“I can’t believe you remembered that.” I really do love this man. It was a random conversation we had at three in the morning when he was lying in bed with me.
“I remember everything you say.” I grab a piece of chicken, digging in.
“What do you think will happen when school is over? You don’t talk much about your plans.”
“Only plans I have are being with you. I can go to school anywhere.”
“So college?” He shrugs.
“I’m going to culinary school.”
“I know.” Of course he does, because he listens to everything I say.
“Wonder where Davis will end up.” Berkley lifts my biscuit for me, putting butter and honey on it.
“I was thinking about that actually. Did you see that they cancelled the NCAA for the year?”
“See? I heard Davis scream from next door.” I laugh. No college football this year. I had a feeling that one was coming. Berkley lets out a chuckle.
“I was thinking of putting some tapes together and making some new ones for Davis. Get him out there. These colleges are going to have to figure out how to recruit for next year one way or another.”
“Berkley.” I get up, coming around the table. He pushes back in his chair, making room for me to sit in his lap. “You’re so freaking sweet. I can’t even handle it.” I kiss him. “Now tell me more. In your eyes how would this work out for us?” It’s clear that Berkley has ideas in his head about the future. He’s been thinking about it for all of us.
“I thought we might go where Davis goes. We can get a place. I think you’d have to live on campus or some shit for the first year. I don’t know all the rules. We can go to school almost anywhere.”
“We would get a place?” I wrap my arms around his neck. I like the sound of that. Berkley goes to bed with me most nights. It will be strange when that’s over. It would be nice if he could be there when I woke up too.
“Yeah, we would get a place.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out then.” I brush my mouth against his as I shift to straddle him. His hands slip under my dress to my ass, and I can tell the second he feels that I'm bare underneath.
“I’ll reheat the food.” He groans as he stands with me in his arms. At the same time, the room floods with light.
Davis doesn't look our way as he makes himself right at home going over to the movie theater area Berkley set up. Mike and Syracuse stand there in shock. Berkley turns, making sure my ass isn't showing.
“What’s going on here?” Mike says.
“You know what this means?” I hear Syracuse say. “No more ten-year plan, Davis.”
Davis lets out a loud groan that has me giggling into Berkley’s neck. “I’m going to kill them,” Berkley growls.
“No, we’re going to share our chicken and hang out with our friends.”
He grunts but puts me on my feet. “I’ll go get you some panties.”
“You’re going to drive all the way back to my place?”
Berkley actually blushes. “I have some of yours here.” I burst into laughter.
“Damn, Berk. You never set shit up like this for us,” Mike says.
“That’s because you don’t give him any—”
Davis smacks Syracuse in the back of the head before he can say the word pussy.
“You sure I can’t kill them?”
I rest my head on Berkley’s chest watching them all start to fight with a smile on my face.
We might be young, but we’ve all been through our own challenges. Especially in the last year. This year has been crazier than any other, but it doesn’t seem to matter what life throws at us.
When all the cards fall, we’re all still together. Laughing and smiling. The people in this room aren’t only my friends, they are my family. As for Berkley, he is my future. The pandemic might have brought a ton of uncertainty and worry, but it also brought all of us closer together.EpilogueBerkley“I can’t believe it’s raining this hard. How am I going to get to prom in the middle of a hurricane?” Baker wails.
Her mom pats her on the shoulder. “The rain will die down.”
“It’s not a hurricane because we don’t live near any body of water. It’s a thunderstorm,” Mav says flatly, not looking up from the book he’s reading. I think it’s Nietszche or some other unpronounceable philosopher whose works I don’t understand. How I ended up with such a brainy kid I don’t know. I was smart enough in high school and managed to get a master’s in business, but I’ve got nothing on this one. He doesn’t even look like a braniac at six four and two hundred plus pounds, but to the high school coaches’ dismay, he doesn’t have any interest in sports. If his nose isn’t in a book, he’s sleeping—unlike my daughter, who’s all motion, no rest.