Page 93 of From Me to You

“You have ice cream on your lips,” Jay whispered, licking the corner of my mouth before I could do anything about it. He then locked his gaze on mine before he dipped in for a sweet kiss. He tasted like strawberries.

We were currently relaxing on a little bench as we finished off our soft serve cone, with Jay stealing most of mine because apparently, mine was more delicious.

“You were supposed to wait for me to clean it up, you know,” I mumbled as I stared ahead at the gentle lull of the ocean. “Iremember you doing that to me at Lola’s once before. The day we met actually. God, I was a hormonal teenager then.” I sighed.

He grinned as he gave me a side-eye. “What do you think you are now?”

I elbowed his ribs. “I am your favorite person in the whole wide world.”

“That you are.” Jay suddenly looked sheepish as he dug into his pocket. He took my right hand and slipped something cold onto my ring finger.

My eyes widened. “Jay,” I whispered.

“It’s a promise ring. I promise that you will always be mine and that I will always love you. I promise to always take care of you and that I will be there for you no matter what.” Jay’s beautiful blues locked onto mine. “I promise that one day you will be my wife, and I will make sure that everything you ever imagined will be yours.”

“Jay.” My voice cracked as I brought my lips closer to him.

We kissed and kissed till my head spun.

I grinned the whole way home because I couldn’t take my eyes off the ring. It was shaped like a tiny peony flower. Only the petals were made of pale pink stones that gleamed in the bright daylight. I loved it so much.

“I am never taking it off,” I told him.

Jay brought my hand to his lips and kissed it, giving me a wide grin. “I hope you don’t.”

God, I loved this man, and I was going to love him forever, no matter what.

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“Look, Evy, Lily sent me this photo of her having Lola’s chocolate milkshake. How can she be cruel like that?” Katy pouted.

I smiled at her. “I am sure she misses you, Katy.”

“I want to meet Lily so badly. I am so jealous of how close you girls are. I have never had friends like that growing up. And if she is anything like Emmie, I am sure she is wonderful,” White added softly, her eyes wide. She almost nailed the doe-eyed look that she was going for.

Katy, White, and I were having coffee in a little café while the guys were out practicing. They were going to finally start recording next week, so that was exciting.

“Oh, Lily is wonderful. You will love her,” Katy said excitedly.

White smiled, satisfied with Katy’s answer.

That woman was so nice at times that it irked me. I wasn’t sure how no one saw it.

Mikey was the only one who loathed her for some reason. He barely tolerated her presence. I wasn’t sure why. The Crash Riders also didn’t really care much for her and mostly ignored her.

But she totally got Katy, Lan, Matt, and Jay to fall for the weird façade that I knew she put up. I wondered why, though. It didn’t make any sense for her to be like this. We would have liked her if she was just normal.

I hated that she still looked at Jay when she thought that no one was watching. I noticed that her face always turned sour when Jay and I were together, but she quickly masked it as if it never happened. She was just weird. I felt it in my bones.

A ping vibrated on Katy’s phone, interrupting her conversation with White.

“OMG, I gotta go. I totally forgot that the meeting with the merchandise vendor was today. You know, Cece, I told you I was meeting him today. I can’t believe we both forgot it. Thankfully,I had a reminder set on my phone, so I would be able to make it in time.”

I got up with her and said, “I will go with you.”

Katy shook her head. “It’s going to take hours, Evy. You enjoy coffee with Cece. I will see you at home. Bye, Cece,” she hollered, rushing out the door despite my protest.

I stood there awkwardly for a second before plopping back into the seat.