Page 30 of Everything I Promised You
Forever
Fifteen Years Old, Washington DC
When school resumed after the New Year, Beck started bringing me to parties, where he’d stick by my side, making sure I never missed curfew. Holding hands, we watched Raj kick ass at Academic Decathlon tournaments and Stephen set district-wide records in the pool. We went to Macy’s orchestra concerts with Wyatt and to late-night diners with the two of them, sharing stacks of pancakes while cracking each other up with good-natured bickering. We joined Beck’s family for hikes at Great Falls Park and Sugarloaf Mountain, as well as my parents for day trips to Richmond, where we visited the Capitol Building and walked through Hollywood Cemetery.
My favorite times, though, were when I got Beck to myself. More often than not, we found ourselves at The Mall, snacking on whatever was up for grabs at the food trucks parked near the Washington Monument.
“Do you think we should see other stuff?” he asked one Saturday afternoon in early March, just before my sixteenth birthday. We sat on a bench alongside the Tidal Basin. It was cold and windy, and the cherry trees hadn’t yet blossomed. Aside from a few die-hard tourists, we were on our own.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know…around the city. We always hang out here.”
“I like it here,” I said, smiling up at him. “It’s our spot.”
He pulled off the knit beanie he’d been wearing and tugged it onto my head, covering my ears with an attentiveness that made my heart swell. “I thought our spot was the Lincoln Memorial. Where we kissed the first time.”
“That can be our spot too.”
He laughed. “Let’s claim the whole Mall.”
“Done. But if you want to see other places, we should.”
“I just think we should take advantage of what’s around. We won’t always live here.”
He’d been accepted to CVU. He was going to throw for them. He’d leave for Charlottesville in August. I was thrilled for him, but I’d grown used to having him down the road. His hugs had become sustenance, his kisses oxygen. I didn’t like to think about him three hours away. I didn’t like to think about how much I’d miss him.
“We could go to the National Zoo,” I said to spare myself premature sadness.
He nodded. “And maybe Ford’s Theatre.”
“That’d be cool. We should get ice cream at Pop’s Old Fashioned. My dad says people at the Pentagon call it a DC institution.”
Beck grinned at the suggestion of ice cream. “Let’s do that one soon.”
I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket and opened my Notes app, since I didn’t have my journal handy. “I’ll start a list.”
“Of course you will,” he teased.
It was an easy list to make; our area was full of interesting history, quirky landmarks, and good food. I had plenty of ideas, and Beck tossed out suggestions as fast as I could type.
Ford’s Theatre
Ice Cream at Pop’s Old Fashioned
Smithsonian National Zoological Park
Ted’s Tarts at Ted’s Bulletin
The Kennedy Center
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Embassy Row
Theodore Roosevelt Island
The Exorcist Stairs
Frederick Douglass’s House
Library of Congress
The National Cathedral
Lincoln’s Cottage
Half Smokes at Ben’s Chili Bowl
“There,” I said, titling the list, Things to Do in DC .
“Things to Do in DC—Before Beck Leaves for CVU,” he corrected, peering over my shoulder as I revised the name with a despairing sigh.
Laying a hand on my cheek, he turned my face up to his. “You’re not already sad about me ditching Rosebell, are you?”
“ No ,” I said with overblown emphasis.
“Aww,” he said, his tone playful. “You’re gonna miss me.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Not even a little.”
Serious now, he leaned in and whispered, “Lia, tell me how much you’ll miss me.”
It was silly to pretend I’d be anything but inconsolable while he was at CVU. “I always miss you when you’re away—you know I do.”
He pulled back, wearing a smile. “Yeah, but it’s nice to hear.”
“I wish I could go with you,” I said, feeling pouty, preemptively abandoned.
“You will. In a couple years.”
“Do you really want that? Me at CVU?”
“Hell yeah. Are you still planning to apply?”
“I am…it’s just…what if I crowd you? What if you get sick of me? What if it’s not everything we expect?”
He was looking at me like I’d sprouted a second nose. “It will be. You’re my favorite person on the planet. Graduate high school. Then come to CVU.”
Small schools on the West Coast hardly tempted me anymore. The once-bright light that was a semester abroad had dimmed almost completely. I was growing up and realizing how fanciful they were, my childhood aspirations.
At least, that’s what I tried to convince myself that day at the Tidal Basin.
Beck regarded me pensively, sensing, maybe, that I was on shaky ground. Sensing, maybe, that I was working to merge the girl I once was with the girl I’d become since he and I got together. The way his eyes swam with solicitousness made me wonder if he understood that I felt a little empty, a little sad, when I thought about what I’d have to sacrifice to attend CVU with him.
He feathered his lips along the shell of my ear as he whispered, “Be with me, Lia. Be with me forever.”
That’s what I wanted: Forever with Beckett Byrne.
We met in a kiss, a promise, and even though my heart hurt when I thought about him moving away, I was comforted by my certainty that Beck and I would always find our way back to each other.