The Ending I Want

“Oh, I totally sing to girls whose knickers I want to get into as well,” he deadpans.

“Well, you don’t have to sing to me to get into my knickers.” I aim for an English accent on the word knickers. It doesn’t come off so well.

But it makes Liam laugh.

“Hunter, when will you learn? I’m always a sure thing when it comes to you.”

He stops dancing, letting go of my hand. “Well, seeing as though you’re a sure thing, guess I didn’t need to buy you this then.” He puts his hand inside his jacket and pulls out something from his inside pocket.

A jewelry box. One that’s exactly the size of a ring box.

Oh, fuck.

My heart stops in my chest.

“Don’t worry; it’s not a ring.”

My heart restarts.

I stare up into his eyes. My lip lifts at the corner, and I bite down on it. “Was I that obvious?”

“You had the fear of God in your eyes.” He laughs softly.

Not because I wouldn’t marry you, Hunter. I swear, if I could, I would marry you a hundred times over.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He smiles. “But do open the box.”

I take it from his hand. I pop open the lid, and inside is a pair of silver earrings. They’re little jet planes. Blue, yellow, and pink make up the colors on the plane.

My heart feels like it’s bursting. My eyes fill with tears. I bite my lip to stop them from coming.

“I know you’re not the biggest fan of planes. But I just saw them, and I don’t know…I saw them and saw you.”

“I love them.” I blink up at him.

“You do?”

“I really do.”

And I love you.

I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him firmly on the lips. “Thank you, Hunter,” I whisper, lowering back down to my feet. “I want to put them in now.”

“Will that be okay after just having your ears pierced?”

When Den pierced my ears, he said I was to keep earrings in permanently for four to six weeks. He didn’t say anything about not changing those earrings.

“So long as I put them in straightaway, it’ll be fine. It’s only the holes healing up that I need to worry about.”

I hand Liam the earring box and start removing the earrings that I’m wearing, the ones put in when I had them pierced.

It hurts a little, but I brave it.

I have a brain tumor. I can take a little ear pain.

I remove the airplane earrings out of the box and drop the old ones inside.

Liam snaps the box shut and places it on a nearby table.

I fix the last earring in. “How do they look?” I hold my hair back, showing him my ears.

“Perfect.”

“If You’re Not the One” comes to an end, and then it starts playing again.

Liam glances back at his iPod system. “What the fuck?” he mutters.

“You got this song on repeat?” I giggle. Guess I was right before when I thought it had played again.

“I didn’t think so, but apparently, I have. I’ll go change it.”

“No, leave it playing. I like it.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel a big raindrop hit the top of my head. Then, I see one splash on Liam’s forehead.

His eyes go up to the sky. “For fuck’s sake.” He heaves out a sigh.

Another raindrop hits my nose, and then the heavens open, and rain comes pouring down on us.

I start laughing.

Liam looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. Then, he starts laughing, too.

“Come on, let’s go inside.”

“No.” I stop him with my hand. “Dance in the rain.” I smile. “It’s on my list.”

Aside from get totally wasted until I vomit and pass out, dance in the rain is the last thing left on my list.

Getting drunk can be done at home. I probably should hold on to that one for when I leave Liam. I’m sure I’ll want to get hammered to numb the pain of no longer having him.

Dancing with Liam in the rain is the last thing I have left to do with him.

My smile fades, but I still say, “Dance with me in the rain, Liam Hunter.”

Rain is trickling from his hair, down his face, catching in his long lashes, dripping off his nose. And he’s never looked more beautiful to me than he does right now.

He clears the rain from his face with his hand, and he takes me in his arms again, moving us to the music.

Our clothes are soaked, rain is splashing up my bare legs, my shoes are soggy, my hair is drenched, my mascara is probably running down my face, and I don’t care.

Because I want this moment with him.

The last list moment.

Liam’s eyes look into mine. There’s a raindrop running down his nose. I catch it with my finger. He smiles.

“I totally planned for it to rain,” he tells me. “I remembered that dance in the rain was on your list, and I thought, Well, what’s more romantic in a romantic movie moment than dancing in the rain?”

Soft laughter escapes me. “You control the weather now as well, Hunter?”

“Boston,” he deadpans, staring me in the eyes, but I see the twinkle in them, “I control everything. When will you realize this?”

I laugh again, shaking my head at him.

Then, I lay my cheek against his wet jacket. The rain has slowed, but it’s still coming down around us.

“So…Taylor?”

I lift my head when he says my name. He rarely says it when he’s not inside me, so I know what he’s about to say is important.

I catch sight of his throat working on a swallow. It makes me nervous for some reason.