The Boy Next Door

ｔｈｉｒｔｙ ｔｈｒｅｅ

~Rachel~

We laid in my bed after prom laughing and talking and looking through pictures. All of our friends had gone out to after parties but that still wasn't mine or Colton's favorite thing to do.

"Oh my god. Do you remember this?" Colton held a picture up from a volunteering event we did together. We were both dressed up in mascot costumes.

"I hated that costume so much. It smelled so bad!" I laughed.

"I was too tall for mine", he said. Colton gently played with my hair. "Can I ask you an honest question?"

"You can ask me anything babe," I said.

"What is going to happen to us? Like after we graduate and get ready to move on to college."

"What do you mean? Do you think that we wouldn't stay together?"

"You applied to colleges all the way in New York and Florida. I have no idea where you have been accepted to and where you are going to choose. That's why I'm worried." He said.

"While I did get accepted to both those schools in New York and Florida, I was also accepted into SCU."

"Wow, look at you." He said. "I know we were talking about that school before. I know that you will succeed anywhere you go. I don't want you to make your choice based on me. I don't want to pressure you into what I want you to do. Do what you want to do."

"Well, you'll be happy to know that I have already confirmed with SCU that I will be attending there, starting in the fall."

"Why there?" He asked.

"With all these medical bills recently because of my accident, I thought that going with a place that was going to give me the most in scholarships to cover tuition would be better for my family and me. Also, they have a good physical therapy program and best of all I get to see my best friend play football."

"So, you're saying that we are going to be going to the same college."

"Yes," I said. Was he not listening to me the whole time? He embraced me in a big hug, gentle enough to be conscious of my injuries.

"I fucking love you so much." He said. "So much. You have no idea."

"I love you too, Colton."

"You're going to think that I'm crazy." He said. He reached down off the bed to grab something off of the floor. It was a small black box. I gasped to myself. "This isn't what you might think it is." He opened the box exposing a shiny ring. "I know we are young, but I know that you are the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. One day, I want to have a family. I want to wake up every day next to you. I want to always be there for you. So, I want to give you this promise ring. It means that one day when the time is right, I want to propose to you. We still have our whole lives ahead of us and we have only been dating for a short time. Given that, I know that this may not be what you want, but this will give us more time to see if this is what you want too. Will you accept this ring?" He asked.

I couldn't believe what he was saying. It took me by surprise, but at the same time, it didn't. For months he had been making comments like "when we are married", it didn't bother me one bit. I know that he's the one that I want to be with forever. I am so in love with him. We still have so much ahead of us and being settled down would be tough. There is nothing more that I want in my life than to be with him, well there are other things that I want, but for sake of this moment, we'll say there isn't. "Yes, I will," I said smiling. He slid the ring onto my finger and kissed me.

"You're so beautiful, babe. I hope you know that," He said kissing me again. I brushed his long, messy hair off of his forehead. After prom he rubbed it around so it looked like a rats nest.