Worth Fighting For | Book #1

Chapter 69

My lips were beginning to strain immensely with the persistent smiling I was being encouraged to do throughout the day. Yet as we neared closer to the evening, I felt my face muscles beginning to drop with sheer exhaustion.

"Mom, I think that's enough now, don't you?"

"Come on, just one more. Melissa wanted a few of you and Josh together," Josh's mom stood beside mine, likely working together to ensure that they took the best photos of the both of us together.

"How about one more with the group? There's not nearly enough of those." Melissa spoke up as she looked into my mom's camera, smiling proudly as if it were only the first of many photos that had been taken today.

But as the sun began setting, we finally saw it as a moment to request no more photos, given that I had seen the camera flash more times today than I have before in my life.

It was our graduation, not our wedding day. Which given a second thought, sounded strange to assume that we could someday be married.

I shook my head of the intrusive thoughts that would slip into my premature and teenage mind as I turned and looked up to Josh, still smiling forcefully to the camera. "That's perfect!" My mom shouted, following with a series of camera flashes. Josh furrowed his brows before looking down to me and grinning when he realised that I had been staring up at him.

"Mom, I really think that's it, we've taken so many photos today," I muttered and finally moved out of the shot. My mother simply sent me a sad smile before lowering the camera again and looking to me with a sense of pride that I hadn't seen in a long while.

Josh's mom, Melissa, had surprisingly volunteered to host the graduation party in their back yard, which happened to be large enough for our whole friendship group and their families. Both Josh and I had helped a few days ago to decorate it, including a large gazebo in case it rained, which was thankfully not likely.

"I can't believe how wonderful this place..."

I reached for Josh's hand and immediately pulled him away from both our Mother's impending conversation that would probably last for a lot longer than we could stand. Ever since Josh and I's relationship had progressed, our mothers became finely tuned with the fact that they were single parents and found comfort in the friend made from the both of us.

Although it was a good thing, it was also highly frustrating in knowing how much they could potentially band together and plan almost every aspect of our lives. And that happened to be another reason why I was extremely thankful for my recent admission to the University of Boston to study journalism, and Josh's scholarship to NYU to study business, which surprised him more than anyone else.

We'd spoken only briefly about how our relationship could potentially pan out over the course of college, but for now, I knew that I wanted it to work, and that we would make it work.

I pulled us both inside his house and into the kitchen, using an excuse of wanting a drink in order to be alone with him again. I wrapped my arms around his large shoulders as he pressed his back against the kitchen counter.

"How did I get this lucky to have you?"

I laughed and nuzzled my blushing cheeks into his chest, only for him to lift my face up to see him again. "I think I'm luckier," I whispered and leaned up only slightly to press a kiss to his lips, with the help of my heels.