A Kiss and I Will Surrender

48

Friday came much too quickly, Gerard would be leaving at 9pm and I wasn't letting him out of my sight until that time came. I was determined to spend every second of the next 14 hours with him. I woke up at 6:30, earlier than I would have woken up even for school and rushed to the front room of the house after pulling on a pair of skinny jeans and a t shirt. I stopped at the bathroom to fix my hair and make sure I looked decent. 

I scribbled a note on a pad of paper and left it on the counter for my mom. Her and Mark were still sleeping so I didn't want to bother them. Gerard said he would pick me up at 7 to spend the day together and I was bouncing with excitement at the anticipation. The hands on the clock seemed to move in slow motion as I waited for him to pull up to my house. Finally after what felt like an eternity, he drove up and waved to me as I skipped to the car. 

"Good morning," I sang, grinning. 

"You're in a good mood," He noted, "Happy to finally get rid of me?"

I knew he was joking, but I frowned, "Hey! I'm trying to stay positive, don't remind me about that," I lightly punched his arm. 

"Ow okay-- sorry," He said, raising his arms in defense. He started up the car and we drove, talking and laughing until we got to an empty parking lot facing the beach. It gave us a gorgeous view of the ocean and the sunrise which made the moment feel that much more magical. 

"I'm gonna miss you," I blurted, looking over to him. 

"I'll miss you too," He said, I could see a glimmer of sadness in his eyes behind his smile. 

"I um.. I got something for you," He said before unbuckled and awkwardly twisted in his seat to pull something out of his pocket, he handed it to me: "Don't open it until I'm gone," He instructed. 

"What is it?" I asked, holding the small box in my hand. 

"You'll see," He grinned.  

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and pulled it out to read a text from my mom, "Ugh," I groaned. She wanted me to come home so we could go out to dinner with Mark. I texted her back saying I didn't want to and that I was planning on hanging out with Gerard since he was leaving today. 

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"My mom wants me to go home so we can go out to eat with Mark for some godforsaken reason," I groaned. 

"I thought you liked Mark now?" 

"Yeah, I do, but I really wanted to hang out with you today," I said, sticking my lower lip out in a pout. He blushed a soft pink and I leaned in close to press a gentle kiss on his lips. We stayed there a moment breathing each other in as we kissed. 

Eventually I pulled away, a thought came to my mind and I tapped on my phone for a minute. 

"Hey, what if you come with me tonight? I asked, typing out the message to my mom asking for permission to bring Gerard along.

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude," I rolled my eyes.

"Oh hush, you know you wouldn't be," I shook my head.

"Alright, I mean- If it's okay with them, of course I'd love to go to dinner with your family," I grinned when a reply came through my phone reading: 

yes

I squealed with excitement as I showed the text to Gerard, "She said dinner is at 6 so what do you want to do until then? We've got all the time in the world." 

Of course, we didn't have all the time in the world. In fact, we barely had any time left. We wandered around the shoreline of the beach since we were already there for a few hours, collecting shells and letting the tide chase us away from the waterline as it rose and fell. The water was icy so we weren't able to swim yet again. I clicked my phone open, directing my attention away from the messy sandcastle we were attempting to build. It was already 5:30 so we probably needed to start heading home so we could get changed for dinner. It wasn't that we needed to wear anything fancy, but the layer of sand caked on our clothes made it clear that our casual clothes wouldn't do.