Chapter 39- Come Together

Chapter 39 - Come Together

Kim's POV

3 Months Later

Date number seventeen. Why was this so important you may ask? I'll tell you why, because seventeen is Asher's lucky and favorite number; and because everything just seems better the seventeenth time. We weren't going to do anything special really. Asher had the idea of visiting the new gelato shop down town. Everyone has been talking about it nonstop since it open, pictures and statues on Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, everywhere; so we thought why not check it out.

Apparently it's more than just gelato, aka the fancier type of ice cream, it was a whole candy store! Walls, and walls, and, walls of candy! Hard candy, candy pieces, chocolatey, gummy, sour, sweet, sticky, and chewy; anything and everything was there! That was just that "candy store" half. The other half was all gelato. Hundreds of flavors, and a bar of toppings. No wonder why it was called the Sugar Factory. We could see why everyone was liking the place. The place itself brought out this colorful, joyful, happiness; with its new shiny tables and chairs, and clean shop environment. It was something new put into society.

We had filled a bag of mixed candy up and then came for what we were really here for, the gelato. Which, by the way, is amazing! Softer than ice cream, creamier, lighter, less filling, and more flavors to chooses from. I had gotten a scoop of mix berry and stracciatella. Asher's whole mouth had turned blue ordering something new called Smurf. His tongue and lips were a very bright blue, even his teeth! He's really going to need some teeth bleaching after this.

"How are you liking your gelato?" Asher asks, smiling a bright blue smile.

I laugh just by looking at him, I could not take him serious like this, "Yummy. Thanks for another fantastic date."

"As always, you are welcome." He bent down for a kiss, but I pulled away, turning my nose up.

"Don't kiss me with those blue lips of yours." I tease, sticking my tongue at him, he playfully looked hurt when I pulled away then started to laugh again. He fought against me, putting up a weak fight, ending up to kiss me anyways.

"Jerk." I tease, sticking out my tongue.

"Better put that tongue of yours back in or I'll make that blue too." He winks, using his signature smirk on me.

I shut my mouth quickly, looping my arm through his, smiling as we walked down the sidewalk, walking nowhere in particular. We walked silently side by side, eating our gelato. I pull Asher into the direction of a park coming up around the corner wanting to sit down. I threw away my empty pink Sugar Factory cup in the trash, keeping the fancy plastic pink spoon. It was shaped differently than other ice cream shop places, it was just unique and cool.

"Kimmy cupcake, would you like to come back to this place again?" Asher asks, lightly smiling as I looked at him a bit fun.

"You know that's your drunk nickname for me. Please, do not use that." I half said in disgust, but couldn't help but laugh.

"Really? You don't like that one either?" He pouts.

"No not really. I mean, when you're drunk it's funny, but please no, not when you're sober." I chuckle, shaking my head.

"I'm striking out on nicknames." He mumbles.

"Yeah, what's with you calling me all these names: Kimmy Kins, Kimmy Babe, Baby Kim, Kim Kim, K.T, Kimmy Bear, Kimmy Boo, Kimmy Cupcake? Why you trying so hard?" I ask, not liking any of the nicknames, since he'd call me that in public and it was a bit embarrassing and a childish nickname.

"I just, wanted to call you by a cute nick name, since we're dating and all." He mumbles frustratingly. A little frown formed on his perfect face.

I chuckle at him, smiling, "Ashy I don't need another nick name. You calling me Kimmy is the best already. No one else calls me that but you." I tell him, meaning it whole heartedly. I didn't like anyone else calling me Kimmy but Asher. He's been calling me Kimmy since the beginning of time, and that's special enough to me.

"Really? That's it?" He asks, looking doubtfully.

"That's it. I love it just like that." I tell him, looping my arm through his.

We sat on a small wooden park bench in front of the park, right around a place where you could watch the sun set, which is obviously really romantic and beautiful. I rested my head on Asher's shoulder, and brought my legs up to lay on the side of the bench to take up the rest of the space.

"How did we get here?" Asher asks in a quiet tone.

I giggle, "We walked, silly." I replied jokingly.

"No not that." He said, sounding like he was rolling his eyes at me, "I mean how we ended up in a relationship? How did two great close friends end up falling for each other? Why now and not years ago?"

I started thinking about it, talking to myself so Asher could hear what I was processing through my head, "I always loved you. I always hoped that you'd have deeper feelings for me other than as a best friend. For so long I waited, and one day I couldn't take waiting any longer. I tried moving on, and I did for a while, but those feelings that I tried pushing away deep down kept resurfacing. And then one day we finally had the guts to admit to each other that being best friends wasn't ever going to be enough."

The smile on his face corresponded with him pulling me tighter to him. I love Asher, I've always loved him as a best friend until I realized I love him. I looked at him as a friend until I realized I loved him. That was it. Those were the exact words that described us. The title 'best friend' just got in the way of what we really felt. That we loved one another, but the other was just too stubborn to tell, we loved each other at the wrong and opposite times.

"Hey, do you know that today is a special kind of date, for me." He mentions, tilting his head to get a better look at me.

I smile, nodding my head, "Oh, I know. Today is date number seventeen, it being your favorite number, your lucky number, your jersey number, our age, your birth date number, and one day the number you want your house to be."

He laughs, resting his cheek on the top of my head and pulling me tightly to his side for a hug, "You've been counting too?"

"Of course. I am the girl in the relationship." I joked. Aren't girls always the ones knowing every little small detail about things like this? Maybe how many dates you've gone on is a little much, but I only wanted to know because of date seventeen so I could bring it up.

He laughs, "Do I get something special at the end of this date night." He teases, the smirk on his face totally there.

I roll my eyes, playfully smacking him on the shoulder, "You horny little bas-"

"Now, now, don't you get dirty minded with me. I thought we could just watch Netflix and chill, that's all." He chuckles, raising his hands up to me.

"Oh don't pretend that I don't know what that really means." I smirk to him, shaking my head, "You better behave on our double date tonight with Katie and Tyler. Or you're not even going to step foot into my house."

"Oh! It's a good thing you reminded me." He says frantically, scrambling in his seat as he dug in his pockets for his phone, "Its quarter to seven, we should head to the theaters now if we want to make it on time for our movie."

"That's probably a good idea." I nod encouragingly. If I do remember right Asher told me that the movie started around ten minutes past seven.

"Now if only we can remember where we parked the car, we should be good then." He comments under his breath, turning a corner to a parking lot behind the gelato shop. As we reach the car he halts, turning to back to me with a smile, "In case I forget." He says, he gasped wrapping his arms around my waist, and pulling me into a unexpected kiss, "I love you, Kimmy." He tells me with an elegant smile.

"I love you too, Ash." I smile, tangling my fingers in his dark brown hair.

"Forever?" He asks me.

I nod my head determinedly, "Forever."

~~~~~

Two Months Before Graduation

It was the four of us in the car: Katie and Tyler up front, Asher and I in the back; jamming out to Whistle by Flo Rider. It was a competition between us all to see who could get all the rap words correctly without messing up. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the day was beautiful, and it was a great idea to skip half of school on Friday to get an early start on our long weekend.

Rushing through the semi empty high ways of the New Hampshire we laughed and talked with the music playing, watching the trees and road signs pass us at high speed, "Who's ready for the beach?!" Katie cheers from the front seat, her feet bouncing and dancing on the dash board. Tyler giving her a stinky look of course.

"I am!" I shout from the back seat, pulling at my seat belt to high fiving her.

"I can't believe you girls found a place to stay. It usually takes months in advance." Asher says, still looking surprised. Tyler had an agreeable looking face, nodding his head as he changes the radio station.

"It's still considered off season, if we did any other time we wouldn't have been able to go." I tell him, trying to speak loud enough for him to hear over the music and rushing wind.

"And it was the last room. We couldn't even find two small rooms, just this big room with two beds and a sofa couch." Katie says, pulling her blond hair into a pony tail and out of her face.

"The sofa couch is a great piece in case we have to kick one of you guys out of bed." I comment, Katie laughing along.

"Twenty bucks says Asher gets exiled to the couch first." Tyler predicts.

"Your drunk ass will end up there the first night." Asher disagrees.

"Sure as hell won't be one of us." Katie comments, looking at me with a laugh. That's for sure! "How much longer until we get there?" Katie asks, nodding to Tyler who had the GPS balanced behind his steering wheel in front of the speedometer.

"About twenty more minutes. Check in is at two, right?" He confirms looking over to her.

Katie nods her head, look over to the dash for the time, "We'll get there right on time. Once we throw our luggage in the room we hit the beach!" As we cheered again we sang along to Taylor Swifts new hit 22. We may not be twenty-two yet, but we sure knew how to have fun like Taylor sang about.

~~~~~

When we arrived we all took the small luggage we packed out of the trunk and it into our hotel, The Hermitage. It took all four of us to pronounce the name, and neither of us got it right after we listened to the front desk lady greet us. It was a cute motel, not something huge, grand, or fancy, but it was right on the beach, the main reason we chose it. We signed in and grabbed our keys to the room.

Entering our room on the second floor it was pretty spacious. There were two bedrooms. Each with a full sized bed and their own bathroom, when you walked in there was a little kitchenette, near that was a lounge area with a couch, a lounge chair, a coffee table and a small flat screen TV. Beyond that was the deck where you could look out to the ocean.

"Just like you asked for, a room with a great view." Asher mentions, walking over to the sliding doors.

"Never thought I'd ever say this but, girl, you did me proud." Tyler says looking proud, pretending to cry fake tears. That was the closest to a compliment as I'll ever get.

"Well then, let's go to the beach, each, let's go get away-" Katie sang hopping around the room and waving her arms around.

"Kate! You are not, nor ever will be Nicki Minaj!" Asher teases, laughing at her in her wacky state of mind.

"When I become a therapist, I'm going to be the one with all those celebrity consultants. I'll never be able to tell you guys, but when I suddenly become famous, it's because one of my clients realized I have an amazing talent. I'm going to be the celebrity shrink transformed into pop/rock legion singer sensation." She gloats, sticking her tongue at him, "So let me sing a possible future patient's song!"

"I one hundred percent guarantee you, your first client is going to be some traumatized old man talking about the Vietnam War he was never in." Ash jokes.

I laugh until my sides hurt, "Aka my grandpa." I mention through tears. Just the image of Katie in a chair trying to consul my grandfather made me laugh with no end.

"Exactly! Thank you! Case proven." Asher says, throwing his hands in the air in victory.

Katie pouts her lips, her hands crossed over her chest like a child, "I have nothing to say to you."

"Victory is mine!" Asher cheered lastly, jumping on the couch.

"All right you sissies, lets really go to the beach, its way past lunch time and I'm starving!" Tyler chimes in, rubbing his stomach with a groan.

"I agree. For once." Wow that is scary to say out loud. Agreeing with Tyler, shiver. "Let's grab something from the hotel and eat it by the pool or on the beach." I suggested. They all agreed. We figured out what room each couple was taking to unpacked and get changed into our beach attire. Once we all were finished and waiting on the couch for Asher, God knows why he took so long, we head downstairs to get some food and then to the beach.

~~~~~

It was just around sunset time when the guys decided to be romantic and walk us down the beach shore. There was a nice breeze flowing by, the smell of salt water from the ocean, cold wet sand on between my toes, but I felt warm with Asher holding my hand and by my side. We were walking slowly behind Tyler and Katie giggling and talking about whatever was on our mind.

"You were a horrible superman that year! God forbid that those toddlers still aren't traumatized from that Halloween." I laughed, digging my heels in the sand with each step I took. Asher, snickers beside me, not really thinking it was his best moment either, or even a smart idea at the time.

"Just because toddlers don't see a grown man in their underwear and tights from their girlfriend, doesn't mean it was my fault. They're going to see it one day, I save the God awful dress up day for their parents." Asher defended, rolling his eyes.

"They would have never seen a teenage boy dressed like that until you came along! Those kids must have been at least seven years at oldest the youngest was probably three or something." I explained to him. I was still laughing uncontrollably in his embarrassment.

"Whatever." He mumbles, rolling his eyes. I giggle, swaying our arms back in forth gently humming a tune, "Are you happy?"

"Of course I'm happy. Ecstatic actually." I smile up to him, the warm ocean water hitting our feet and falling back into the current, "Are you happy?" I ask.

"The happiest." He smile back elegantly, kissing the side of my head. "I can't wait to graduate with you soon."

"From Kindergarten to senior year of high school baby. I don't think anyone else at Jefferson High can say that." I tell him proudly.

"Eh, there is one other person." Asher says, nodding his head to Tyler in front of us. The horrifying look on my face said it all. "We won't count him though." He chuckles, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and holding my other hand now. I nod my head, pointing over to some lawn chairs the motel had laid out on the beach. At the same time Katie pointed it out too, looking behind her to see if we wanted to go back and sit too.

Grateful that we were going to take a break, we chose a hard plastic lawn chair and sat down. Asher patted the spot in front of him between his legs. I made myself cozy leaning back on him, using his arms to wrap around me like a blanket. We watched the sunset together, making small talk and taking lot of pictures. As Tyler pointed out, 'putting it all over snapchat to make people jealous'. I mean, did you really go to the beach and watch the sunset if you didn't post it?

When it was half past nine we headed back to the hotel earning a good night's rest, while passing out to the movie Les Misérables. No wonder we had fallen asleep so quickly, it was le miserable.

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