Love, Laughter & Happily Ever After: A sweet romantic comedy collection

by Ellie Hall

  During their senior year, he and Chloe were in the same English class. When everyone had their heads down, working on a writing assignment, he always snuck peeks at her. Whenever she was focusing on something and working hard, she sat with her arm on the desk, bent at the elbow, her head resting in her palm, fingers in her hair. He’d imagined what it would feel like to cup her cheek in his palm. He’d also imagined what it would be like to kiss her, and now she was standing close enough that he could feel her body brushing up against the fabric of his shirt.

  “The lights didn’t come on,” she breathed.

  “Nope.” He reached out with his free hand and ran his fingertips along her forearm.

  She moved closer, and his heart raced. Even in the complete darkness, he could somehow sense that her lips parted slightly. Was it a sound he’d heard? The way her breath felt against his skin? All he could think about was pressing his lips against hers.

  He leaned closer, and he could tell that she had, too. He was about to reach a hand out to cup her cheek, but then the lights came on at the same time the door opened. He and Chloe both squinted into the brightness as they stepped away from each other.

  Mitchell’s voice sounded from the doorway. “Sorry, you two. There was a problem with the electricity in this part of the school—we haven’t completed construction everywhere yet. I apologize. And Gabrielle wanted to let you know that they found the centerpieces, so you can stop looking.”

  “Oh, that’s great.” Chloe grabbed her cell phone from a nearby box, and Josh grabbed his as well. She made her way to the door first, but right before she got there, she turned and gave him a smile that made him curse every choice he’d made in the past decade and beyond that hadn’t brought him to her.

  7

  Chloe

  “But you didn’t kiss?” Jia asked, taking a seat on the padded bench in front of the vanity, right next to Chloe, a towel wrapped around her wet hair. “I’m going to need more details.”

  Chloe was still floating just thinking about the night before. “After we walked out of the storage area, I was going to head back to karaoke to find you, but then he asked if I wanted to tour the school with him. And Jia? He’s just so amazing. I wasn’t about to say no.”

  “And then? You didn’t come back to the room until after I was asleep.”

  Jia emphasized the last few words since she loved to razz Chloe whenever she sometimes—occasionally—went to bed before her elderly clients did.

  “And then we talked. A lot. About what we’ve been up to since graduation, hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, funny stories, why I love living in Salt Creek and seeing my family all the time, all of it. I told him about how I’m the oldest of five, and that I helped a lot in my family. And I even told him about how Anna was diagnosed with leukemia when she was three and I was eleven and that she had to go through cancer treatment for three years, and that I had to really help out a lot then.

  “Jia, I even told him about how I felt like I couldn’t have any of my own issues or need anything because my parents already had their plates full just taking care of Anna, and I didn’t want to be a burden. I haven’t told anyone about that except for you and my therapist. He was just . . .” She hardly had words to explain his reaction. “So understanding. Like he just got it, even though he doesn’t have siblings.”

  They had connected in a way she hadn’t ever connected with anyone. Her experience with her sister’s cancer was a pain at the innermost part of her heart, yet she’d felt so safe sharing it with him. “We just had so much chemistry. It was amazing.”

  “But no kissing?”

  “At one point, I thought we might. We were outside, sitting on a bench, holding hands, looking across the practice field toward football field at the new high school. But then Casey Pearson ran right across the field wearing bright red spandex shorty shorts and a red cape, singing We Are the Champions at the top of his lungs.”

  Jia nodded. “So basically, Casey hasn’t changed at all since high school.”

  “I think the shorts fit him better in high school.”

  Jia laughed as she got up and went to her wardrobe to grab an outfit. “But you didn’t kiss when he walked you back to the room?”

  Chloe shook her head. “He kissed my hand, and then gave me a longing glance backward as he headed to his room. It wasn’t a kiss like I’d wanted, but I have to admit, it was amazing.”

  Chloe watched from the blanket where she sat next to Jia as Josh tossed a football back and forth with some friends. Football wasn’t his sport, but his throw was still impressive. So were those arm and shoulder muscles.

  Jia looked around at all the blankets spread on their old high school football field. “Can you believe how many of our graduating class have kids? It’s probably more than half!”

  And more were married but didn’t have kids yet. Most of the kids were pretty young, but a few were older than she had thought they would be. “Kind of makes you feel behind on life, doesn’t it?”

  “Whatever. I still hate guys, so I’m fine being single.”

  Chloe could totally picture herself on a picnic blanket with a couple of little kids of her own. In fact, she craved it. Somebody’s kid—she wasn’t sure whose—walked up to Josh, a little Nerf football in her hands. She probably wasn’t even three years old yet and had her hair pulled into the cutest little pigtails.

  Josh bent down and showed her how to hold the football, getting her fingers on the laces just right, and then demonstrated how to pull her throwing arm back, the ball just over her shoulder, her other hand pointing where she wanted to throw the ball.

  “Oh,” Jia said, “my heart is going to explode at the cuteness.”

  Chloe’s heart already had. Suddenly, those kids she’d pictured on the picnic blanket were jumping up to have their dad show them how to throw a football.

  Josh noticed Chloe watching him and smiled and winked. And now her exploded heart was a puddle of goo.

  “He’s going to forget about me when this is over.”

  “What?” Jia said, sitting up straighter. “Did you not see the way he just looked at you?”

  “Every once in a while back in high school, I’d think he noticed me, and then he’d forget about me two seconds later. He’s paying attention to me because we’re both here, in the same place, twenty-four hours a day. But after tomorrow, he’ll get in his car, drive three hours back to Des Moines, and he’ll forget about me.”

  Jia shook her head. “Not going to happen.”

  Chloe really hoped not. And part of her had felt reassured after hearing the reasons why he’d ignored her in high school and knowing that he had noticed her. Her worries were probably just old insecurities coming back to haunt her. But this weekend felt too magical to be real.

  The picnic was wrapping up, and Josh came jogging over to her blanket. Her stomach started doing jumping jacks and her pulse started racing. She hadn’t had any long-term relationships, but she’d dated plenty. How had she never felt like this when one of those guys was nearby?

  Josh helped her fold the blanket, and as they were putting it into her bag, their hands brushed together, sending zings up her arm and right to her heart.

  “Can I walk you back?”

  Even the sound of his voice made Chloe’s soul sing. This was definitely too good to be true.

  Jia picked up their bag. “I’ve got this. You two take your time.”

  As Chloe and Josh walked toward the edge of the football field, Josh slipped his hand into hers. How had holding hands with Josh Trevorrow suddenly become a normal thing she did? High School Chloe would’ve been ecstatic. It felt every bit as amazing as she’d imagined it would.

  As they neared the bleachers, they saw a couple on the top row, partially hidden by the announcer’s booth, kissing like they were unaware of anything or anyone else. “Wow,” Josh said, “what a flashback to high school. Is that Lauren and Blake? Did they get married?”

  Chloe shook her head. “I rememb
er reading their bios in the reunion info—they’re both single.”

  “Ahh. Re-creating a high school kiss. Good for them.”

  Seeing Lauren and Blake kiss made Chloe think about the night before. If Mitchell had waited another five seconds to go into the storage room, she and Josh probably would’ve been kissing. It’d been sweet last night when he’d ended their hours of talking with a kiss on her hand, but now she really wanted to kiss him like a sugar-addict wanted a chocolate-frosted donut. It wasn’t like she needed proof that he liked her or anything, but—okay, she would like proof. Preferably something tangible.

  A kiss wasn’t too much to ask for, right?

  Instead of kissing, they mostly talked as they walked about what Gabrielle and Mitchell should do to remodel the grounds at the back of the school. (A pool and hot tub, obviously. And boulders and a water feature next to some trees and picnic tables.)

  Chloe got a text with the cosmic tone she only used for Jia’s texts and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

  Jia: There’s something on our door. I can’t wait for you to see it.

  Chloe: What is it?

  Jia: Not telling.

  She looked up to see Josh’s questioning face. “It’s Jia. Apparently, there’s something on our door—I’m praying it doesn’t have six legs and an exoskeleton.”

  “We better get you back, then.”

  But as they got to the outside door that led to their hallway, she stopped. “Why didn’t you kiss me last night?”

  She was watching his face closely for a reaction, so she didn’t miss the surprise that crossed his face right before the elated smile that turned to . . . was that embarrassment?

  He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “With as much as my grandma has told me about you, it was feeling too natural to speed things up. I didn’t want it to feel rushed.”

  Chloe said, “I would’ve kissed you,” at the same time that Josh said, “I didn’t want my enthusiasm to overwhelm you.”

  Aww. That was actually really sweet. She was so busy gazing into his eyes and swooning that she missed her chance to grab him and plant a kiss on his lips before he said, “I’ve got to run to the front lobby. I’ll see you tonight?”

  And then he was walking away.

  “It wouldn’t have overwhelmed me!” she called out after him, and he turned and gave her a smile that she wished she could pocket.

  But who was she kidding? A kiss from Josh might have totally overwhelmed her; her knees would’ve buckled and she’d have been a crumpled heap on the floor.

  She watched him for a moment as he walked away, then she went into the school and carefully walked up the hall toward her room, keeping watch for any critters or giant bugs as she approached her door. When she got close enough to see it, she burst out laughing. Her hands were still over her mouth when Jia pulled the door open, grinning.

  “When did he have time to do this?”

  Jia shrugged. “This was probably why he was late to the picnic.”

  A giant poster was taped to her door, and the top read, I didn’t ask you to Prom the First, so I thought I’d officially ask you to Prom the Second.

  Then, cut out of colored paper, was a decent representation of Marty the parrot. A speech bubble said, I see you. Josh sees you. Will he see you at Prom II as his date?

  Chloe was a twenty-eight-year-old woman with a nursing degree and a career and a place of her own, and she was giddy because she had just gotten asked to prom by the guy she had a crush on, and he’d asked her in a unique way because that had been the tradition at SCHS. It was weird and romantic and not at all something that happened in real life, but she couldn’t stop to think about that. She needed to answer the man.

  She hurried into her room, looking all around. “Paper . . . paper . . . we have to have something in here I can write on!”

  Jia shuffled things around on the vanity. “Here—Friday’s schedule. It’s blank on the back.” She rummaged through her purse. “And here’s a Sharpie.”

  Chloe drew her own version of Marty on the back of the paper and wished Sharpies came with erasers because the parrot looked more like a bedraggled meerkat with a beak. Maybe she could make the wings look more wing-like.

  Nope. Now he looked like a bedraggled meerkat with a beak and a cape. She should just stop before it got any worse.

  She drew a speech bubble and wrote in it Most Behemoth Green Chloe says YES. Then she drew a second speech bubble with Marty’s other favorite phrase. Everything’s fine. You won’t fail. She held the paper up, inspecting her work. If nothing else, he’d get a laugh out of her attempt at drawing.

  Then she ran up the hall and slipped it under his door.

  8

  Josh

  Josh straightened his tie in the full-length mirror in his room and then brushed a piece of lint off his shoulder. He wasn’t wearing a tux, but his suit was at least ten times nicer than his high school tux had been.

  Prom II was such a very high school thing to be doing, and he was doing it with all the people he went to high school with. At the same time, it felt so very un-high school-like. He was a decade older and had experienced so much more life this time around. He also carried regret over his past choices and unmet expectations for how his life had so far turned out.

  He’d been excited for his senior prom back in high school. But his anticipation for this prom was so much greater. He’d been given a second chance to get things right. He chuckled as he thought of the note Chloe had slipped under his door. Hopefully, Marty was right—everything would be fine and he wouldn’t fail.

  Five minutes before the dinner started, he knocked on Chloe’s door. Jia answered it, wearing a purple sequined dress that matched the ends of her hair, and she nodded at him. “Looking good, Mr. Trevorrow!” Then she lowered her voice. “I’m not exactly your date’s dad, conveniently cleaning my shotgun as I tell you to make sure she’s home by curfew.”

  He tried not to smile.

  “I’m something much worse. I’m Chloe’s lifelong BFF, and I don’t like vague disclaimers, so I’ll just say this. Bring her back blissfully happy, or I will find a way to sneak snakes into your room.”

  He gave her an Eagle Scout salute, because he was one, and said, “Will do. No specific—and rather disturbing—disclaimer needed.”

  Jia smiled broadly and opened the door wide enough that he could see Chloe.

  She had looked beautiful in a t-shirt and jeans when they’d attended Reunion Jeopardy a couple of hours ago, and now she looked stunning. Her brown hair was mostly down and curly, just brushing her shoulders, and her smile was wide and perfect and seemed meant just for him. She wore a satiny pink gown that was fitted down past her hips and then flared slightly as it fell nearly to the floor. The most amazing silver heels he’d ever seen on a woman peeked out from under the hem. The evening sun shone through the window and she was glowing.

  “See?” Jia said, gesturing at Josh with both arms. “I told you he’d be speechless.”

  “You look incredible,” he said, taking a couple of steps toward Chloe.

  “You look rather incredible yourself,” she said. She took a couple of super confident strides toward him, too, but then came down on her shoe wrong, twisting her ankle and nearly falling. Luckily, he was close enough to catch her.

  “Are you okay?”

  Chloe looked down at her ankle, moving it around. “It’s fine. Marty told me that I wouldn’t fail today, either. But he’s not a fortune cookie, and I’m also pretty sure he was being sarcastic.”

  He chuckled just imagining Marty saying that phrase to her.

  “I thought maybe your grandma could be my good luck charm. But she said,” Chloe picked her phone up off her bed and touched the screen a few times, then read, “‘Have fun at Prom the Second tonight! May you dance as gracefully as a swan. Or, if you can’t manage that, then dance as proud as a peacock, no matter how ungraceful you are.’ So, I’m relying on you to be my good luck charm. I don
’t think I can trust anyone else.”

  He smiled at her. “I can do that.” He would do pretty much anything for her, including taking on the responsibility of good luck.

  She took another step forward and linked her arm in his, and her ankle seemed to be doing okay. “Oh, look! Your good luck is already working.”

  “Okay, now shoo, both of you!” Jia said as she corralled them toward the door. “I decided I don’t hate guys for tonight. I’ve got a hot date showing up in less than two minutes and I’m hoping to kiss him before we head to the dance.” She opened the door, and her “hot date” was standing at the door, a hand raised and ready to knock, the smile on his face clearly indicating he’d heard Jia’s plan.

  Chloe turned and mouthed something to Jia that Josh couldn’t see, and then he and Chloe stepped out into the hallway. Jia shut the door behind them.

  “Did they seriously keep all this stuff for a decade?” Chloe asked as they stepped into the big gym.

  The walls were covered in a scene with a black background with big, colorful fireworks exploding all around. In front of that were cardboard cutouts of a city skyline, with quite a few three-dimensional cardboard buildings, complete with twinkle lights in all the windows.

  That was the same as their senior prom, but the Golden Gate bridge replica that stretched across the far end of the gym with some kind of plastic or fabric below it that shone like water in the twinkle lights, the Empire State Building next to it, the Space Needle at the opposite end, and the Gateway Arch they had just walked under were all new. So were the tables flanking the dance floor—their prom hadn’t included a dinner.

  “Wow,” he said. “And I thought Gabrielle and her team outdid themselves the first time.”

  Mitchell stood at a podium just beyond the arch, like a host, and said, “Josh Trevorrow and Chloe Carson. Let me see where we’ve got you seated.”