Forever Love

by Jade Whitfield

  "Thank you."

  "Sweetie I just want you both to be happy and I know your Dad wants the same thing too."

  The fear that has stayed in the background for the last few months whenever I think of me and Noah slowly dissipates. I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been worried about the future for us, I know that it's impossible to keep this secret forever. A small part of me was kinda hoping to just send them a text when I've left for college however silly that might sound. I just hope Pam's right, something's telling me World War three is about to break out in the Travers/Preston household.

  Chapter 25

  Noah

  Everytime I look at Brady it feels like the guilt is gnawing at me from the inside. This is completely my fucking fault but I too much of an asshole to just come clean. I know that Cindy and Brady's problems aren't completely my fault, I know that they have their own issues that are separate to me, none of that matters though,this whole situation, them breaking up, it's my fault. Just a few more days and then I'll come clean, that’s what I keep telling myself.

  "Dude, will you please stop throwing that damn fucking ball in the air? Shits sending me dizzy." I'm serious, I've been watching that ball go up and down, up and down for the past half hour.

  "I'm thinking, it helps me think."

  "Why the hell am I here Brady?"

  "I don’t think she's gonna take me back."

  "Would living together be that bad?" I ask.

  "No, we had plans though, you know, me and you." This so isn't helping my guilt. "We're gonna party, have the full college experience, that’s the plan."

  I know that I'm making things worse for myself by having this conversation and still not telling him.

  "Have you spoke to her?"

  "Through text yeah, she's avoiding me at school like I've got some fucking disease, whenever I bring up about us sorting stuff out she just says that she needs time to get her head together, says that she's not sure if I'm mature enough to have a committed relationship and she doesn’t wanna waste anymore of her time. I mean, what the fuck? Really?" The face he pulls, as if he smelt something foul, has me rolling my eyes.

  Cindy isn't far wrong, Brady is pretty immature and before they got together,he was a major player in this town. I know how much he loves her though, despite him acting like a jackass ninety nine percent of the time.

  "Show her then." I don’t know what possesses me to say it, I've been trying to keep advice and my opinion out of it since I'm already enough to blame for this shit, I don’t need Brady taking some of my advice and fucking things even more.

  "Show her what?"

  "That your not immature, that you love her. Prove her wrong. Sitting here sulking, throwing that fucking ball in the air, which by the way I'm gonna stick a pin or some shit in it if you carry on throwing it, isn't helping." I shrug.

  Knowing how happy I am with Liv just makes this shit worse. Here I am, happy as fucking Larry, got my girl and sailing through life as far as I'm concerned and my friend, my boy, he's falling apart over something I could have prevented if I'd have just grown some balls and fessed up.

  "Lets get off me, how're you and blondie doing?" Brady wiggles his eyebrows up and down and I don’t know whether to laugh or punch him.

  How am I supposed to tell him how happy we are? How am I supposed to say that shes my fucking world when hes in his own personal hell with his girl?

  "We're good." My tones clipped, I really don’t wanna discuss this, id feel like I was rubbing it in his face.

  "Hey don’t hold out on me man, just cause me and Cindy are on the outs."

  "I'm not, we're good, real good."

  "I'm happy for you bro, I don’t think I've ever seen two people so gone over each other. What you gonna do when you go to college?"

  Argggghhh he just had to fucking bring it up again. Half of me doesn’t wanna talk cause of the whole situation I got going on with Brady, the other half is all nervous and shit cause I still haven't spoken to Liv about what she's doing after High School. She mentioned once that she plans on going with Trina but she never mentioned where and I didn’t ask cause, well, her hand was down my boxers. Say no more!

  "I dunno, we haven't really talked about it."

  "Piece of advice, talk about it. You don’t wanna end up in the same situation as me and Cindy trust me."

  I look at my friend for a few seconds, taking in what he's just said. He's right, I need to talk to Liv. It doesn’t escape my notice that I'm avoiding talking to Brady about college like the plague but I'm willing to open what could be a whole lot bigger can of worms with Liv, just to avoid anything going wrong between us. The thing is that although Brady is my best friend, he's basically like a brother to me, Liv's my whole heart. She own me body, mind and soul. When I said I wasn’t ever letting her go, I meant that shit, shes my whole fucking world.

  I resolve to talk to her about it as soon as we're alone just to get it out of the way. I just hope to fucking God that she doesn’t tell me she's moving some far off place since I could very well be following her there. We've been so good since Atlanta, unbelievably so and I don’t want nothing to ruin it.

  ***

  As soon as Liv and my Mom walk through the door, I let out the breath that I seem to have been holding inside ever since coming home for dinner and finding them not here. Phil was so blasé about it while I was slowly losing my shit. It was half seven, where the fuck have they been? Maybe I'm a little on edge because I know the conversation I've gotta have with Liv later on about college but seriously, not even a fucking phone call? They could've been in an accident or Liv could've been sick. It's not lost on me that all of the potential catastrophes that went through my head involved Liv and not my Mom, so not only am I an obsessive boyfriend but I'm also a pretty shit son aswell.

  "Where the hell have you been?" Yes I know I look like a damn woman with my feet planted apart and my hands on my hips and from the looks my Mom and Liv are giving me, they’ve noticed it too.

  A few moments pass with them just staring at me before they burst out laughing, right in my fucking face.

  "Did you have a nice day girls?" Phil asks, walking in smiling, though I notice that smile quickly gets wiped off his face when he looks down to the bags they're holding. He squeezes his eyes shut and put his fingers to his head as if he's getting a headache. "Did you bankrupt me?"

  Again nothing but laughter, seriously what is this? If I didn’t know any better id say they’ve united against us. I know full well that my Mom's been complaining for years about always being outnumbered though I don’t remember a time that she didn’t get her own way, especially when it comes to movie night.

  "Oh honey, this was my treat. Well, the shoes were, the rest was you."

  "Why me?" He looks to the ceiling, his hands in the air.

  "I always knew you were tight Dad but no need to have a mental break." Liv says through the snorts of laughter.

  Phil just rolls his eyes , I never noticed it before but I think I understand where Liv got that habit from.

  "So, did you have a good day?" I'm rocking from foot to foot, itching to get to my girl and kiss the fuck outta her after spending that last few hours worrying shitless however and over the top it might've been of me.

  "Yes sweetie, we had a lovely day, didn’t we Liv?" My Mom brushes her hand across my head like she did when I was a kid and she knew something I didn’t.

  "We sure did."

  I shoot a wink at my girl, feeling over the fucking moon at how happy she looks. Her smile's a mile wide, all pearly white teeth showing, her eyes twinkle and well, she's gorgeous always. I like the fact she gets on with my Mom as well, not just because she's my Mom but because I think Liv needs a mature female influence in her life. I also know my Mom loves Liv to pieces, not only because she's now got back up and a shopping buddy but because of the kinda person Liv is on the inside.

  "Did you have a nice time at Brady's sweetie? Is he still coming for Thanksgiving?"
/>   "Yes Mom." I nod like a fucking five year old.

  "It's such a shame about him and Cindy. Oh I do hope they can work it out, Cindy's such a lovely young lady and Brady's an angel." Only my Mother would describe Brady as an angel. Come to think of it, I think she's the only person to refer to him as one of those in his entire damn life.

  I notice Livs eyes role and smirk at the action knowing she's thinking the exact same thing as I am, my Mom definitely has blinkers on concerning Brady. Either that or the guys just a really good actor.

  "I'm gonna go put my stuff away. Thanks again Pam, for everything." The way Liv says that last bit has me frowning. I know my Mom bought her some stuff but the tone of her voice tells me she's not just talking about that, the wink my Mom gives her in reply definitely has my suspicions rising.

  "What did you do today?" I ask my Mom, trying to keep my eyes off Livs swaying ass that’s heading up the stairs.

  "Just shopping honey, we had such fun."

  I hum while nodding my head before heading up the stairs. If I didn’t know any better Id swear I hear my Mom snickering behind me, this is just too fucking weird. Id like to think I know the women in my life well enough to know when they're up to something.

  Walking down the hallway, I stop just outside Livs room, her door open just a crack so I can see her inside but she can't see me.

  "You are the most beautiful, prettiest things in the whole wide world. I think I might buy a display case just to put you in so you stay perfect forever." What the fuck?! Who the hell is she talking to?

  I can see her sitting on the bed but I can't see if she's holding her phone to her ear or if there's someone in there with her. I don’t hear a reply and gently push the door open, startling Liv who seems to be talking to.......some shoes?

  "Are you talking to the shoes?" A blush creeps up her face which gives me all the answer I need. "Are they special shoes or some shit cause you sounded like you really fucking loved them?"

  "Noah these are Louboutins. L-O-U-B-O-U-T-I-N-S." She scowls.

  "I really needed to know how its spelt babe." I roll my eyes. "So what're you and my Mom up to?"

  "Nothing, we just had a really good heart to heart that’s all."

  "Mmmmmm, ok, cut the shit. What happened?"

  Liv looks all around the room as if looking for an exit to escape through.

  "Liv." The one word is a warning, she better start talking.

  "Your Mom knows about us."

  The second those words leave her mouth I get two very strong urges. One is to rejoice in the fact that there'll be no more sneaking around, the other is get our shit packed up and head for the border.

  "Noah, Noah, are you ok? You need to sit down?"

  "You seem very calm about all this." Its fucking amazing, shes usually the one losing her shit but shes sitting there cool as a cucumber.

  "She's happy Noah." The smile that graces my girls face has me mirroring it with one of my own.

  I raise my eyebrows, wondering if this is all some big set up and in a few seconds Livs gonna come out with a "GOTCHA!"

  "This is fucking weird." I shake my head at the situation. "Does your Dad-"

  "NO!"

  If my Mom is really happy about this and supportive, I don’t hold the same hope for Phil. Hes really gonna lose his shit when he finds out and I'm quite shocked that my Mom hasn’t told him already.

  "We are kinda on a timer now though. We have until after Thanksgiving, your Mom thinks it'd be better coming from us."

  I groan, there are too many fucking secrets inside of me that have to come out after Thanksgiving. From the looks of things, its gonna be a warzone in this town after the holiday. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look towards my girl, who strangely seems to be completely calm, that helps me a lot. If she was panicking about this, id definitely be losing it.

  "It's gonna be ok baby." She leans her head on me before standing on her tiptoes and planting a soft kiss on my lips, the taste of her cherry lip gloss making me growl into her mouth.

  She lets out a small squeal when I dig my fingers into her hips and pull her into me, I've missed her like crazy today and the feel of her lips against mine is like water to a man in the desert.

  "I gotta say, I like this whole role reversal thing that’s happening. It sure does feel good not to be the one freaking out for once."

  I don’t wanna tell her that I have a bad feeling, I dunno what it is but I feel it right in my gut and its making me shit myself. Something just tells me we shouldn’t be celebrating that we're about to go public just yet.

  ***

  Theres no better fucking feeling that waking up with the weight of Livs body lying over mine. I've become used to waking up before her over the past few months, ever since we started sleeping together. I don’t think id be able to sleep without feeling her body heat either next to me, over me or under me. The few times I've tried I've ended up sneaking into room in the middle of the night. I take these quiet few moments I have every morning just look at her face free of makeup, though she doesn’t wear much to begin with, and free of stress though I'm seeing less and less of it in her face and expressions lately. Her full pouty lips look all kinds of kissable, a pale pink that looks as if it could have come out of a tube. Her skin is flawless, not a blemish to it. Everything about her is absolutely perfect from her perfectly shaped eyebrows to her ridiculously long eyelashes to the pinkness of her cheeks. I reach over to the table at the side of the bed, careful not to wake her because as much as I love her, she's like a blonde Satan in the mornings before her coffee fix.

  "Why are you staring at me?" She asks sleepily, her voice husky and low, one eye open, the other squinted shut.

  "Cause you're beautiful."

  Her arms go above her head, stretching out and her back bows, pushing her tits upwards making my mouth water.

  "You have a nice sleep baby?" I push a stray hair behind her ear, her face nuzzles into my hand.

  "Uh huh, You?"

  "You know I always sleep perfect when you're next to me."

  Looking at her face, her fucking smoking body, I count my lucky stars that she's mine. Whereas before the only kind of future I thought of was where the next party, now I look forward to my life with her. That reminds me of the college shit I wanted to talk to her about. I gotta be honest, I don’t have a clue how to go about this. Do I just come out and ask it? Do I just demand that she stays with me? I suppose I could just wait until the time comes and tie her to the damn bed, she can do online classes or some shit from there right?

  "Babe, can we talk about some stuff real quick?"

  "Ok, what time is it first though?" She rolls her shoulders before letting out a yawn that makes her look cute as hell.

  I grab my phone from the side of the bed, swiping the screen and seeing two missed calls from Brady at three this morning, huh? I'll call him back later, if I don’t ask this shit now I never will.

  "Half 6."

  "You have got to be shitting me Noah, half 6?" Liv groans, pulling the pillow from underneath her head and holding it over her face.

  "Hey, you woke up all by yourself."

  The pillow is thrown away, her eyes glaring into me and if I was less of a man I would have fucking backed away from that shit. My girls sweet as punch most of the time apart from that sassy attitude of hers, she can be real mean when she wants to though.

  "You were staring at me, of course I woke up."

  "If you were asleep how did you know I was looking?"

  "I felt it, like some sixth sense shit. This is beside the point anyway, it’s the ass crack of dawn and I'm awake AGAIN because of you and now you want to talk. Cant we do this shit when its atleast daylight."

  "Baby, we'll be real quick but I need to do this shit now before I chicken out." My eyes plead with her, truth is I'm scared, shit scared.

  Folding her lean arms, she shuffles up the bed, resting her head and back against the headboard.

  "Shoot."

 
"What're your plans for college?" Her glaring eyes soften on my words before she lets out the cutest little giggle.

  "I was wondering how long it would take you to ask me about that, I was starting to think you were just gonna handcuff me to the bed or something and make me do classes online." I let out a nervous chuckle which sounds more like I'm dying, I'm trying not to let on that that was one of the ideas I've been considering.

  "That’s ridiculous babe." I'm sure the look on my face s the same look I wore every time my Mom caught me with my hands in the cookie jar when I was little.

  "I'm sure, give me a sec I'll be right back." She rolls her eyes, climbing out of bed, her white cotton sleep shorts hugging her delectable ass, the blue tank top showing a little of her toned stomach.

  It's almost embarrassing my body's reaction to her, whether it's just a peek of her stomach or full view of her ass, ninety nine percent of the time I'm hard around her. I wonder if there's a clothing brand out there that specializes in clothes for over horny teenage boys with near on constant erections. If there isn't I'm definitely writing that shit down cause that’s a damn good idea. Liv pulls out two pieces of paper from her huge ass purse and I have no idea how we got from me asking her what her plans for college are to this. Hell, I'm not even sure I know what's going on, I'm still picturing her ass in those shorts. I shake my head in a bid to clear my thoughts of Livs round ass as she plonks herself on the side of the bed while holding out the papers towards me. Her smile is shy and she gnawing on that bottom lip of hers. I give her the little squinty eyes that she gives me every time she thinks I'm up to something, through while she's cute as hell doing it, I have a feeling I just look like I have something in my eye.

  Looking down at the papers, one in each hand, I frown. They seem to be printouts from two different websites, one from the homepage of the Savannah Police Academy, the other from Savannah State University.

  "Does this mean what I think it does?"

  "If you want, I mean it was just an idea." Liv looks all kinds of nervous, she's obviously given this a lot of thought.