Chapter 3

CHAPTER

THREE

Lena

It's been six months since I started my senior year. Six months since meeting Stanley Riggins. If you had asked me on that first day where I would be six months later, I never would have said in his arms, with the lights down low, in our school gymnasium for our senior prom.

Stanley picked me up in his dad's truck. He was wearing his black tux, with a purple tie and cummerbund to match my dress. He had flowers for me, and the first words out of his mouth were "My girl is beautiful." My mom smiled as tears welled in her eyes. She loves him, and his parents love me. At least I'm pretty sure they do. They treat me like family. The only thing missing is the official title.

Stanley asked me on that first day to give him a chance. To let him prove he's a man of his word. He referred to me as his girlfriend, and I shut that title down immediately. I didn't know him well enough for him to claim that label. He asked for exclusivity to give him a chance, and I granted him that.

In the last six months, he's referred to me as his girl. Everyone in our school and our families assume we're officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but he's never mentioned it again since that very first day. I asked him to give me time, and he's done that.

As he holds me tightly in his arms as Journey's "Faithfully" blares through the speakers, I know in my heart that there is nothing more in this life I want than to be his. Tonight, after prom, we're all going to his place. His parents are hosting. We're camping out in the basement. It took his mom calling mine and assuring her we would be well supervised for my mom to agree. Not that she doesn't trust me, or Stanley, for that matter. We're both eighteen, so technically legal adults who will be graduating soon. It was more the principle of letting her daughter spend the night at a boy's house.

The song ends, and Stanley presses his lips to my forehead.

I tilt my head back to meet his eyes. "Want to get some fresh air?"

"Sure, baby."

That's something else. On day two, when I got to school, he was waiting for me in the parking lot. He said, "Good morning, baby." I didn't correct him, and now that's what he calls me. He doesn't care who's around to hear him. I learned that when he called me baby in front of his parents and my mom. My face heated, but Stanley didn't seem to mind the attention it gained him. He's unapologetically who he is, and to me, he's my safe place to land. This new school, my senior year, would have turned out a lot differently without him next to me.

With his arm around my waist, he pushes open the gym door, and we walk outside. The night air is cool but feels great against my heated skin. He pulls me into his arms, his front to my back, and presses his lips to my temple.

Tilting my head back against his shoulder, I stare up at the night sky. The stars look like millions of tiny diamonds against the inky blackness. "I've been thinking," I say, breaking the silence.

"About what, baby?"

"I want to ask you something."

"You can ask me anything. You know that."

I do know that, but I'm still nervous. I don't know why. I'm pretty certain what his answer will be. Swallowing back my nerves, I turn in his arms and clasp my hands behind his neck. I smile up at him as he locks his hands in a similar fashion at the small of my back.

"You're beautiful."

"You're a charmer."

"Only with you." He winks, and suddenly, my nerves are gone. This is a formality, one I'm not sure either of us needs, but I want it anyway.

"Stanley Riggins?"

"Baby." He kisses the tip of my nose.

"I want you to be mine."

"I am yours."

"Officially. I want you to be my boyfriend."

His eyes soften in the glow of the moonlight. "I've been yours since the moment I laid eyes on you."

I nod. We both know what he says is true. "We never talked about titles."

"I did. That first day."

"But I asked you to give me some time, and we haven't talked about it since."

He's smiling down at me as if I'm the greatest thing in his universe. It's a heady feeling to know there is someone who cares for me this deeply.

He moves his hands from the small of my back to my cheeks. His thumbs caress under my eyes. "Lena Hartford, one day to be Riggins—" He smirks. "—I love you completely and irrevocably."

My breath hitches. He's never said those words to me before. My heart races. I run my fingers through his hair to calm my nerves. "You love me?"

"You know I do, baby. You're my magic, but it's more than that. You're my heart and soul. We're going the distance, you and me. This is forever, Lena."

I swallow over the lump of emotion building in the back of my throat. "I love you too." My voice cracks. "My dad, he would have loved you. You know, I think he might have sent you to me. He knew I needed someone to lean on, to guide me through this year, and you were his pick."

His answer is to crush me in a hug, burying his face in my neck. I move my hands to wrap around his waist and hold on to him with everything I've got. I send up a silent thank-you to my father. I might not be a firm believer in the magic, as Stanley likes to call it, but I do believe my dad is watching over me, and he knew I needed this boy—no—this man in my life.

Stanley pulls away and bends, pressing his lips to mine. I open for him, and he leisurely explores my mouth. I'm putty in his hands as I lean into him, soaking up every moment. He slides his hand behind my neck and tilts my head just the way he wants me as he deepens the kiss. I lose all track of time. Nothing and no one exists but the two of us. His kisses are like a balm to my tattered heart, and they always make everything better. Then again, I think it's just Stanley. That's the effect he has on me.

"We should get you back inside." With his hand laced in mine, we head back to the gym to finish our senior prom. We both do so with the knowledge that no matter what happens after high school, we're going to experience it together.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart." My mom pulls me into her arms, crushing me in a fierce hug. "I wish he was here to see this," she whispers.

"Me too," I tell her as I retreat out of her embrace. "I'm glad that's over." I laugh, and Mom smiles.

Today is my high school graduation. It's hard to believe it's finally over. This year didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I thought I'd spend my senior year alone, lost in my heartache, but thanks to my incredible boyfriend and my new best friend, Gail, that's not what happened at all. I was sad, sure, but they both helped pull me from the darkness. It helped that my mom is also doing well and even getting out of the house with a few of her coworkers. We've picked up the pieces and are slowly putting them back together. Putting us back together.

"What's next?"

"I'm not sure." My eyes scan the gym for Stanley and his parents.

"Whatever you do, you'll be amazing. I think community college to start is a great idea."

"Yeah, at least until I decide what it is I want to do with my life. Did you always know?"

"No. It took me some time. I actually didn't want to go to college. Then, one day, I decided nursing was my calling. Your dad supported me with that decision. He worked two jobs, and I worked part time while I was in nursing school. We both did whatever we needed to do to make it happen." She wipes a tear from her eye as Stanley and his parents step up beside us.

"Congratulations, sweetie," his mom, Shelia, says, drawing me into a hug.

"You kept this one out of trouble this year. We thank you for that." His dad, Danny, chuckles. He's teasing, and we all know it. He takes his turn, hugging me before Stanley pulls me into his arms while our parents say hello.

"Now that we got that out of the way, we can start the next step," Stanley says, his voice low and only for me.

I turn to glance at him over my shoulder. "What's the next step?" I keep my voice barely above a whisper.

"We need to make you a Riggins." He winks, and I swear that action is tied to the flutter of my heart in some way.

"Let's figure out what we're going to do for careers, and then we can talk about changing names and all that." I don't know how I keep my voice even when there's a party of butterflies dancing inside my belly. I know we're young, but I've never been more certain than I am of the love I have for Stanley.

"That's not a no, baby." He's watching me, gauging my reaction.

"It's not a no," I agree. He grins.

With a nod from our parents, we make our way outside and head to Stanley's house. Neither Stanley nor I wanted a graduation party. Me, because I don't have family to invite, and him, well, honestly, I think it's because I'm not having one, but his parents were fine with the idea and insisted they host me and my mom for lunch.

"He only has eyes for you," Mom says. We're following Stanley and his parents to their place.

"He's a good guy." I don't know what else to say. Mom and I are close, but I've kept Stanley's talk of magic and how he told me on day one that I was his to myself. I'm aware that it sounded crazy as hell, and I didn't want her to worry about me more than she already was.

"His parents are nice as well."

"Yeah," I agree. Then I decide to bring up what I feel in my heart is true. "Sometimes, I think that Dad sent him to me. He knew I needed support outside of my mom for my senior year at a new school. He knew that I needed someone to heal my broken heart." I let the words hang, staring out the window, afraid of how Mom will react. I don't want to upset her before we get to the Riggins's house, but I've also been holding this in, and I'm curious about what she thinks.

"Your father was a good man, Lena. The best I've ever known. He was my best friend and the love of my life, and he loved you just as fiercely. I have no doubt that if he were able, he would have sent Stanley to you." Her voice cracks, and she clears her throat.

"Dad would have liked him."

"He would have loved him for you."

"Yeah? How do you know?" I love that we still talk about him, keeping his memory alive.

"Because Stanley looks at you the way your father used to look at me."

I let her words take root in my mind. Closing my eyes, I can see my parents in the kitchen making dinner after work. Dad would sing and dance and make every excuse in the book to touch my mom in some way. I smile as tears well in my eyes. I miss him so damn much.

"I love him." I blurt the words out. I've never said those words to my mom about Stanley. She's never asked, and well, I've just been keeping them to myself.

"I know you do."

"You and Dad were young too, right?"

"We were. We met the summer after high school graduation."

"I don't know what I want to do with my life. I don't know what career path I want to choose, but I do know that I'd really, really like for him to be by my side for whatever it is." Another honest truth that I've yet to speak out loud. I turn to watch her, seeing how she's aged since we lost Dad.

"Love is tough. It's a lot of hard work and compromise. Never take a single day with him for granted." She glances over at me. "Treat your relationship like the magical gift that it is, and you two will be just fine."

"Magical," I repeat. My heart flips in my chest. Stanley Riggins and his magic have changed my life.

"Definitely."

"I love you, Mom."

"Love you too, Lena."

We pull into the driveway, and I make a mental note to tell Stanley about our conversation later. Maybe there's something to his theory about the magic of love after all.