Chapter 25:

Friday came and Joe was at my place bright and early. "You really had to be here super early?" I asked rubbing my eyes when I opened the door.

"I wanted to spend as much time with you as possible."

"At 6:00 a.m.? Really?"

He kissed me and came inside.

"So how did you convince your dad to let you skip school?" I asked cuddling up next to him on my couch.

"It really wasn't that hard. I just told him I wanted to spend some quality time with you, especially after everything."

"And he was okay with that?"

"Do you know what today is?"

"Friday?"

"Well yes, but do you know what happened on this day a month ago?"

"What?"

"The best thing to ever happen to me became mine."

"Wow, my longest relationship. Well, my only relationship." I said laughing.

"I know a month isn't that long, but this has been the best month of my life and I'm so grateful that you're in my life."

I kissed him passionately. Not long after we started to get carried away and I stopped before we got to far. "Why'd you stop?" he asked fake pouting.

"I'm on my period." I blurted out. It was a lie, but I didn't know what else to say.

"Oh, uh, okay." He said awkwardly.

"Sorry, that was awkward."

"Little bit."

"Anyways! What should we do on this fine day?"

"Hmm, what's there to do around here?"

"I haven't done much exploring."

"Well, how about we explore then?"

"Sounds good, but can we sleep a couple more hours?"

He gave me a worried look.

"Oh come on! You woke me up at 6:00 a.m.! Give me a break!"

"Okay, okay. Fair enough."

"Yay!" I said taking his hand and bringing him to my room.

Joe even ended up falling asleep for a couple hours. Now, it was noon.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes."

We ended up having a nice picnic in a large field we found.

"I love it here." I said lying in the grass.

"I love anywhere as long as I'm with you." Joe said talking my hand.

"Suck up." I said turning and facing him.

"Maybe." He said facing me.

"This time I've spent with you has been amazing."

"It's been the best. You made my move here worth it."

"What was life like where you used to live? Did you leave a lot behind?"

"Sure, I had friends, but I wasn't that close to them. I played football at my old school so I was 'popular', which meant I didn't have real friends."

"So, it was easy to pick up and leave?"

"No, not at first. I didn't want to leave it behind. In fact, when I first got to the school I thought I was going to hate it, but then I bumped into this mysterious girl who wanted nothing to do with me."

"It wasn't that I didn't want anything to do with you."

"Oh really?"

"Really, I just didn't want anything to do with anyone."

"Oh, well that makes me feel better."

"Hey! At least it wasn't personal!"

"That's true."

"Joe?" I asked looking at him dead in the eyes in a serious tone.

"Yeah?" he asked a bit worried.

"I love you."

Yes, I finally said it. Those three words I've been scared to say since Elizabeth died. I knew I meant it.

"What?" He whispered.

"Are you really going to make me say it again?" I said shaking a little.

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. "I love you too."

I smiled and kissed his cheek, then resting my head on his shoulder.

Aw, she finally said it! Things are finally looking up!