The next week at school, Ivy felt as if she were floating. She had a constant smile on her face and a dreamy look to match it.
"I'm so glad you and Nate finally got together," Mitchie said as Ivy put away her books in her locker. "It took you guys long enough."
Ivy laughed. "Well if Ms. Interruption wasn't always doing her thing, then maybe we would've gotten together sooner," she said sending a pointed look at her cousin before bursting out into a grin.
"Well, what do we have here?" Kayla Hornsby sneered as she walked by. She was their high school's version of Tess, but worse. Being from a small town, everyone knew everyone since childhood, which meant a whole lifetime's worth of embarrassing memories. "Another delusional Connect 3 fan girl?" She was referring to the candid picture of Nate that was hanging in Ivy's locker. She then looked to Mitchie with a disgusted look. "I'm surprised you're letting her drool over your boyfriend's best friend like some stalker."
"Actually, Nate and Ivy are a couple," Mitchie told Kayla matter-of-factly. She seemed unfazed by this. Rumors had already been circulating the school hallways since Monday.
"So the rumors are true," Kayla said. "Jeez, Mitchie, what'd you have to do for your boyfriend to get his best friend to date her." Mitchie clenched her fists in anger, but Ivy put a calming hand on her shoulder.
"Forget about her, Mitch," Ivy said, oddly upbeat. "The boys are waiting for us outside." Mitchie gave her cousin a weird look. She'd never seen Ivy act like this before… so mellow and calm, especially when it came to Kayla Hornsby.
"You're right," Mitchie agreed, releasing her fists. "They're not worth it. Let's go see our boyfriends." She addressed the last part to a glowering Kayla and her lackeys as they turned and walked off.
"You know, Nate's been a good influence on you, Ivy," Mitchie told her as they walked down the halls, side-by-side, smiling at familiar faces. "You're a lot more… calm."
"Trying to say I was a completely spaz before?" Ivy asked jokingly. Mitchie didn't have a chance to reply because once they walked outside the high school, Ivy ran off and launched herself into Nate's arms, giving him a kiss.
"Ew, were we ever that lovey-dovey, Shane?" Mitchie asked as she greeted her own boyfriend with a hug and a kiss.
"Yes," Nate and Ivy responded simultaneously before turning to each other again with identical lovesick faces.
Mitchie made a face, but Shane gave his girlfriend a lopsided grin. "Whoever said it was a bad thing?" he asked her before kissing her sweetly on the lips.
xoxo
"Mommy, I'm going out with Nick. I'll be back later," Ivy called out as she rushed down the stairs.
"Just be home by ten!" her mom called out as the door slammed shut.
"Hey, Nate," Ivy greeted with a kiss as she reached the car outside her house. "Hey, Jase, Ange. Thanks for giving us a ride."
"No problem," Jason replied with a grin, "Just dropping you guys off at the place, right?" He shot a sly glance at Nate.
"Yeah, the place," he replied with a mysterious smile on his face.
"Place? What place? Where are we going, Nate?"
"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," Nate replied, trying to be funny.
"Yeah, that's not creepy at all, Nate," Angie snorted. Jason shot her a look, and she shrugged shamelessly.
"I just want it to be a surprise," Nate said, excitement lacing his voice, "You'll see when we get there."
Ivy's jaw dropped when they reached their destination. Set up on the sandy beach, overlooking the ocean, a small picnic blanket was set up, complete with picnic basket.
"Aw, Nate, you're so sweet!" Ivy cooed, hugging her boyfriend.
"Jeez, Jase, why can't you do anything that sweet?" Angie teased as they drove off, leaving the new lovebirds alone.
"Nate, what is this?"
"It's dinner. For me and you," Nate said, shrugging bashfully.
The two seated themselves and spent the evening talking and eating and having a genuine good time. They were still in their "honeymoon" stage of their new relationship, and they were enjoying acting all lovey-dovey.
As it got darker, Ivy laid in Nate's arms on the picnic blanket, looking up at the stars. Ivy laughed as Nate tried to show off his astronomy skills.
"And that one right there," Nate pointed up in a random general direction, "That one is called Orion's belt. It's used to keep up Orion's pants from falling down." Ivy laughed.
"Of course, that makes perfect sense. You don't want Orion flashing half the world, now do we?"
They settled into a comfortable silence.
"You know our two month stay here is almost over," Nate announced awkwardly. He felt Ivy shift in his arms. Ivy didn't like having to think about the fact that Nate would only be there with her for a couple more weeks. She preferred to live in an alternate reality where time froze still for them, so they could stay like that forever. But she wasn't about to guilt him about it.
"Yeah, I know," she said softly.
"You know I meant what I told your parents," Nate told her. "Just because I'll be on tour doesn't change the fact that I care about you, and you care about me."
"I know," she repeated, even more softly.
"Hey," Nate said, tilting Ivy's face up so she was looking at him. "You believe me, don't you?"
"Of course I do," Ivy said more confidently, "It's just… it's going to be harder when we don't get to see each other all the time like we do now, you know?"
"I know," Nate said, kissing her forehead, "But we'll always have phone calls, emails, texts, IMs… it's the twenty-first century, you know." He laughed.
"I know, but it still won't be the same," Ivy said in a soft voice.
Nate hugged Ivy closer to him. "I know," he whispered. Ivy instantly felt guilty for making Nate feel bad about leaving. "But anytime you ever feel lonely, all you have to do is look up at the sky, at the stars and the moon, and know that we're both looking at the same stars; that we're both dreaming about each other under the same moon."
Ivy smiled at her boyfriend's romanticism. "You're such a sap," she said affectionately.
"And you love it," Nate said, tickling her.
In between her giggles, she replied, "I sure do."
I'm so sorry for the long wait and for the fact that this chapter is short and pretty much sucks. I hit major writer's block. This is the first time I've ever made it far enough into the story that the main two characters actually get together, so I just wasn't sure where to go. I hope I didn't lose too many readers.
I've also hit major's writer's block on my auditions story, Who Needs Protecting from Who?, and I would greatly appreciate a co-author, if anyone's interested.
I will try my hardest to get the next chapter up much sooner, but I don't want to make a promise I can't keep, so just be on the lookout. I don't think there will be many chapters left after this one, but I already have the sequel planning in my brain, so don't worry if you want more :)
Disclaimer: I own nada. Now stop rubbing it in.
Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
xoxoxoxox