This was the first birthday Skyler had celebrated at home in years, and there was nothing better than looking at him and knowing he was in a truly good place. I'd always wanted him to be happy, but knowing we could be happy together was especially satisfying.
Teigan's parents invited my parents and Mrs. Peña to come over for dinner on Teigan's last night. It was an emotional evening; the adults drank and reminisced while we sneaked drinks and did some reminiscing of our own. By the time our parents left, the three of us were holed up in Teigan's bedroom with a bottle of wine, playing our favorite songs on repeat and crying.
Which led to laughing, which then devolved into more crying.
"It's gonna be so easy for you guys," wailed Niki, swaying. "You're just hours away from each other"
"Not really," I argued. "Tampa to Miami is like..." I trailed off, counting on my fingers.
"It's like five hours. Six. Depending on traffic. Maybe more," Teigan said, flipping through a yearbook, circa middle school. "Oh man, Rory, remember when your Mom was our teacher?" She giggled drunkenly, flopping back onto the floor.
"Ugh." I frowned, but then I laughed, looking at the pictures. Seventh grade.
"You're coming home for Thanksgiving, right?" I asked Niki.
She nodded. "Wouldn't miss my mom's cooking for anything."
"We need to plan a trip to Atlanta to see you," said Teigan.
"You better," Niki said, sitting cross-legged beside me. "I'm serious."
The next morning, Niki and I walked Teigan outside. Rocco was already there, packing what wouldn't fit in her car, into his. He grinned when he saw us, shaking his head. "You guys look like crap."
"Thanks, I feel like it," I muttered. My head was pounding, and my face hurt, swollen from crying and carrying on half the night.
Teigan closed her trunk and walked over, tightening her ponytail. "Well, this is it."
We hugged: a tearful, sloppy, three-headed mess.
Rocco put his arm around his girl's shoulder. "You ready?"
She nodded, wiping her eyes. "All right. Go, you guys. Seriously. I'll call you when I'm settled."
The night that Niki left, Skyler and I camped out in his apartment, watching movies. As heartbroken as I was that that my best friends were gone, I was almost relieved. Now I could move on and focus on other things, like my future and Skyler. My parents were another story, but I knew I'd be seeing them relatively often.
"Stop laughing at me," I said, kicking at Skyler's leg.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." He kissed the top of my head. "I just...damn. I knew girls were emotional, but this..."
"I've known them my whole life," I said, shrugging. "Other friends have faded, but not them. It's special, you know?"
He nodded. "Guess that's like me and Rocco."
"Except you didn't cry when you had to leave him.”
"Don't be so sure."
"You cried?" I sat up so I could look at him. "When you left?"
He smirked. "And there she goes into compassionate mode."
"Skyler..."
"I cried a little. I was pissed...but I was also really, really depressed. I got over it though. You will, too."
"Such a guy. Thanks for the chin-up."
"Anytime."
I rolled my eyes and snuggled back against him. We fell quiet, reabsorbing back in to the movie. At some point, I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew Skyler was shaking me awake. The TV was off, the lights low.
Yawning, I sat up. "What time is it?"
"Just past 11:00."
"Hmm."
"What's up?"
"Deciding if I'm tired enough to go home." I stretched, yawning again.
"You could just crash here."
"Theoretically. In reality nothing would piss my Dad off more."
Skyler smiled lazily, helping me up off his bed. "Come on."
We crept into the main house, where Skyler grabbed a couple of clean towels from the laundry room.
"Are we going swimming?" I whispered. "Because I didn't bring my suit."
"You left one here," he said, nodding toward a basket on the floor.
"Nice. Your parents won't mind, right?"
"They're sleeping."
We changed and went out to the pool deck, where the night air was comfortably balmy. "Oh, it feels good," I said with a sigh of contentment. "You put the heater on."
"It's been on...my parents have been swimming after dinner sometimes."
I swam and floated for a while, loving the lightness and the weightlessness. The sky was pristine, cloudless, stars and a moon so bright they didn't seem real.
I swam over to where Skyler was standing. "What're you thinking about?"
"Tomorrow," he said. "I think my parents are just gonna follow me up, even though they said they weren't."
"They just want to be there this time," I said, running my fingers through his wet hair. "See you off properly. Phoebe's going too, right?"
"Yeah."
My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and I could see him better now. He gazed down at me, running his hands up and down my arms. "I'm really, really glad you'll be close by," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck.
He kissed me. "Me too."
"Where would you have gone if we hadn't gotten together?"
"Tampa.” He smirked. “I would've worn you down eventually."
I smiled. "Like I wore you down, way back when."
"Just like that."
It felt like a forever kind of love with him, and I hoped that in the end, it would be. But for now, his kiss was enough, his words were enough, and knowing that we'd chosen each other over anyone and anything else was definitely, absolutely enough.
Glossary
cojones- balls
nena – (informal) girl, as in, “hey, girl”
claro – (informal; short for claro que si) of course
las madre locas – (literally) the crazy mothers
un escargot – (literally) a snail; Teigan uses it to mean 'slowpoke'
Acknowledgements
Love and a major shoutout to the Twilight Fandom, whose coolness and support and love made me want to start writing again. Your acceptance of SEI, from the get-go, blew my mind and warmed me like you wouldn't believe. Thank you for the reviews, recommendations, tweets, posts, banners, graphics, read-alongs, awards, private messages and overall encouragement. This is for every one of you.
Heart emojis and mad affection to Nicole D (Nic) – this story's first beta way back when. I miss our late night G-chats and seeing your name in the comment sidebar during edits.
Heartfelt gratitude to April Salter and Betsy DeVos (queen!), without whom this story would be a grammatical mess, replete with errant commas and interrobangs. The time you two took to work on this means the world to me.
Love and gratitude for Lauren, for bringing to life the pictures I have in my head when it comes to graphics and covers (and banners!). You've been with me a long time and words do not express how thankful and blessed I am by you.
Love and thanks to Sarah, Christina and Iris, for pre-reading.
Special thanks to Mina Rivera, who helped choose Rory's name.
Thanks to Mom, who has always supported my writing, and for making my teen years so beautiful.
Nostalgic love to my best friends, who Rory's girls are inspired by...and for The Crew in STX.
Affectionate thanks to my boys, for letting me write. May the two of you behave better than the kids in this book.
Mushy thanks to Andre, still my favorite love interest...and still a bit of a bad boy to boot.
And thank you, God, for giving me the gift of writing. It brings me much joy.
About the Author
Rochelle Allison has been living, and thriving, in her imagination since she was a little girl in the Caribbean. A true lover of words (books! thesauruses!), she can usually be found crafting stories, inspired by people, conversations and the world around her.
A wife of one and
mother of two, Rochelle lives just outside of Atlanta. She's a lover of hiking and the outdoors, photography and baking.
She has written two books: For the Win with Angel Lawson, and Heavenly Bodies.
Books by Rochelle Allison
FOR THE WIN
From USA Today Best Selling Author Angel Lawson and the debut novel from Rochelle Allison....
Former All-Star collegiate goalie, Julian Anderson, has spent the last year off the grid, putting his life and health back together after losing nearly everything and everyone important in his life due to a series of bad decisions in college. But when he gets a call from the US Men’s Soccer team, asking him to play in the Olympic Games, he’s thrust back into the world he’s tried so hard to distance himself from.
Focused and determined, Melina Diaz, star forward of the Women's team, is skeptical that Julian can change his destructive ways. She plans to have little to do with her ex until the stress of the Games get to her and she finds herself falling back on the one person that knows her the best.
This August, all eyes will be on Brazil for the 2016 Summer Olympics as the world’s elite athletes come together to compete in the most prestigious sporting event of their lifetime. The Games will bring the world together but may tear Julian and Melina even further apart.
HEAVENLY BODIES
It’s summertime in Atlanta, and all Isla Kelly cares about is hanging with friends and snagging her longtime crush. But weeks before senior year starts, her mother announces they’ll be moving to a tiny island in the Caribbean to take care of her ailing grandfather. Having to leave her best friends and the only home she’s ever known is bad; having to leave her father behind, too? Awful.
Everyone knows Rigel Thomas, his reputation, and his somewhat notorious family. From the pool at school to the best beaches on the island, he makes it his mission to win Isla’s heart. But life on St. Croix isn’t all sunsets and stargazing, and as Isla is pulled deeper into Rigel’s world, she learns that some things can only be discovered by slipping far beneath the surface.
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