Forever and a Day

Zoey and her friends had searched for almost an hour; the club was only so big and there were only so many places the necklace could be.

“Well, maybe it was time for a new necklace. You said yourself it’s the only one you’ve worn for what, five years? We can find you another one.” Elizabeth said.

“Twelve years,” Zoey said, sadly.

“Wow, inconsiderate much?” Mary said, sitting down beside Zoey, putting an arm around her while looking at Elizabeth. “That’s the only connection she has to the guy she’s ever been in love with.”

“Maybe she’s right,” Zoey said quietly. Mary just looked at her. “Maybe it’s time to find a new necklace. I haven’t seen or heard anything out of Tuck in years. Maybe it’s time to completely move on.”

Mary started to say something, but all four of the girls’ heads turned when they heard someone clear their throat. A tall, broad shouldered, curly brown haired man stood at the top of the steps to the V.I.P. section.

“Dibs,” Elizabeth said under her breath so only the girls could hear her.

“I apologize for interrupting, ladies, but I heard through the grapevine that one of you might be missing this,” his smooth, deep voice melted over them as he held out his hand with Zoey’s necklace. Zoey saw it and squealed, jumping up and rushing towards him.

“Holy shit, thank you so much! You have no idea what it means to me that you found this! I don’t know how I can repay you,” Zoey gushed looking at the necklace. He held it up, signaling that he wanted to put it on for her.

“Looks like he’s already called his dibs,” Amy said to Elizabeth, watching as the guy smiled when Zoey turned and presented her bare neck to him.

Zoey felt his arm reach around her front to grab the other end of the necklace and gave a little involuntary shudder as his hands made contact with her skin. There was something odd about this guy…

She was going to turn around to thank him, but instead she froze when he leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear.

“Zo?”

Zoey’s heart stopped for an instant before it took off at hyper speed. How did he know her nickname? She turned around to face this man again. She scanned his features and came to a halt at the slightly raised pink scar over his left eye; a scar that was there because she had dared him to climb the tree next to the lake when he was seven. They had wanted to jump into the lake from one of the branches and she had dared him to go first. He chose the wrong branch and fell into the lake, hitting his head on a rock. His parents were furious. Her widened eyes came back to his brown ones and saw the same memories reflecting back in his eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Do you still love me?”

Tears shone in Zoey’s eyes, and he was afraid he’d upset her until he saw her smile, reach down to her necklace and turn the arrow to the word “Yes”. He knew she knew who he was, and he wanted to keep with the tradition.

“Forever?” he whispered, pulling her close to him.

“And a day,” she promised, putting her hand behind his head and pulling him in to kiss her.