Chapter One

Chapter One
    “Aww, come on, Kallie! Please tell me!”
    “Never!” I giggled.
    “Don’t make me break out ‘the face’” David threatened playfully. He then proceeded to poke me in the side repeatedly, until I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe.
    “No, not the face! Stop!” I cried, attempting to gasp for breath. I was finally able to compose myself long enough to get a full sentence out. “I can’t tell you what I got you. It would ruin the surprise!” David sighed, knowing he had been defeated.
    “Alright, fine. But when will I get it?”
    “Let’s go to dinner on Wednesday. I’ll give it to you then.”
    “Deal.” David nodded, sticking out his hand. I grabbed it, and we shook on the deal. David held onto my hand for a moment longer, lacing his fingers through mine. I smiled, feeling completely at peace. My mind began to wander a little, and I started to think about the future.
    I pictured myself as a widely successful designer, among the ranks of the greats; Versace, Alexander McQueen, Prada…all of them. I had envisioned this for a long time, and now, something new made it’s way into my vision. It was David. He had achieved his dream of becoming a multi-platinum recording artist, and we were married. We had a small house in the country, away from civilization. This vision of mine seemed like it could have been plucked straight from one of those cheesy romantic comedies.
    Before my mind could wander any further, our waitress came over to our table to check on us.
    “Is there anything I can get you two?” she asked sweetly. David thought for a moment before responding.
    “How about a pot of coffee, and a bowl of your chicken noodle soup?”
    “Did you want bread with that?” our waitress, Ashley, asked. David nodded.
    “I’ll have that right out for you, sir. Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asked, turning to me.
    “Can I just get another hot chocolate, and…” I paused for a moment so I could think. David then spoke up for me.
    “She also wants some of that strawberry shortcake.” he grinned. I was amazed at how well he knew me. I didn’t even know they had that here. I chuckled slightly, and nodded my head.
    “Yeah, that should be fine” I giggled. The waitress scribbled that on her pad and walked away.
    “Did I ever tell you strawberries were my favorite fruit?” I asked, bewildered.
    “No, I could just sense that about you” David said, grinning. Deep inside, I knew this was exactly the kind of thing every girl dreamed about. The concept of having someone in your life who knew you better than you knew yourself was fascinating. After searching for this for so long, I was happy to finally have that. I felt complete with him, and I knew nothing would ever change that.
    Ashley returned rather quickly with our food. I picked at my cake with my fork for a minute before cutting off a piece.
    “Are you okay?” David asked, concerned. “You seem a little out of it.”
    “I’m alright” I replied, smiling softly at him. “I’m just thinking…”
    “About what?”
    “It might be too soon to say”
    “Well, whenever you’re ready to tell me, you know I’ll be here to listen.” I nodded, knowing that was exactly right. David was the one person I could always count on to be there for me, besides my family. I never had too many friends growing up, because I always let my shyness get the best of me. I never felt like I could be myself around any of my classmates, and I would continuously push anyone away who tried to get close to me. It seemed to me, that anytime I tried, I just got hurt.
    “Oh, I just remembered something!” I said excitedly.
    “What’s that?”
    “My letter from the Fashion Institute is supposed to come today…” I replied, seeming less enthusiastic than I had just been.
    “That was a rapid change of emotion” David said. “You seemed really excited about it seconds ago.”
    “I know,” I sighed. “I am, I just now realized that if I got in, that means I’ll have to leave. I don’t know if I can leave you…” My eyes began to well up with tears, and David quickly reached over to wipe them away.”
    “Kallie…don’t get upset. This is your dream, and if you’re meant to follow it, I’ll support you, no matter how far apart we are.” I sniffled, and tried to manage a small smile.
    “Do you promise?”
    “Of course I do” David assured me, as he got up from his side of the table to scoot into the booth next to me. He wrapped his arms around me, and I breathed in the scent of his cologne for what seemed like the millionth time today.
    “That makes me feel a little better. Do you want to be there when I open the letter?”
    “Did you even have to ask?” David teased, kissing the top of my head.
    “I know, I know. It was a silly question. I just had to be sure” I grinned, winking at him. We finished our food, David paid, and we stepped outside the café to find that the snow had stopped.
    “Well, what now?” I asked. I was hoping David could think of something else to do before we headed back to my house to find out if I had made it into the school or not.
    “I have an idea. First, let’s go back to your house and get these roses in some water.” I looked down at the flowers, and noticed they were starting to droop slightly.
    “Okay” I agreed. “You could say hi to my mom and Sarah too. She’s been asking about you.” When I’d heard about how close David and Sarah had gotten, that made me realize what a sweet guy David was. For Sarah to trust anyone other than her family, they’d have to be someone very special. As we turned the corner onto my street, David stared in amazement at the houses on the block.
    “I forgot how massive these houses are” he said, shocked. I giggled, looking up at him. His six-foot-one frame towered over my 5’3’’ body, but I didn’t care. We were perfect together, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. As we neared my house, I began to pray that my letter hadn’t arrived yet. If it did, I’d insist on opening it later. We walked up to the door and I pushed it open, only to be greeted by my adorable little sister a moment later.
    “Hi Kallie! Hi David!” Sarah squealed, hugging us both.
    “Hey, kid” David grinned. “Long time no see” Sarah bounced happily into the family room, and we followed her. We sat down on the plush blue couch, sinking into the soft material.
    “Where is mom?” I asked.
    “She’s upstairs. I’ll get her!” I watched as Sarah hurried up the stairs, calling for our mother, Lisa. Moments later, she was coming back downstairs with mom following closely behind. Her face lit up when she saw the two of us waiting in the family room.
    “Hey, you guys!” she greeted. “What are you two up to?”
    “Well, we took a walk around the park, but it started to snow so we went for some hot chocolate” I explained. I was about to continue, when my mom suddenly gasped.
    “These roses are gorgeous!”
`    “Aren’t they?” I replied, blushing slightly. “They’re from David.”
    “Good man,” my mother stated, nodding with approval. “Any guy worth keeping around knows that flowers are the way to a woman’s heart.” she joked. I blushed again, and upon seeing this, my mother let out a loud chuckle. “I’m kidding, sweetheart. So, what’s the occasion?”
    “Well…” I began, sucking in a breath. I knew my family would approve of our relationship, I was just bracing myself for what was to come. “We’re officially a couple now.” Mom and Sarah let out squeals of joy and hugged us both.
    “We knew you would end up together!” Sarah stated matter-of-factly.
    “Oh, did you now?” I teased.
    “Yeah, we did. Mom said it was fate that brought David into your life, and ours too. Besides, we knew you had to crack and let someone in one day.” Well, they certainly knew that better than I did. I didn’t foresee any of this.
    “Oh, Kallie, before I forget, a letter came for you. It’s from the Fashion Institute.” My heart skipped a beat, and I glanced down at the floor.
    “Uh…I’ll open it later. David and I were going to find something else to do, we just had to come by and get the roses in water and say hi.”
    “Are you sure you don’t want to open it now? You’ve been waiting for this moment your whole life…”
    “I have been. I just…” My thoughts trailed off as I attempted to come up with an acceptable reason to put this off. I was so anxious to know if I had made it, but I knew if I did, that would change so much. I’d be away from David, which is the last thing I want, and who knows how often we would get to see each other. We had a wonderful thing going, and I just wasn’t ready to let it go yet. But, on the other hand, I knew if it put this off, it would eat away at me until I knew for sure. I let out a sigh and mustered a half smile.
    “You know what? I think I should open it now. It’ll kill me if I don’t.”
    “That’s my girl” my mom said, walking into the kitchen to grab the letter off the counter. She came back into the family room holding a slender white envelope out to me. I reached out and took it, running my fingers over the smooth paper before I slid my finger underneath the back side. I took a breath, and felt David’s hand on my shoulder. I looked over at him, and he smiled.
    “Go on” he urged. I nodded, ripping the seal on the envelope and pulling out the neatly folded letter. I unfolded the paper, and my eyes began to scan the words typed on it. A moment later, I placed the letter in my lap, looked up at David, then to my family, and uttered the three words I had wanted to say more than anything.
    “I got in.”