halls. I just
squeeze Craig tighter, and he brushes the hair from my face and
kisses my forehead, before we both drift off back to sleep. We stay
in his room, under the blankets, all day. His roommate is in and
out, but we’re not doing much of anything inappropriate anyways.
Mostly, we just cuddle under the blankets and watch movies. It’s
one of my most favorite days that I can remember.

Chapter 18

March and April fly by. Before we know
it, the cold weather turns bearable, then rainy, and then nice
enough to go outside without a jacket on. May arrives, and with it
comes finals.

“Yes! Finally!” Drew says as we’re all
sitting in the cafeteria talking about the end of our freshman
year.

“I don’t want to leave,” I say
sullenly. I feel Craig’s hand squeeze mine under the table. He’s
trying to reassure me that everything will be alright when we get
back home, but I’m not convinced that my parents won’t hold me
prisoner again.

“Actually,” Hailey says, “I’ve been
wanting to ask you guys something. All of you,” she says, referring
to Drew, Craig, and myself. “My father is taking the family on a
trip over the summer. It’s like a six-week long Europe thing. He
wanted me to go with them, but six weeks is just too long. I
couldn’t be away from Drew for that long.” Craig makes a gagging
motion, but Hailey ignores it and continues, “So if we want, we’ll
have a big house to ourselves, for six whole weeks.”

I interrupt her before she can finish.
“Are you inviting us up to Michigan?”

“Well, yeah. If you guys would want to
go.”

I have to say, I’m beyond
excited. Although if I’m being honest, part of me is a little upset
that she’s finally inviting me out there and it’s
not
to meet her family.
I mean, I grew up at her house. Her house was more my house than my
actual house was. And since she found out about her dad and her
brothers and sisters in Michigan, she hasn’t asked me to meet them,
not even once. But I shake it off, for now. The thought had crossed
my mind before, to ask Hailey if we could go on a road trip to
Michigan this summer. But this is even better. I realize she could
have easily just kept it limited to Drew and herself, so I’m
grateful that she’s including me and Craig. Six weeks at a lake
house with my favorite people. I smile widely. Maybe freshman year
coming to an end won’t be so bad after all.

“I don’t know…” Craig says, trailing
off in thought.

My heart sinks. I know what he’s
thinking. Lexie. She has a hard enough time with him leaving for
school. Six weeks away for the summer would break her heart. “Why
not split it up?” I offer as an alternative, hoping it’ll be a
compromise that Lexie would be alright with. “We could go with
Hailey and Drew for just three weeks, but then give them the other
three weeks to themselves.”

I can tell by his face that he’ll give
into this. And he does.

Three weeks after our last final, and
after spending some quality time with family, we head out for a
road trip to Michigan. Even though Craig promises to call Lexie
every day, I make the same promise as well, since at this point I’m
convinced she’ll miss me just as much as she’ll miss Craig. Okay,
maybe not quite as much, but I know she’ll still miss me a lot,
seeing as how I’ve spent more time with Craig’s family than my own
in the last three weeks. I forgot how little my parents pay
attention to me when they actually have a full work
load.

We all load into Hailey’s car. Craig
and I will take a flight back in mid-July but for the trip up, it
makes sense to carpool. The car ride doesn’t bother me at all, but
I can tell Craig is starting to get antsy after the first six hours
or so. We’re all glad when we finally arrive.

“Wow, Hailey. This place is awesome,”
I marvel at her.

We all gather our things and place
them inside, in the front entrance of the mansion that they pass
for a house. I mean, I live in a big house and this house is a
mansion to me. I can imagine how intimidating it must have been for
Drew, coming here to meet Hailey’s father for the first time.
Hailey shows us to our rooms and we unpack for a while. I feel
Craig’s arms encircle me from behind as I’m placing the last of my
clothes in a once-empty drawer.