now, you’d think I’d be on to you and your sneaky schemes to turn my demonic army into a bunch of beach bums.”
Toby flashes one of his killer smiles at me he knows I can’t in any way resist. “Oh, there’s plenty about me you’ll never be on to. I’m a Pandora’s Box that never empties. Full of bad, bad, bad and not a drop of hope to be found.”
I kiss him tenderly, then press my forehead to his and give him a devilish look. “Toby, baby … there ain’t one bit of bad in you at all, and you know it.”
“Wait. ‘Ain’t’?” Toby pulls away and gapes at me. “Did you just ‘ain’t’ me? Tell me you didn’t just say ‘ain’t’ in an actual sentence.” He laughs while I stare at him wide-eyed, not even having noticed it myself. “Vann, Vann, Vann … Spruce has gone and infected you. There’s no escaping me now. You’re mine for good.”
I pretend to scowl at him. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”
But the truth is, those words of his do so much to me. ‘There’s no escaping me now. You’re mine for good.’ I don’t ever want to know what my bed feels like without him lying next to me. No Sunday morning will ever again pass where I don’t wake up with Toby’s gentle breathing in my ear, with his soft skin touching mine, with sheets wrapping us up in a cool and cottony cocoon.
“I’m in love with you, Toby.”
He smiles at me, taken away into a dream with me by those words. Then: “Well, duh. That ain’t news.”
“No, Toby. I really mean it. I feel like …” My heart could burst. “I feel like you’ve done me in. For good. Forever. I’m in love with you. Fully. Completely. You have my heart, Toby, and no one else for the rest of my life is going to have it. No one and nothing. Not even my demons. Nor anything else I create with these hands.” By now, we’ve stopped swaying and are standing still in the middle of the dance floor. “I’m in love with you, Toby. You’re the one who’s infected me. Not Spruce. And no matter where you are, I know I’m home as long as I’m by your side.”
All humor has left his eyes. He is stunned, my words sinking in. “Vann … You … You know I’m crazy about you. You’ve changed me in so many ways. You came into my life at the exact moment I needed you. Hell, if you’d asked me before my senior year started if I’d be going to prom, I’d have said no. I’m pretty sure I’d be at home right now kicking back with my new game exploring realms and riding crystal dragons … all by myself. I’d never know how this feels, to be in someone’s arms—your arms—out here on this dance floor with all my friends. Vann, you lifted me, you pushed me onto a stage, you gave purpose to my painting, you gave me a story to tell. Our story.” He brings a hand to my face. “I think you literally saved my life.”
Then we have no more words to say, and every other feeling that exists in our hearts comes out in kisses, in tender looks into each other’s eyes, in strokes of our backs as we embrace and sway on the dance floor to the music, lost in this moment, kissing. Prom king and prom queen are announced, and all we know is this kiss. The punch bowl is spiked, something salacious goes down in one of the photo booths, couples sneak off to hotel rooms upstairs, and all we know is this kiss. Buildings could fall, fires may break out around us, the moon could come crashing down to the earth from the starry night sky … and the only fricking thing we’d remember is this one, precious, perfect kiss.
If eternal happiness had a moment, I’m pretty sure this is it.
EPILOGUE
- TOBY -
Maybe happily-ever-after isn’t just a gift you’re given in the end. Maybe you have to work to keep it.
And sometimes, happiness is found at the end of a road you never anticipated taking. It could even be a road in the woods you didn’t know existed, a road that never shows itself …
Until you get a letter delivered to your door.
“Hey, Toby!” Lee calls out in his deep, dull voice after having answered the door. “It’s some kinda thing you gotta sign for!”
I