Forever Love

by Jade Whitfield

  "You ever been to Savannah before?"

  She looks at me with surprise on her beautiful face.

  "Yeah, I've never really seen it though, you know? Trina's grandmother lives out in Bloomingdale and I've tagged along to see her a couple of times. Trina's family comes from here so when we've come, there hasn’t been much exploring to be done."

  "Well you shoulda said, can't have you going home disappointed now, can we? You ever watched Forrest Gump?"

  "Of course, I love that movie."

  "Then I think I know something you'll definitely want to see."

  Growing up only an hour away from Savannah, which when you live in a town that’s the middle of nowhere is nothing, we never really saw anything special about it. I mean sure it’s a pretty city and I guess it's got some cool things in it but thats about fucking it. Kids from Franklin only ever really see it as a place to get some decent branded clothes and better food. Of course with Liv now living in Franklin, that list now includes getting decent coffee. Livs eyes widen with surprise and excitement as I point things out to her on the way to Chippewa square. It should only be about a twenty minute walk down Whittaker Street but I go a different way so as to show her some of the old buildings.

  We enter the park and I point to the white concrete wall a little in front of the big bronze statue.

  "Look familiar?" I gotta be honest, I'm really fuckng proud of myself for remembering this and bringing her here.

  "It’s a wall." She deadpans.

  "Well I can see that but do you recognize the wall? Its fucking famous."

  This girl just is not getting it.

  "I don’t think walls can be famous, Noah."

  "Course they can, what about the Great Wall of China."

  "This don’t look like no Great Wall."

  "This is the bench that Forest Gump sits on." I say, unable to believe she doesn’t recognize it.

  Liv looks at me as if I've lost my mind.

  "Noah, there's no bench." She speaks slowly and carefully as if speaking to a cornered animal. For fuck sake, try to do something nice and you get treated like a fucking nutcase.

  "Well there isn't now. Its in a museum or some shit but this-" I point to the bare space in front of me. "This is where it was. You know on the first scene, with the feather."

  A smile graces her face when she finally gets it.

  "Life is like a box of chocolates." She says in a deep heavy southern accent, which is a total fail.

  I shake my head and this time it's me rolling my eyes. Who would have thought that the girl with the bitchy persona that I met a week and a half ago would be doing Forest Gump impersonations, poor ones at that.

  ***

  After a full day, walking around Savannah, having some Tutti Frutti ice cream, which I thought Liv was gonna buy the whole shop out of with the way she was raving about it, I pull up just outside the old gate for the second time today. It's now getting dark and I know that soon those stars are gonna be making an appearance. This is my last plan for the day and fingers crossed it goes well. Livs eyes are barely staying open and I feel a bit bad that I'm dragging her out here when she's tired. I have to do this now though, before her mind starts overthinking and she gets cold feet. I've spent most of the day with my face glued to hers to stop that happening, theres no complaints from here though.

  I push open the gate, I'm suprised that shit hasn’t fallen off its hinges yet, and wait for Liv to pass. Yet again, the white Phlox are practically invisible under the cover of darkness. I have the blanket from earlier in one hand so that we can sit down and her hand safely encased in the other. I lay the blanket on the ground and pull her down with me, leaning back on my elbows and stretching my legs in front. She's way too busy staring at the sky and I'm way too busy staring at her. I lie back flat and gently take her by the arm and guide her down to me, settling her with my arm wrapped around her shoulders. She's the perfect fit, not that I was expecting anything but. She's perfect everything.

  I tickle the side of her face, amazed at how soft her skin is and she looks up to me with bright blue eyes. I lean down and rub my nose against hers before taking her mouth. Her full soft lips molding to mine. She surprises the fuck out of me when I feel her tongue poking through my lips, seeking entrance to my mouth. Who am I to deny the lady what she wishes? I rub my hand down her flat toned stomach as her hand grips the back of my neck, playing with the ends of my short hair. My eyes are closed yet I feel as if she's filling all of my senses. Her sweet smell is filling my nose, her gentle moans filling my ears, her tongue filling my mouth and her sweet soft skin filling my hands. It's hard to believe that there's a person in existence that’s this perfect. I know that half the male population in this town thinks so aswell with how many fuck off looks I've had to hand out since she's arrived.

  I run my hand from her shoulders over the outer swell of her breasts that I'm just itching to knead and grab and back over her stomach. I can feel her thighs slowly opening as she slowly grinds her pelvis into me causing me to let out a groan. Our kissing is becoming more feverish as I push my lips against hers harder and my touch becomes rougher. I can feel Livs hands slowly making their way under my shirt, touching my abs causing them to tense under her cool touch. I pull myself from her, breathing in air heavily, this isn't how I want this to happen. Shes not some slut to bang in a field in the spur of the moment and I'm not one of those chumps back in Atlanta that she gives fuck buddy status. No, we're more to each other than that and even though we haven't known each other long, I know that I want to give her memories that she can cherish throughout her life, no our life.

  I take in her face which is flushed and her eyes are bright and feverish.

  "Be mine." I nearly growl the demand at her.

  "W-what?"

  "I'm not gonna have sex with you, Liv."

  I can see the hurt pass over her features and feel like fucking kicking myself at my poor choice of words.

  "Not yet anyway." I rush out, not liking the injured expression on her face. "Your not just some girl that I wanna lay and I'm not some guy that your gonna use to forget whatever shit that’s on your mind."

  She goes to speak but I soon put my forefinger against her lips to stop her.

  "You're beautiful, you're special and you deserve to be treated that way. Yes, this is romantic I suppose but I want you to be mine more than I want to fuck you. I know you're scared and nervous but I wanna take care of you, I wanna to love you." I briefly regret using the L word. I hope to fuck that doesn’t have her running in the opposite direction.

  Liv doesn’t say a word, just looks into my eyes as if trying to work out if I'm being sincere or not. I appreciate the fact that I'm probably seeing her at her most vulnerable in this moment and that thought is cemented by the words that next leave her mouth.

  "Please don’t break me." It’s a near whisper and if it wasn’t so silent out here, I probably wouldn't have heard. The look in her eyes, the sound of her voice, it near enough breaks my fucking heart. Who the fuck hurt her? And what the fuck happened to make a young girl so scared of love?

  "I promise. Just be mine and nothing will ever touch you." I'm putting everything out on the line here for a girl I've known for a little over a week on a half. Sounds crazy even to me and I'm living it.

  She gives a small, almost imperceptible nod which has me grinning from ear to ear. I take her mouth again In a scorching kiss that seals what we've just committed to. Each other.

  Chapter 11

  Liv

  What the fuck have I done? I can't have a boyfriend, I'm just gonna wreck his life. I feel the panic running through me. I want this so damn much though, more than I've ever wanted anything before in my life. I want to believe him when he says he'll protect me, that he'll take care of me but I'm having a hard time believing that. After all, I've heard that shit before and it ended up being the worst fucking mistake I could have made. I can't break again, I don’t know if I'll be able to stick myself back togeth
er a second time.

  Then I think of the way Noah held my small hand tightly In his much bigger one, I've never had that feeling before. Most of the feelings I have with Noah, I've never experienced before. The butterflies in my stomach, my heart missing a beat every time he says something sweet, the electric shock that runs through me every time his skin touches mine. And his kiss, well shit, I didn’t even know kissing could be all consuming and hungry. Before, kissing has always just been a sort of necessity before the grand finale but with Noah it feels sacred and personal.

  I feel as if I'm standing on a cliff edge and I'm either gonna fall to the bottom with a SPLAT!, or I'm gonna fly.

  I lie in bed with all of these thoughts running through my head. At least I got to sleep in this morning, though I must admit I had the best night sleep I think I've ever had. I reach over to the bedside table to reach for my phone, I've hardly spared it a glance in the last day. I scroll through my texts, two from Trina, I'll have to call her back in a minute. There's a text from Mark, what the hell does this guy want.

  Hey Liv, Missed u! When u coming 2 visit?

  When am I coming to visit? Errrrrrrmmm NEVER!

  I delete that and press on Trina's name to call her. I haven't spoken to her since Friday night, I was way too tired to call her last night so I just went straight to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

  "Hey boo, I was beginning to wonder if I should file a missing persons report for your absent ass. Who was it?"

  "Why do you always assume I was with someone?" I can't help smiling at how well Trina knows me, though she's a little off the truth. If she knew the truth she'd probably keel over.

  "Were you?"

  I can just imagine her face with her eyebrows raised and a cat ate the canary smile.

  "Well yes-"

  "HA! I knew it, you can't hide stuff from me Liv, I'm all seeing." I roll my eyes.

  "Will you let me finish? As I was saying, I was with someone else but it was all strictly above clothing"

  "What do you mean above clothing? Like a quickie in a bush?"

  I burst out laughing at that statement. A quickie in a bush? You'd think she'd have a bit more faith in me.

  "No there was no quicky, or slowy before you ask that."

  "Oh my god Liv, do I need to put an ad in the paper?"

  Though I don’t usually keep secrets from Trina, I haven't exactly been forthcoming in everything concerning Noah. She knows that we kissed but I played it off as a huge mistake that I didn’t want to repeat. To say she's going to be mad as hell when she finds out I've held out on her will be the understatement of the century.

  My silence seems to be all the answer she needs as an ear piercing scream blares through the phone, causing me to pull it away from my ear before I turn deaf. Maybe I should go and make myself a sandwich while I'm waiting for her to calm down.

  "Oh my god, oh my god. Mama was right, she had a feeling and you know how she is when she gets her feelings. I can't believe it, you're gonna have to send me a photo, no a video cause photos don’t really show you anything. Oh and make sure he's talking on this video, I wanna be able to hear his voice. You'll have to bring him to Savannah with you, I wanna meet him. Where did you meet him? Oh shit, is it the stepbrother? I just can't believe this is happening. You know what this is, don’t you boo? He's your forever love, there's no way you'd settle for anything if it wasn’t the real deal. And before you say anything, I feel it in my bones. Oh this is so exciting."

  I wait patiently for her to stop rambling. Surely she's gonna need to breath some time soon.

  "Trina, Trina, TRINA! Calm down woman."

  "I'm so excited though."

  "You haven't even let me explain."

  "Explain then."

  "Yes it's Noah."

  Another scream.

  "Cut it out with the screaming. Poor Mrs Travenagh next door is gonna think there's an axe murder going on." I take a deep breath. "He refused to sleep with me."

  "He refused? You? Is he gay?" I chuckle at Trina's reasoning.

  "No, he's not gay. He said I'm not some lay, I'm more than that. He asked me to be his."

  And the screaming resumes. I sigh and roll my eyes while holding the phone in the air. I pull it back to my ear when I can't hear anymore screeching coming from the handset.

  "That is soooooo romantic. Oh Liv, hes just what you need."

  "Hey, for all we know, he could be a complete ass like the rest of the male population." Though I don’t think he's like that, I don’t want Trina to get ahead of herself here.

  "Oh, we both know that you wouldn’t have agreed to be his if you thought that. You did agree didn’t you?"

  "Yes."

  "Well then roll with it girl. He's not Tommy, you need to stop thinking every guy in the world is Tommy. I can't believe you, Liv Preston, has a boyfriend. I thought this day would never come."

  The mention of HIS name, has me wanting to end this conversation as soon as possible. I let out a completely fake laugh as I feel my heartbeat quicken. There's a knock at the door.

  "Listen, Trina, there's someone at my door. I'll call you later ok."

  "Don’t forget to send me that video. And I want a full play by play of events later on. Don’t think your getting off that easily."

  "Yep, will do."

  I rush Trina off the phone and hang up as I put my hand on my chest in a bid to calm me down. You would think that two years later, I wouldn’t still get that same reaction from just the mention of his name.

  There's another knock at the door.

  "Come on in." I yell, a little too loudly.

  The door opens and Noah pops his head around it. He's in a gray v-neck tshirt with black jogging bottoms that lie perfectly on his narrow hips.

  "I wasn’t sure if you were awake." He smirks.

  That smirk erases all of the fears and doubts. The butterflies take care of every other bad feeling. It's been so long since I let Tommy Benson into my head, it's shaken me up that I have now. Maybe it’s the familiarity of the situation, of opening myself up for someone that’s done it. I'm not saying that Noah and Tommy are anything alike. Noah would never do what Tommy did, but the other ways in which they are alike jar me. Both handsome, though id definitely say Noah has him beat by miles, both into sports, both popular. Thankfully that’s it, since if their personalities were anything alike, id have my bags packed and be running in the opposite direction.

  I put that asshole to the back of my mind, I will not let him get to me now, not after all this time.

  "Sorry I took so long to answer, I was on the phone."

  "No worries." He smiles and comes towards me. Id be lying if I said I wasn’t completely out of my element in this situation. I have no idea how to react, I've never had a boyfriend, not really. I have a hunch that my bed hopping and sneaking out in the morning aren't gonna help me out here.

  He rubs his hands up and down my arms, looking into my eyes and suddenly I can't cope with the distance anymore, I need him to kiss me, to touch me, if only to erase that bastard out of my mind. I clutch the front of his shirt and pull him down to me, stepping onto my tiptoes to reach. I crush my mouth against his in a desperate and fevered kiss. I just can't get enough of him, as his tongue explores my mouth and plays hide and seek with my own. He lets out a low growl as his hands clutch onto my ass, squeezing.

  He pulls his face away from mine, though his hands stay put. I feel like screaming at the loss of his lips but his smile erases that feeling of loss.

  "I've been waiting to get my hands on your ass for far too long." His shit eating grin has me rolling my eyes.

  I playfully punch him in the arm and he feigns injury.

  "You’re an ass." I say, shaking my head in mock outrage.

  "You love it." He wiggles his eyebrows up and down.

  "So, is that all you came in here for, to grab my ass?"

  His hand goes to his heart.

  "How little you think of me Liv."

&
nbsp; I laugh at his dramatics, what a goofball. He grabs me and pulls me into him and a look of pure hunger crosses over his face as his hands get reacquanted with my ass.

  "I gotta say, now I've had a touch, I don’t think I've ever gonna be able to stop."

  I think a little playing is in order here. I copy his movement and take his own behind in my hand, giving a firm squeeze. Well, I gotta say, he has a mighty fine ass. His nose nudges mine and the endearing action has my heart missing a beat. All these missing beats can't be good for it, at this rate I'll be down with a heart attack by the time I'm twenty.

  "You're right though, I didn’t come here just to grab your ass, that was just a perk. I came to ask you if you wanted to come with me round Brady's. He's got a pool, saves spending time with the family." He rolls his eyes.

  This is the first time since things have become somewhat official that I've thought about the fact that we are technically family. Well shit, that bursts my bubble.

  "Oh fuck fuck fuck. Noah, what are we gonna tell them?" I say, pulling away and covering my eyes with my hands.

  "Hey, hey, calm down, it's gonna be ok."

  "How can you say that? Damn Noah, theyre never gonna allow this."

  "They can't stop it. I figure we'll keep this on the down low for the time being and then in a couple of weeks, or a few months tops, we'll tell them. We'll have been together a while then and they'll see how much we want to be together, that this isn't just some passing fancy or some fling. It's not like we're related or anything, hell we only met each other for the first time the other week. We're doing nothing wrong and why should we not be able to be together, just because are parents decided that they should."

  His words definitely make sense and they calm me somewhat. I'm sure that’s the first of many near meltdowns I'll have until this shit is out in the open. The fear of losing him, of losing this is too strong though. Shit, how can I feel like this after so little time. This is crazy.