Page 66 of The Pucking Kiss
“Bryan, are you serious?”
He smiled at me, “I’m saying this to you in front of everyone. Do you really think I’d be making this up? Spending time with you is my favorite part of the day, and I know we’ll be graduating soon. I don’t want to lose you, and I want us to be together.”
“I…”
“Say yes!” someone from the crowd shouted.
“Come on, Romai,” Bryan urged. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
“Yes,” I replied, tears falling out of my eyes. The crowd broke into applause, and Bryan kissed me on the lips.
“I’m so happy that you’ve agreed,” he smiled once we broke apart from the kiss.
When we exited the stage, everyone cheered us on, and it felt like a moment right out of a movie. Kathy was furious, and she stormed out of the room immediately.
“Hey, hey,” Jake came up to us, grinning wide. “Congratulations on the new couple. A real one this time.”
A blush formed on my cheeks.
“I had to do it,” Bryan grinned. “I couldn’t let her slip away from me like that. But you’ll have to excuse us now. I need a moment alone with my girlfriend.”
Bryan took my hand and led me outside, where we could have some privacy without people looking at us. The breeze was cold outside, and it felt like the perfect moment.
I was still reeling from what had happened, and Bryan wrapped one of his arms around me.
“I didn’t know you liked me,” I said, craning my neck to look at him directly. “Did you have all of this planned from earlier?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. I knew I wanted to ask you, but when Kathy came on that stage, it just pushed me to do it sooner than I had intended.”
“God, I can’t believe she stabbed me in the back like that,” I admitted. “I trusted her, and she just took advantage of it. I just cannot believe she’d do this to me after so many years of friendship.”
“You’re not the problem here, Romai,” Bryan reminded me gently. “She is. She’s a bitter person who can only feel better about herself by putting other people down. But you shouldn’t worry about her anymore.”
“What if she tries to sabotage what we have?”
“She can try,” Bryan laughed, “But I think our bond is strong enough that nothing is going to work.”
I nodded. “I always thought you didn’t want a relationship….”
“I didn’t. Not until I met you,” he kissed my cheek softly, “I always thought relationships are too much work. But with you, everything is so easy. It’s like you add to my life instead of taking away from it.”
“That’s pretty high praise coming from you.”
“Oh, you deserve the highest praise there is. I hope you still don’t think of yourself as some kind of loser, Romai. Didn’t you see how happy everyone was for us?”
“I thought after hearing that recording, everyone would turn on me,” I swallowed.
“Romai….” Bryan inched his face closer to mine, “Even if everyone in the entire world turned on you, I would still be there for you. And that’s a promise.’
Our lips met again, and it was like fireworks had erupted inside of my body. Bryan’s touch felt electric, and now that I knew he was mine, it felt even better. We kissed for a long time under the stars, and when we finally pulled away, Bryan held my face gently with his hands.
“Let me take you out on a proper date,” he suggested, “A real one this time. As your boyfriend.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” I jumped into his arms, embracing him tightly.
This was not how I had expected prom night to go, but everything had fallen into place, and I had found my happy place with Bryan.
Bryan took me out to a nice restaurant for our first official date. It was a beautiful little establishment close to the river, and he had arranged for us to have a candlelight dinner. We sat together under the twinkling lights of the outside sitting area of the restaurant, stealing loving glances at each other from across the table. Behind us,