Together Forever

Together Forever

Kate Bennie

Together Forever

By Kate Bennie

Copyright
2011
by
Kate Bennie

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are

products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or

persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the

intent of the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and

retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Always & Forever

I leaned against the doorway to the bathroom, watching Ryan finish up his morning routine. He was still shirtless, and only had his jeans on. I looked at him through the mirror from behind, and through his reflection, I saw the tattoo on his hip. It was just a medium sized fancy looking letter “R”.
What is this
Kate
? You know I hate people calling me Ryan. I swear, when we get back home, I’m adding a J to this,” he frowned at me.
“Ryan,” I whined. “But it looks really good on you,” I reasoned. He shook his head at me, trying to convince himself to not listen to me. “Add a J to it, this trip never happened,” I shrugged, and walked away with a smirk, knowing that I’ve won that fight.
My eyes trailed down his back, seeing part of the second tattoo that I had him get.
You’ll Always Be My Thunder.
“Why that line?” he asked me as we watched TV a few weeks after our Paris trip.
“What?” I asked, seriously confused.
“You’ll always be my thunder,” he said. I blushed and buried my face into his chest. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he laughed at me. “I’m just really curious.”
“I’m scared of thunderstorms,” I said to him. “I’m scared of you. You’re my weakness,” I said as if it was nothing.
“Why? Why are you so scared of me?” he asked, pushing me away slightly so he could look at my face. His own face was full of seriousness.
“Because you could easily break me.”
“You do know it’s rude to stare right?” he asked, turning to me with that familiar smirk on his face, breaking me out of my flashbacks.
“Is it bad that I’m admiring how handsome you are?” I asked, walking up to him and wrapped my hand around his neck, pulling his face down to me and kissed him on the lips.
“If I get that all the time, then stare away,” he laughed. I shook my head at him and kissed him once more before walking out to the room that we shared.
I stripped off my shirt, leaving me in my bra as I searched for the shirt I was going to wear. I didn’t care that Ryan was in the room. My bathing suit exposed just as much skin. I was about to pull my shirt on but I felt familiar arms around my torso and I was pulled into their chest.
I felt lips attach themselves to my neck, making me shiver. “Do you know how fucking beautiful you are?” he murmured.
“You tell me every day. Now let me go. I’m half naked,” I laughed at him.
“I’m sorry. I saw that tattoo and fuck. You’re just irresistible. I’m not even gonna make excuses,” he told me.
I blushed like crazy and stuck my tongue out at him. “Stop being a suck up and let me get changed,” I said pushing him away.
“Okay okay. I’ll go check on the others,” he mumbled and walked out of the room as I put my shirt on. I was attempting to close my luggage when Ryan walked back in with two muffins – one that he was halfway done with and one untouched one.
“Guys! We’re gonna be late! Come on! Let’s go!” Tristan’s voice boomed throughout the whole beach house.
“Will you please take a chill pill?” I yelled back out.
“Relax beautiful, you’re get wrinkles on that gorgeous face of yours,” Ryan whispered in my ear, hugging me.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I just don’t wanna leave,” I pouted at him.
“We still have three years of college left. We’ll get through it then we’ll spend every waking hour together somehow,” he smiled and kissed me.
“But we barely made it through last year,” I sighed.
“But we did, didn’t we?”
“What if we don’t this time?” I asked worriedly.
He took a deep breath, and hugged me tight. “I’m no angel, I’m just me. But I will love you endlessly,” he whispered, quoting the permanent ink that had been engraved into my skin a year and a half ago on probably the best day in my life.
“Let’s get to the airport first, guys?” Kyle asked walking past out room, not even bothering to look inside.
I gripped onto Ryan’s collar and gave him one last peck and turned to close my bag completely.
We walked out of the beach house and towards the deck. Where were we? Well, we were in the Fiji islands in our own island - which was a graduation gift from my parents and the Dolciani’s for Ryan, Stephanie and I.
“Why didn’t we just take the private jet?” I frowned.
“Because mom went to Italy for a fashion show,” Tristan frowned and put all our stuff in the motorboat. Everyone got on, and I looked up at the huge beach house.
“I’ll miss you,” I frowned, blowing it a kiss. “I’ll see you next summer.”
“Oh hell no, and I thought I had no competition.” Ryan frowned, stomping on the white sand towards the motorboat where a fraction of most important people in my life were aboard on – My brother and his girlfriend, my bestfriend Kyle and his girlfriend Samantha. Yes, that very same Samantha. I happily went aboard and Tristan started steering us to the main island. I walked over to Ryan who was batting his eyelashes at me and pouting.
“Awh, don’t worry handsome. You’re my one and only,” I said walking over to him and sat on his lap, kissing his nose lightly.
He beamed. “I know,” he grinned at me and kissed me on the lips.
“You know, I really don’t care that you guys have been together for awhile. I’d still beat you up if you have a hot make out session in front of me,” Tristan shouted from inside.
“Right back at you bro,” Ryan shouted back, pulling me closer. I buried my face in the crook of his neck. “School starts in a few days,” he whispered to me.
“Yeah,” I frowned.
“You really don’t want to move to Berkeley with me?” he frowned.
I looked at him, and got up. “Ry, we’ve been over this many times. Stanford is the closest school that offers Music management,” I sighed and sat next to him. “You
know
that if they offered it in UC Berkeley, I’d take it in a heartbeat,” I told him. “You know, Stanford has a business management program,” I took the chance.
“They do?” he asked. I nodded. He beamed. “You didn’t tell me that,” he pouted.
“I just did.”
“You didn’t tell me sooner,” he sighed. “I would’ve moved,” he said.
“I just found out last night. Apparently they’ve had it for a few years now,” I said to him.
“Babyboo, you know sometimes I think you can be such a blonde,” he shook his head at me, making me gasp. He quickly pressed a quick kiss to my lips “Next semester. I’ll transfer. I promise,” he half smiled at me.
“What? Really?” I asked disbelievingly.
“You act like you don’t believe me,” he smirked, pulling me back on his lap.
“Because! That’s a huge decision,” I told him.
“And if it meant that I had to give up my position in the company to be with you, I would. You know I’d give anything to be with you,” he smiled at me and kissed my cheek.
“Aw damn. This is dangerous,” I said to him.
“Why?”
I looked at him in the eyes. “Because you keep making me fall in love with you over and over again,” I smiled at him.
“I love you,” he smiled at me.
“I love you too,” I beamed and kissed him.

One And Only

“So, what’s your schedule this year?” I asked. It was the first question school-related that I asked all summer. He was driving us towards North California, back to our schools. Don’t get me wrong, we only lived an hour from each other but I was so used to seeing him
every day
and I felt like if we didn’t talk about it, we didn’t have to deal with it.
We spent the summer of senior year in the Fiji islands as well, then we moved into our respective schools. At first, Ryan couldn’t resist and would drive over to our dorms
every day
after his classes and sometimes even in the middle of the night then wake up early in the morning to drive back to the house he was living in - in Berkeley for school. But after awhile, I scolded him, since it would get him tired.
It eventually eased into him visiting me or me visiting him 4 to 5 times a week, and frequent phone calls, whining how much he missed me, and
vice
versa.
We spent our breaks together or would fly down to South California to visit my brother and his girlfriend who were both attending UCLA. We would usually drive over to Tahoe and snowboard during the season which was usually every other weekend, causing us to go to school sore.
We spent out spring break AKA Anniversary in Paris, just like the other year and it was nice. Memories and everything came rushing back. As if it kept the love fresh and exciting. Just like that first day in Paris.
So far, we haven’t had a major fight. Just small ones and we couldn’t stay mad at each other anyways. I liked it that way.
“What are you thinking about?” Ryan asked, rubbing circles on my hand.
I snapped out of my trance and noticed that I was smiling. I looked over at him, and my smile grew wider
(if that was even possible).
“Oh nothing, just thinking how fast time is flying,” I said. “And how much I love you, of course,” I grinned sheepishly.
He squeezed my hand and glanced at me with a smile. “Damn you’re so adorable. I wanna pull over right now and kiss you,” he chuckled.
“How about when we get there? Because I still have to drive back to Palo Alto,” I frowned, remembering that I left my car at his place.
“Fine,” he sighed and he took the exit on Claremont avenue, and went towards Claremont where they had huge houses close to the college. We got all my stuff out of his Jeep Commander and into my grey audi A4. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you there?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. You already drove and you barely got any sleep. That jet lag must be killing you too. I’ll get unpacked then maybe bring some dinner later?” I smiled at him.
“I’ll get some sleep then I’ll bring
you
dinner. I don’t want you driving late,” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“You really need to stop worrying,” I said putting my arms around his neck.
“How can I stop worrying? Have you seen yourself?” he chuckled, kissing my forehead - making my whole body tingle and caused my stomach to get
stomping rhinoceros
butterflies.
“A few times,” I said staring right into his eyes as he looked down at me
“I’m gonna miss you,” he pouted.
“I know, I’m gonna miss you too,” I pouted and pulled on his collar, pulling him down to kiss me. “I hate that I’m so short,” I mumbled on his lips.
“Well I love it,” he said as he took my hands and wrapped it around his neck, pulling me closer to him. We were leaning on the commander, until he pulled away. “You should go now or else I
won’t
let you leave,” he mumbled.
I sighed and hugged him for a little while until he stepped back, giving me room to walk to my car. “I’ll see you later?” I asked hopefully.
“No doubt,” he said as he walked me to my car, and opened the door. I smiled at him, as I took the driver’s seat and he closed it. I started the engine and rolled down the window. He leaned in and kissed my lips, and I smiled lightly pushing him away. “Ugh, why do you have to leave?” he groaned.
“It’s not like we
won’t
see each other for years, we’ll see each other in a few hours,” I smiled.
“It might as well be years,” he whined.
“You’re such a baby,” I rolled my eyes, fixing my rearview mirror.
“I’m your baby,” he grinned.
“Well, I’m gonna go now. I’ll get unpacked then you can get some sleep so you can bring me dinner,” I said to him.
“I guess,” he sighed. “I’ll see you later,” he said giving me another quick kiss. “I love you babe,” he smiled, stepping back from the car so that his feet wouldn’t get crushed by my who-knows-how-many-ton machine.
“I love you too,” I smiled at him as I put my phone on the phone holder on my dash, hooking up the Bluetooth to my speaker system and backed out of the driveway, going towards the freeway.
A few minutes later, my phone started ringing. I looked at it and laughed seeing
BabyBoo
written on my screen. I pressed the answer button, and he appeared on my screen. “I miss you already,” he said, holding his phone in front of him.
I looked at the time. “Awesome. 10 minutes. That’s a new record,” I joked.
“Don’t blame me you’re irresistible,” he winked at me. “Anyways, your mom just called telling me to tell you to meet her in the San Francisco branch of Apple on Saturday morning,” he said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I think she wanted to have lunch with us or something,” he told me, his eyes diverted since he was probably doing some unpacking.
“Why did she call you?” I raised my eyebrow, glancing at the screen.
“She thought you were still here and she was rushing too much to hang up on me and call you, then explain all over again,” he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think I like the fact that my parents are getting cooler,” I mumbled. He busted out laughing. “Not funny,” I grumbled as I changed lanes.
“No kidding,” I saw him grimace. “Our parents are hanging out too much,” he laughed.
“You can say that again,” I frowned.
“Babe as much as I wanna stay and chat, I need to go take a shower and I doubt you’d be able to help yourself if I brought my phone with me,” he winked.
My face contorted in disgust. I shuddered. “Go take a shower and sleep, but make sure to wake up. I want food,” I frowned.
“Of course. I probably won’t be able to sleep anyways, I’ll be too excited to see you,” he smiled.
“You’re such a kiss up,” I smiled, the undeniable butterflies fluttering in my stomach. “Well, go to sleep and dream of me handsome,” I winked.
“Always,” he chuckled. “Anyways, I’ll see you later.”
“Bye babe. I love you,” I blew a kiss.
He acted like he caught it. “I love you too,” he said before hanging up.
I called my brother, and Stephanie picked up. “Hey Lyn,” she smiled.
“Hey Steph, is T there?” I asked.
“Yeah, in the shower though,” she said.
“Oooh, shower,” I joked.
“Don’t even,” she rolled her eyes.
“Tell him that we got here safe and I’m on my way back to the campus,” I said to her.
“Will do,” she said smiling. “Wait, Ryan’s not with you?” she asked.
“Nope,” I said.
“Oh.. I thought,” she said uneasily. “Well, drive safe! Bye!” she hurriedly dismissed and hung up. I raised my eyebrow. Weirdoes.
I took my exit and drove through the streets and in front of the dorm, taking my luggage and up to my dorm that I didn’t really share with anybody. It was pretty huge considered that it was a dorm. It was bigger than my room in Santa Monica, so I really wouldn’t have minded if I started sharing it with anyone.
I put my key in the doorjamb and twisted it to unlock the door then stepped inside, surprised to see that the lights were on. I guess I left them on before I left? Well, I’m lucky that I don’t have to pay for bill, or else.
I walked over to my bed, putting my luggage next to my bed and put my messenger on my bed. “Stupid luggage’s,” I frowned.
“Hey, you must be my roommate,” I heard from behind me making me jump and let out a little squeal. I eased my breathing, clutching on to my chest, scared that it would jump out of where it should be. I slowly opened my eyes and was about to introduce myself when I found that it was no longer necessary. I squealed and ran towards her, hugging her tightly and together we jumped up like the girls that we are.
“Samantha! What the fuck are you doing here?!” I asked when we finally finished our celebration.
“Oh nothing. Just here,” she said and shrugged sitting on her bed, crossing her legs.
“What the fuck do you mean ‘just here’?” I asked.
“I mean, I’m going to school here and I’m gonna be your roommate, that’s what I mean!” she laughed and I did a victory dance.
I stopped and looked at her. “What about Kyle? Didn’t you guys have that thing in New York?” I asked.
“He’s getting settled into his dorm,” she smiled.
“Wait, so he moved here too?”
Can this get any better?!
“Yeah. He didn’t let me move alone,” she smirked.
“Awww! That’s so sweet!” I squealed. “This is gonna be great. College. Both of us. It’s gonna be
bomb
.”
“Sorry, but I’m faithful,” she chuckled.
“Are you saying that
I’m
not?!” I gasped.
“No, you said that,” she pointed out.
“Agh! I can't believe you’re here!” I smiled and hugged her like crazy.
I know, I know. It’s weird for you all. But fuck, Samantha was pretty damn awesome.
“Trust me, you will and it’ll get better,” she laughed.
“What?” I asked confused.
“You’ll find out,” she said. “Now let’s get you unpacked,” she said walking over to my luggage, trying to carry it but failed. “Okay, I can't even carry that thing. What on earth do you have in there?” she asked.
“Nothing. Just clothes,” I shrugged. She eyed me carefully. “Okay, fine. Maybe a few hard drives and maybe a couple laptops,” I hung my head.
“Oh
Kate
, you never change,” she shook her head.