Forever You

by Allie Everhart

  On our last afternoon together, the guys surf while Harper and I lay out on the beach. We have a big umbrella over us because the sun is really hot today.

  “Are you nervous about visiting Sean’s parents next week?” I ask Harper.

  “I’m a little nervous. I don’t know anything about farmers.” She turns on her side, resting on her elbow. “You’re from Iowa. What do you know about farmers?”

  “There weren’t any farmers in Des Moines, at least not where I lived. They live out in the rural areas. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever actually met a farmer.”

  “I’ve never been to New Hampshire. I hope there’s stuff to do there. We can’t just sit at home with Sean’s parents for a week.”

  “Your dad’s been to New Hampshire. He shot a movie there. Ask him about it.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, like I’m going to ask my dad about anything having to do with Sean. He hates him, remember?”

  “He doesn’t hate him. He’s just not ready for you to marry him.”

  “Whatever. I don’t care anymore. I love Sean and I can’t worry about my dad. Besides, I’m not anywhere near ready to get married so it’s not like my dad needs to worry about it.”

  “Does Sean know that?”

  “Know what?”

  “That you don’t want to get married?”

  “We don’t talk about it because it’s not something either one of us wants. I’m still in school and he’s trying to decide if he wants to open a restaurant. If he does, he’ll be super busy. He won’t have time for a wife. He’ll barely have time for a girlfriend.”

  This is the first time I’ve brought up the marriage topic to Harper since that day I got my wedding dress. I’ve avoided the topic because I know Sean wants to marry her and propose in a few months. So what do I say to her? I can’t tell her. But how could she not know this? Sean should be dropping hints like Garret did to me last year.

  “What if Sean asked you to marry him?” I ask in a totally hypothetical way.

  “Yeah, that’s funny, Jade.” She sits up and takes a bottle of water from the cooler we have sitting behind our beach towels.

  “I’m serious. If he asked you right now, what would you say?”

  “I know he’d never ask, so I haven’t thought about it.” She takes a sip of her water.

  “Just play along here. You asked me this same question last year about Garret.”

  “Because it was obvious to everyone but you that Garret wanted to marry you. So I asked you because I knew he was going to propose.”

  “Why are you so sure Sean wouldn’t propose? He’s 22. He has a job. He has his own place. He asked you to move in with him.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t want to get married. I told you. He’s busy with his career.”

  “I think you’re just saying that because you’re the one who doesn’t want to get married.”

  She takes another drink of water and stares out at the waves.

  “Harper?”

  She sighs and looks back at me. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t want to get married. Not now. I’m too young. That’s why I don’t like talking about this with you.”

  “Why? Because Garret and I got married?”

  “Yes, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m judging you guys. Because I’m not. I think you made the right decision. But I couldn’t do that, Jade. I’m just not there yet.”

  “Harper, that’s fine. You don’t have to be. Most people aren’t. I wasn’t ready until I met Garret.” I smile as I watch him on his surfboard. “I keep telling him he put some kind of spell on me to make me agree to get married this young.”

  “What was the real reason? How did you know you were ready? I mean, obviously you loved him, but how did you know you were ready to marry him?”

  “Because I couldn’t imagine myself with anyone else. Even 20, 30, 40 years from now, when I pictured my life, he was still in it. In my head, I even pictured us together when we’re really old, like 90.” I laugh. “Garret looked way better than me and he still had all his hair. Anyway, I didn’t want to wait to start my life with him. I wanted our life together to start right now.”

  “That’s why I worry about Sean and me. If he was the one, then why don’t I feel that way? Why am I not thinking about that stuff?”

  “Like you said, you have so much other stuff going on with school and tennis that you’re probably not ready to think about it.”

  She takes her white cotton headband off and starts winding it around her fingers, which is what she does when she’s sad or confused or both.

  “Harper, you and Sean are totally normal. There’s nothing wrong with your relationship. Most people our age don’t even want to think about marriage. Garret and I are the weird ones for getting married this young.”

  She slips her headband back on and smiles. “I still can’t believe you’re married. When I met you, you kept telling me how you didn’t even want a boyfriend.”

  “Yeah, I know. A lot can happen in a year.”

  “Just think.” She lies down on the beach towel, staring up at the umbrella. “Next summer I’ll probably be an aunt.”

  “An aunt? Your sisters don’t even have boyfriends.”

  She jabs my arm. “I’m talking about you. You’ll have a baby and since we’re like sisters I’ll be an aunt.”

  “Sorry, Harper, but Garret and I are not going to have a baby next summer.”

  “So when do you think you’ll have one? Because I really want to be an aunt.”

  “I don’t know. But not anytime soon.” I haven’t mentioned my fear of motherhood to Harper because she doesn’t know about my issues with my mom. And I don’t want to get into it with her. It was hard enough telling Garret all that stuff.

  “But when you have kids, I get to be their aunt, right?”

  I smile at her. “Absolutely.”

  She flips on her side, propped up on her arm. “This summer went way too fast, Jade.”

  I turn to face her. “I know. I can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow. It seems like we just got here.”

  “We’ll still be friends, right?”

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

  She gives me a look that tells me she’s just as worried as I am about our friendship. It’s hard to keep a friendship going when you live so far away.

  “We’ll call each other. We’ll text. We’ll still be friends, Harper. I promise.”

  She nods, but I can tell she’s not convinced. I’m not either.

  She stands up, brushing the sand off her legs. “We should get ready for dinner. And I need to finish packing.”

  Tonight we’re having Garret’s early birthday dinner. But it’s also a farewell to Harper and Sean dinner. So it’s both happy and sad, but mostly sad. I’m really going to miss Harper.

  We go to a restaurant that’s right on the beach and eat outside on the patio. They have a small band out there playing current pop songs, but the singer is like 70 years old, maybe even older. He’s wearing cut-off jean shorts and a tie-dye t-shirt and sandals and has really long white hair. And he gyrates his hips when he sings. It’s hilarious. It’s even funnier than the mariachi guy back in Connecticut.

  “Jade, don’t laugh at him,” Garret scolds, just like he did when I laughed at the mariachi guy.

  “I don’t think he cares,” Sean says. He and Harper are also laughing. “I’m pretty sure that guy’s high.”

  The old guy starts rapping. Garret sees me to trying to hold my laughter in.

  He smiles. “Okay. Now you can laugh. I’ll give the guy a break on the singing, but the rapping? This is pretty bad.”

  When the song ends, Harper nudges me. “Go ask him if he’ll sing Happy Birthday to Garret.”

  “No, that’s okay,” Garret says. “It’s not my real birthday.”

  “Maybe he’ll do a birthday rap.” I get up. “I’m gonna go ask.”

  “Jade, don’t.” Garret reaches for my hand, but I slip past his
chair and walk up to the singer.

  “Would you mind singing Happy Birthday to my husband?” I ask the guy. “He’s right over there.” I point at Garret.

  The guy gives me this big, goofy smile and his eyes look half asleep. Maybe he is high. “What’s your name sweetheart?”’

  “Jade. And my husband is Garret. So will you sing it?”

  “I will if you sing it with me.” He sits down on the stool next to the microphone. “You ready?”

  “Me? I can’t sing.”

  “Everyone can sing Happy Birthday.”

  “No, I really can’t. I seriously cannot sing, not even—”

  “We have a special performer here with us tonight,” the guy announces into the microphone.

  I move closer to him. “No!” I whisper. “I’m not doing this.”

  “This is Jade and we’re going to sing Happy Birthday to her husband, the young man sitting back there in the blue shirt. She’s a little nervous. Let’s give her a round of applause.”

  All the tables on the patio are full and everyone starts cheering and clapping.

  I feel like I’m in some terrible nightmare. Like those ones where you’re about to take a test and you forget everything you learned, or where you’re giving a speech in front of a room full of people and you realize you’re not wearing any clothes. You wake up in a state of sheer panic. Yeah, that’s what this is like.

  I hear the old guy again. “Ready, Jade?”

  I notice he now has a microphone shoved in front of my face. I look over and see Sean, Harper, and Garret standing up, smiling and clapping. I guess this is my punishment for laughing at the guy.

  He starts singing, motioning me to join in. I hesitate, but then go ahead and sing along with him.

  “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…” And the song continues for what seems like the longest ever rendition of Happy Birthday.

  When it’s done, I race back to my seat and sit down.

  Garret leans over and kisses me. “Thank you. That was quite a performance.”

  “Yeah. A comic performance. Why didn’t you go up there and save me?”

  “Here.” Harper holds out her phone and I see a video of myself singing with the old guy.

  “You recorded that? Harper!”

  “It’s a birthday present for Garret. I’ll send it to you.” She turns the volume up and I hear myself singing. I’m so bad it makes me laugh.

  I kiss Garret’s cheek. “Sorry, Garret. I tried.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” He kisses me back on the lips. “I loved it.”

  “Here’s the best part.” Harper turns up the volume even more as the song comes to the high note, which I couldn’t reach. I hear my voice crack, which causes all of us to laugh.

  I’m going to miss this so much. The four of us hanging out all the time, talking, laughing, doing stuff together.

  We stay there the rest of the night, listening to the old guy sing. He even raps again. I’m glad he was there. I thought the dinner would be sad and serious, but it ended up being fun and was a good way to spend our last night together.

  The next morning Sean and Harper leave for Connecticut. Even with my ‘see ya later’ line, goodbyes still suck. I know I’ll see those guys again but it’s not the same as seeing them every day.

  “Hey.” Garret puts his arm around me as we watch them drive away. “You still got me here. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I know.” I wipe the tears off my face and smile up at him. “But you’re not a girl and as much as I love you, sometimes I need to talk to a girl. And Harper’s the only girl I felt like I could really talk to. I’ve never had a friend like her. And now she’s gone and I have to start over. I’m not very good at making friends.”

  “You’ll make new friends, Jade. And you’ll still talk to Harper.” Garret kisses my forehead, then takes my hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?” I follow him inside.

  “We’re going on a road trip.”

  “A road trip? Like overnight?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know yet. Pack a bag just in case.”

  We go upstairs and he takes our suitcase from the closet.

  “What are you doing? I need to know where we’re going. We haven’t even discussed this.”

  “We don’t need to discuss it.” Garret smiles as he draws me into him. “I’m the man of the house and I’m taking charge. We’re going, so get packed.”

  “Hey!” I laugh. “You can’t boss me around like that.”

  “I just did. Now hurry up.” He lets me go and walks over to the dresser and opens his drawer, pulling clothes out. “You need to get away from here, Jade. Otherwise you’ll sit here all day depressed that she’s gone.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  He turns around. “Jade, I’m not going to say it again. Pack some clothes or I’m doing it for you.”

  “Fine.” I meet him at the dresser. “But I don’t like this take-charge, man-of-the-house thing.”

  “You like it.” He shuts the drawer and leans me against the dresser, his hands on each side of me. “You love it when I take charge.” His cocky smile appears.

  It’s so true. Although I like being in control, sometimes I just want to let someone else take over and Garret’s the only one I trust to do that. And the good thing is that he takes charge when I need him to, like now, when I miss Harper so much I feel lost. And if I don’t get out of here, I’ll lie around feeling depressed, just like he said.

  “I hate it when you’re right.” I don’t look at him when I say it.

  “You love it when I’m right. Just like you love this.”

  He leans down and I close my eyes and feel his lips on mine, slowly kissing me. I relax back against the dresser as his tongue slips in my mouth and his body presses into me. He stops and lifts my shirt over my head, taking it off.

  “What are you doing? You told me to pack.”

  “We’re doing something else first.” He undoes my shorts, letting them fall to the floor.

  “Maybe I don’t want to.”

  “You do.” His cocky smile returns as he slides his hand down my panties, noticing the effect his kisses had on me. “You definitely do.”

  He’s right again. I have to admit I like his take-charge attitude in the bedroom, too. It totally turns me on.

  “Is this new?” He runs his finger along the border of my hot pink push-up bra. The matching panties are now on the floor.

  “Yeah. You like it?”

  “I love it.” He reaches around and unhooks it.

  “Then why are you taking it off?”

  “Because I like what’s under it even better.”

  He tosses the bra aside and I’m left completely naked while he’s still fully clothed. How did that happen?

  His eyes move over my body, then he kisses me and talks over my lips. “You’re so fucking hot.”

  “So are you.” I smile as his kisses trail across my cheek and down my neck. “So why don’t you take off all those clothes you’re wearing?”

  “Don’t rush me.” He says it low by my ear. “I’m the one in charge here, remember?”

  His voice and words are so sexy I want him to hurry up and take me to the bed and finish what he’s started. But I know he’ll make me wait. He loves teasing me.

  He cups the nape of my neck, bringing his lips to mine as his other hand skims down my side, along my hip, then around to my lower back. He hauls me into him, his kisses growing deeper. I grind my hips into him, needing to feel him, and when I do it makes me want him even more.

  Finally, he brings me over to the bed. He sheds his clothes, then leans down and leaves barely-there kisses along my stomach, igniting a burst of pleasurable sensations throughout my core. He works his way up to my breast, lingering there before making his way to my mouth. His hand is now situated between my legs but my body aches for more, the tension building, craving the release.

  “Garret. Now,” I whisper. �
�Please.”

  He smiles. “I love it when you beg.”

  “I wasn’t—”

  His mouth covers my lips as he enters me with one forceful thrust. He slowly rocks his hips, causing even more tension to build inside me. I push into him, desperate for him to go faster. I feel him smiling over my lips. He knows what he’s doing to me. He knows what I want. And he still makes me wait. I wrap my legs around him and feel him go deeper. I know that will get to him. And it does. He groans out my name, his head dropping down by my neck. He speeds his pace, his hips driving into me until I’m left totally relaxed, smiling, and wrapped in his arms.

  I’ve barely caught my breath when I feel his arm move under me.

  “Come on.” He pats my butt. “We gotta go.”

  “Right now? Don’t you want to rest a minute?”

  “Nope. I’m good.”

  I laugh at him as I reluctantly get up. “What’s the rush?”

  “We need to get on the road.” He stands up and starts dressing.

  “We don’t even know where we’re going.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” He comes over and hands me my clothes, pausing to kiss me. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” I kiss him back.

  We throw some clothes in the suitcase and take off. Garret drives up the coast having no plan at all. But I have to admit it’s kind of fun to just drive and not know where you’ll end up.

  We stop and get some sandwiches and have a picnic lunch at one of the public beaches, then drive some more and stop again at a state park and go hiking on the trails. We find a place to stay for the night and end up staying there another night after that.

  This little vacation is just what I needed. I still miss Harper but it’s good to get away. And since she left, she’s called me like 20 times so it’s almost like she never left.

  When Garret and I get home, I’m not as sad seeing the empty driveway next to ours. Harper and I will talk on the phone all the time and I’ve already told her I’d meet her in LA when she’s back visiting her parents. And I can see her when Garret and I go visit his family in Connecticut.

  As I get out of the car, my phone rings. It’s Harper again. We just talked an hour ago.