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By the time my mom finished, she had tears in her eyes and all I wanted to do was make her feel better. “I’m going to be honest. That’s how it started out. That’s why I never got into any serious relationships and why I decided that Jenny and I couldn’t be together. But that’s not the case anymore. I would take the risk for her.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“We live on different ends of the country Mom. We can’t exactly just drive down the street to see each other. Plus, I don’t think she trusts that I won’t hurt her.”
“Then move to her. Prove to her that you would do anything to be together. Show up at her apartment and tell her how you feel about her.”
My mom’s words shocked me. Weren’t parents supposed to be the rational ones? Weren’t they supposed to lecture us kids about not making life altering decisions on a whim.
“So, let me get this straight,” I reiterated. “You want me to pack up my whole life and move across the country just for some girl that might not even want to hear what I have to say?”
“Is Jenny really just some girl?”
“No, she isn’t. I’m madly in love with her mom. But let’s say I did do something crazy like move out there. What if spill my heart out to her and she still doesn’t want to be with me?”
My mom laughed at this. “I highly doubt that will happen. I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She wants to be with you just as much as you want to be with her. Plus, it’s not like you would be moving out there JUST for her. You love LA. The first time we ever vacationed there when you were just a kid, you told me that you were going to move there someday. You talked about it all through high school too. I was shocked when you told me you were moving out to go live near Philly. It never added up.”
“I can’t move to LA mom. I can’t leave you. I’m not choosing Dad over you. He doesn’t deserve that. You don’t deserve that.”
My mom pulled me into her, embracing me from the side. “Oh honey. Is that really what you’re afraid of? Do you think if you move to LA that I’ll think you chose your father over me? I would never think that. You don’t have to choose between us. The only choice you need to make is what is going to make you happy.”
I considered her words. “Jenny makes me happy mom. California makes me happy too. But I can’t imagine being so far away from you that I couldn’t just drive a few hours to see you. You’re my best friend. I don’t think I can leave you.”
My mom stared at me for a few seconds like she was trying to think of the right motherly advice to give me, but then her face lit up like she had just come up with the greatest idea of all time.
“What if you could have it all?” She asked. “What if I came with you? I know it sounds crazy, but there’s really nothing keeping me here now that your grandparents are both gone. I can get a job anywhere.”
I looked into my mom’s eyes, wondering if it was a mom thing to be this crazy or if it was just my mom. “You would really do that for me?”
“Honey, I would do anything for you.”
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Once my mom made up her mind about something, she worked quickly. She immediately put her house up for sale and began packing things up. Luckily, we got an offer on the house pretty quickly and my mom agreed to come to LA as soon as everything was settled. Since I was renting my condo, I paid the landlord extra money to break my lease early.
I started looking at houses that my mom and I could share until she found one of her own. By the time I was ready to head to LA, I had a few places that I was considering. I know I could have waited until I officially had a place to head to LA, but I had waited long enough to be with Jenny and I had the perfect plan to win her over, but it involved being there in June.
`When I arrived in Los Angeles, rainbows were everywhere. They really did go all out for their pride festival. I dropped my bags off at Ryan and Todd’s apartment, reminding Todd exactly where he and Jenny should be standing on the parade route and then went to meet Ryan at his nonprofit.
On the way, I sent Jenny a text telling her to have fun at pride. I knew she would question if I didn’t text her since we had both been working really hard to restore our friendship.
I smiled as I walked into the Unicorn Cove and read the text Jenny had sent me.
I wish you were here with me. Could you please plan a trip to California soon?
“Someone’s happy today,” Ryan said as he walked up to me and kissed my cheek. “It’s so good to see you again Rory. I’m so excited for today.”
“I’m extremely anxious,” I admitted. “What if it’s not enough?”
Ryan chuckled, throwing his head back. “Girl. You planned a whole move across the country in just two months so you could confess your love during pride. It’s more than enough. Plus, it’s Jenny. You could have confessed your love over the phone and it would have been enough. She’s mad about you.”
“Thanks Ryan and thank you for doing all of this for me. I feel bad that you changed your whole float theme just to accommodate me.”
“Stop that,” he said with a flick of the wrist. “High School Musical is a great theme. I don’t care if half the kids here are too young to appreciate it and the other half think they are too cool for it. One thing we can all agree on is the fact that Zac Efron is sexy.”
We joined some of the regulars from the Unicorn Cove and walked with them to the beginning of the parade route where our float was waiting for us. The float looked awesome in person. It was red and white and had “East High Wildcats” written on the side. The best part was the speaker system that was going to blast the soundtrack as we made our way through the parade route.
When we were about halfway through the parade route, we came up on the area where I had told Todd to stand with Jenny.
Ryan handed me a megaphone and patted me on the back. “Are you ready for this?”
I didn’t say anything because I honestly wasn’t sure if I was ready. That was until I looked into the crowd and saw her. She was wearing a rainbow crop top and short jean shorts. There was glitter on her face and her tan arms were covered with rainbow tattoos. She looked stunning. As I looked at her, everyone else disappeared.
I held the megaphone up to my mouth and started to speak. “Jennifer Anneliese Hanson. I need to talk to you.”
When she turned to look in my direction, the sun reflected off of her eyes and they shimmered in the same way they did the first day I met her. I was so captivated that I almost forgot what I had come to say. But the shocked smile on her face encouraged me to continue.
“I had this whole speech planned out, but now as I’m looking at you, I can’t seem to remember any of it. So I’m just going to say it. I love you Jenny. I’m madly in love with you. So much so that I moved across the country on the off chance that you would forgive me.”
I jumped off of the float and ran up to her since I didn’t want to say the next part through a megaphone for everyone to hear. When I was beside her, I took both of her hands in mine.
“That night that we finally let go and gave ourselves to one another was the best night of my life. It was the night that I realized just how much I loved you. But the months that followed were the worst. They showed me how empty my life is without you. I’m not going to stand here and promise to never hurt you because I know that’s not realistic. A relationship isn’t going to be easy. It isn’t going to be perfect. We’re both going to make a lot of mistakes. But, my God, will it be worth it. Please tell me that it’s worth it to you too.”
Jenny beamed while shaking her head at me. “Of course it’s worth it. You’re worth it. I love you too Rory. I love you so much.”
With that, she leaned in and kissed me. We kissed like there was no one else around and I honestly forgot there was until I heard the hoots and hollers, the loudest ones of course coming from Todd and Ryan.
We both broke into laughter as we stared into each other’s eyes. Jenny removed her hand from mine, placing her
pointer finger on my chin dimple.
“I love you Miss Montgomery.”
“I love you too Jenny wedding.”
THE END