The three months of summer passed by in a blur of spending time by the pool with Raine, being with Taston, babysitting the Tabors regularly, and trying to move past her feelings for Taylor Hanson for Exhale. She almost couldn’t believe the school year was about to start, but her presence in Ethan’s bedroom, packing things away for his move to Norman to attend the University of Oklahoma, cemented the fact that summer was nearly over.

“So you never answered me…can I have your computer?” she asked when Ethan returned from getting more boxes out of the garage.

“Hale, I haven’t even left yet,” Ethan answered.

“Um…what do you think all this is for?” Exhale gestured to the numerous boxes and garbage bags full of Ethan’s stuff piled up all over the room.

“Didn’t realize you were so eager to be rid of me,” Ethan said jokingly, taping up a box he had just filled with CDs. “I guess you can, as long as Mom and Dad don’t mind you having it in your room. I don’t care.”

“I don’t see why you should care seeing as how Grams and Paw Paw gave you a brand new one for graduation that you never put together. God, you think you’re so special just because you’re going to college or something.”

“You’d sure as hell better be joking,” Ethan said, giving her a sharp look.

“I am.” Exhale smiled. “I really am going to miss you. Taston won’t know what to do with himself anymore without you to stare him down and intimidate him every time he comes over.”

Ethan didn’t respond even though he knew Exhale had meant her comment as a joke. He didn’t like Taston, and liked talking about him even less. “Any word on how long until Isaac and them come home?” he asked, promptly changing the subject.

“Last time I talked to Taylor, he said they’d only be in LA another month before going to Miami for a little while. They should be home right before Thanksgiving,” Exhale replied.

“Good, I’ll be home then too. Works out perfect.”

“You act like you’re going so far away,” Exhale teased. “It’s only like two hours away. You’re not leaving the country.”

“Shut up. Two hours might not seem long to you, but I won’t be able to drop everything and come home whenever I want. I’ll have school, football…who knows when I’ll be able to come home and visit…And you know what I was thinking about? I might actually miss my little stalker when I’m gone. Never thought I’d say that, but it’s true.”

Exhale laughed. “It’ll make her whole life when I tell her you said that.”

With a sigh, Ethan abandoned the box he was packing and fell across his unmade bed, staring up at the ceiling. “You know, growing up, I always dreamed of this…moving out of the house, even if only for the school year, going to college. And I always thought it’d be the greatest day of my life, but now…I kinda don’t want to leave.”

“Dude, shut up,” Exhale said, tears filling her eyes. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

“Sorry,” Ethan said, sitting up and gesturing for her to sit next to him on the bed, which she did. “When Mom and Dad start letting you drive on the Interstate by yourself, you can come stay up at my place sometimes on the weekends, come to the football game…And you can bring Raine, because I know she’ll miss me, and even Taylor.” Ethan laughed. “Seriously. I like that kid.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Exhale commented dryly, automatically thinking of her and Ethan’s confrontation in the driveway so many months ago. “I’ll throw it out there, but I don’t know if our parents or his parents would go for that very easily.”

“Oooh, Hale, thinking of sex already, now…Interesting…”

“Shut up,” she said, laughing and shoving him. “Anyway, it’s not like I didn’t have a good teacher in gutter-mindedness.”

“Aw, Hale, do I really deserve such a compliment? You’re making me blush,” he teased.

Exhale laughed before getting to her feet and tossing a roll of clear box tape at him. “Come on, we’re almost finished in here.”

______________

“You’re so whipped,” Echo proclaimed as Exhale hurried across the living room to retrieve a pair of sandals she had carelessly left in the corner of the room.

“You don’t even know what that means, reject,” Exhale replied, sitting on the couch to pull the shoes onto her feet. Ever since Ethan had left weeks before, the sisters had been more at each other’s throats than ever now that there was no referee to come between them.

“I do too,” Echo argued back, her eyes shining haughtily. “The guy’s supposed to pick up the girl for dates, but you’re going to pick him up because you’re whipped and you’ll do anything he tells you to. And I’m not a reject!”

“Shut up, reject.” Exhale left the room before Echo could continue the argument, going instead to the kitchen to let her parents know she was leaving.

“Drive carefully, baby,” Magdalen warned, kissing her daughter on the cheek. “Call us later to check in.”

“I will.” After kissing her dad, she exited through the garage, and climbed into the used dark blue Mazda Protégé that she had helped pay for over the summer with some of her babysitting money. If nothing else, she was proud of the fact that she had been able to put some of her own money toward it, instead of having to rely on her parents to buy it for her. Even though the paint was peeling on the back bumper and the inside smelled strongly of smoke from a previous owner, the car was hers and she had invested some of herself into it.

When she arrived at Taston’s house, she pulled into the driveway behind his beat up white Corolla and exited the car, straightening her skirt as she walked to the front door. Taston opened the door before she even had a chance to knock, a smile on his face that gave credit to the phrase “grinning from ear to ear.” “Hey, baby,” he said softly, leaning over to kiss her before leading her into the house.

“What’s up? You’re not ready to go yet?” she asked, walking past him into the house. “I’d rather if you drove since I have no idea where we’re going.”

Taston shushed her, taking her hand and leading her to the back of the house. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said, pulling open the back door and gesturing for her to walk out ahead of him.

She looked at him questioningly, wondering what was going on. “The backyard? Why?” She surely hadn’t planned on spending their six month anniversary in the Mitchell’s backyard.

“Just trust me,” he said gently, gesturing again for her to walk through the door.

Exhale obliged slowly, her breath hitching in her throat when she did. In the yard, she found a huge blanket spread over the ground surrounded by several lit tiki torches, sending thin curls of smoke up into the rapidly darkening night sky. Taston clicked on the outside stereo system, and soft instrumental music surrounded them. Exhale slowly took a seat on the blanket, careful not to disturb anything for fear of destroying the picturesque setup Taston had obviously worked very hard on. Taston sat beside her, opening the picnic basket set in the middle of the blanket and pulling out it’s contents: rolls and cold cuts for sandwiches, grapes, cheese, strawberries, and small wrapped chocolates. “You have got to be kidding me with this,” she said slowly, turning her head to take it all in once again.

“Are you surprised?” he asked. Even though she wasn’t looking at him, she could tell by his voice that he was smiling.

“Very,” she answered, shifting her position carefully while he set up the food on plates and poured glasses of iced tea for each of them. “I can’t believe you went through all this trouble. I’m almost afraid to touch anything.”

“Don’t be,” he said, kissing her slowly. “I wanted to do something special for you because…you and I have been through a lot, and the fact that we still made it to six months really says something.”

They continued conversing all through dinner, and when the food was gone, they moved the empty dishes out of the way and laid down, looking up at the stars above them. Exhale scooted closer to him, finding his hand in the dark and lacing their fingers together. They fell silent for a few minutes, basking in the evening that had gone perfectly. Finally, Taston broke the silence, rolling onto his side and propping himself up on his elbow so he could look down at her. “Exhale, I love you so much. You’ve done so much for me, and I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you in my life.”

Exhale blushed and smiled. “I love you too, Taston.”

“I got you something…” he said, digging in his pocket.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Exhale said, sitting up slowly. “All this was more than enough.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to,” he protested, finally extracting what he had been looking for.

There was no mistaking what would be inside that small, square, velvety box. Exhale held her breath, her mind spinning as he popped the top open, revealing to her a thin silver ring studded with a row of four tiny diamonds. “Taston, it’s beautiful…” she breathed, taking the ring from the box and turning it slowly in her hands. “But…”

“But what?” he asked, his mood quickly altering at the reaction he hadn’t at all been expecting. “What, you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s just…well, Taston, don’t you think this is a little much for six months? Where did you get the money for this?”

“If you don’t like it, just say you don’t like it.” Even in the dim light, Exhale could see his eyes hardening along with the rest of his features.

“That’s not what I meant-”

“No, I understand you perfectly,” Taston snapped, snatching the ring from her palm and jumping to his feet.

Exhale jolted up as well, standing practically nose-to-nose, her blood boiling. “Why do you always have to be so fucking immature, Taston? I can’t ask you a simple question or express my feelings to you about something without you flying off the handle because you don’t like what I have to say! I’m sick of this and I’m sick of you. Thanks for a great evening, but we’re through.” And with that, she turned on her heel and left by way of the side of the house, slamming the gate as she went. It wasn’t until she had driven home and closed herself off into the safety of her bedroom that she allowed the tears that had been fighting their way out to flow down her cheeks.

INDEX | CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN