“Ash,” Spencer said shaking me out of my thoughts. “Ash? You ok?”

            “Huh?” I said. “Oh yeah. I was just thinking.”

            “About what?” Spencer asked.

            “Nothing really,” I said. “You know me.”

            “Ok,” she said. “Well we better get to bed. It’s getting late and we have a lot to do tomorrow.”

            We went to bed and got up bright and early. After we got ready we headed to her parents’ house. Aiden and Kyla were going to be there after they were done at his house.

            As we were walking inside I noticed Spencer looking at me.

            “What?” I asked.

            “Are you sure you’re ok?” she asked.

            “Yeah,” I said. “I think so.”

            “You think so?” she asked.

            “I wanna talk to you about it,” I said. “But not right now.”

            “Ok,” she said. “We’ll talk later then.”

            “I promise,” I said. I leaned in and kissed her softly before we went inside.

            We spent almost 2 hours getting pictures taken before we had to leave. We were sitting in the gym for the ceremony. Spencer and I didn’t get to sit next to each other because of stupid alphabetization rules. When they called her name and she walked on stage, I never thought I could be more proud. She looked amazing too. When I got called, I looked out and saw Spencer. She had a huge smile on her face. I couldn’t be happier to be out of high school. I walked back to my seat and waited for everyone else to go through. Finally. I’m done with high school. I never thought this day would come. Once the ceremony was over, Spencer and I found each other.

            “Congratulations,” she said hugging me tightly.

            “Thank you,” I said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

            “You’re welcome,” she said. She intertwined her fingers with mine and we started walking out of the gym. “We have to go back to my parents’ house for our open house.”

            “Do we have to?” I asked.

            “Yes,” she said. “If you go and behave, I promise to make it worth your while.”

            “Ok,” I smiled.

            We went to her parents’ house and spent a few hours there. I met most of Spencer’s family. They were nice, mostly. When we were finally able to leave I started going to the beach.

            “Where are we going?” Spencer asked.

            “Where do you think?” I asked looking over at her.

            “Better hurry,” she said. “The sun is almost setting.”

            “I’m going as fast as I can,” I said. I took her hand in mine and kissed the back of it. “I love you.”

            “I love you too,” she said smiling brightly at me. I pulled into the parking lot and the both of us got out. Spencer jumped on my back and I carried her around the beach. I finally got to our spot and I let her down. We sat and watched the sunset in silence. We were sitting there for a while when Spencer looked over at me. “Penny for your thoughts.”

            “I was just thinking about things,” I said.

            “Like what?” she asked.

            “The future,” I said.

            “Oh,” she said. “What about it?”

            “How I’m going to do at USC,” I said, “what I’m going to do after college, what is my life goal.”

            “Sounds like you have a lot on your mind,” she said.

            “There are a couple other things rolling around in there too,” I said.

            “Wanna tell me about them?” she asked.

            “My biggest fear is losing you,” I said. “I love you more than anything in the entire universe. I want to be with you forever. Are we going to be together forever?”

            “Forever and ever babe,” she said.

            I looked at Spencer directly in the eyes. “Spencer Carlin,” I said, “will you marry me?”

            “Oh my gosh,” Spencer said.

            “Is that a yes?” I asked.

            “Yes!” she said. She tackled me and kissed me like she hadn’t seen me in 80 years.