I walked into the school hand in hand with Anthony. Everyone was staring. To be honest I kind of didn’t mind the attention. I was dating the boy of my dreams, he was perfect. And now everyone knew it. Of course my friends all asked me what happened and just thought it was the cutest thing in the world. And how could I argue? It was pretty damn cute. I felt like I was on top of the world and no one could bring me down.

The next five months were possibly the best months of my entire life. Anthony and I were practically inseparable and spent as much time together as possible. Before I knew it school was over. I was dreading this because I knew Anthony was going to college in Michigan, leaving me in Ohio alone. June 12th. Our six-month anniversary. Anthony told me that he was going to take me out but wouldn’t tell me where.

“It’s a surprise Cass. I can’t tell you, everything would be ruined.” He anxiously explained to me.

“Humph. I hate surprises.” I replied. With a little smirk to know that I was being a little sarcastic

“You’ll love this one. I promise.”
He kissed me hard, pressing his whole body against mine, wrapping his arms around me. He pulled away and told me he’d come back to pick me up at 7. I had to call Taylor --she’s my best friend—and tell her my huge news.

“Tay. I love him.” I said without waiting for her to even say hello first.

“Uhm, excuse me? Did I hear you correctly? You love him?” she replied, practically choking on whatever she had in her mouth.

“YES! I really do. I’ve never felt like this before.”

“That’s probably because you’ve had ohh I don’t know, ONE WHOLE BOYFRIEND!”

“Chill out. I know, but still. When you love someone you just know. And I’m going to tell him tonight.”

“Okay okay. But do me a favor, only tell him if he tells you first.”

“Okay, I will. I promise.”

So I had bought the perfect dress for tonight. It was magenta and strapless with a sweetheart top. It came to about mid thigh. I also bought these silver strappy heels that matched the sequins on the top of the dress. I thought it looked awesome on me, and couldn’t wait to see Anthony’s face when I walked out the door. At exactly seven I heard a knock at my front door. I opened it to find Anthony standing there dressed in black pants, a black shirt, and a white tie. He looked hot.

“You look so beautiful Cass.” He whispered in my ear.

We got in his car and drove for what felt like years. We finally got to this adorable little Italian restaurant. Anthony was such a gentleman. He opened my car door, pulled the chair out before I sat down, and of course paid for dinner. It was so romantic, he rented out the section just for us, the lighting was dim and there was a candle lit in the middle of the round table. We sat and talked and ate dinner. Before we left, he grabbed both of my hands looked me straight in the eyes and said…

“I love you Cass.”

“Anthony, I love you too.”

“Good” he said, then he kissed me.

“There’s one more surprise I have for you.”

We got to some foreign place, he blindfolded me too! When he took the blindfold off, I found myself in the middle of a hotel suite. There were lit candles and rose petals leading to the bed. I have to be honest, I was kind of scared because I knew he what he had in mind. I told myself I wasn’t going to have sex until I was married. But I love him… Before I could say anything he turned to me and said…

“Cass, I love you. I know you know what I have planned, but if you don’t want to we don’t have to. I don’t want to do anything you aren’t ready for.”
Then I kissed him. My whole body pushing against his, I kissed him harder. My hands in his hair and on his face. His hands were on my body, picking me up and carrying me to the bed. He laid me down gently, he laid next to me--

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”
--he pulled me on top of him, we started kissing. I remember thinking about the decision I made, that we were going to have sex. But I didn’t care because I was madly in love with him. We were rolling all over the place, he kissed me harder and harder, his hands all over me. Every once in a while he would pull away to look at me and tell me how much he loved me.

Then he started unzipping my dress, the next thing I knew it was on the floor next to me and I was taking off his clothes. Then I was in nothing but my bra and panties and he was in his boxers. I started getting really nervous, I was breathing hard and shaking. He pulled away from me.

“Baby, are you okay? You’re shaking” he whispered, holding me.

“I don’t know… I thought I was ready, but I guess I’m not.” I said back, I was holding my tears back. I didn’t think he was going to want to be with me after all of this.

“Hey, babe don’t cry.” He stroked my face and hair.

“It’s okay. Just because you won’t have sex with me doesn’t mean I won’t love you anymore.”

“I just want to make you happy…”

“Cass, you make me the happiest guy on the planet. I love you for who you are. I was being serious when I told you that, I wasn’t just saying it so you would have sex with me. I love you. He kissed my forehead.

“I love you, too.” I nestled myself in his arms, my head against his chest. I could hear his heartbeat, it was fast.

We didn’t say anything after that, I fell asleep in his arms. This is the moment I knew I would spend the rest of my life with this boy.