"Wait! Can we get one more photo with all four of you?" my dad requests, still holding his phone up pointed towards Charlie, Jasmine, Bryce and I.

We all groan in response to the question, seeing as it feels like we've already taken a trillion pictures by now, but we pose for one more which makes him happy.

The past months just slipped away from me; exams are somehow already over, school graduation is closer than I ever could have imagined, and our senior prom starts in exactly twenty-seven minutes.

Jasmine and Charlie make a move to walk away from the staircase where we were posing and towards the front door, but my dad stops them with a curt shake of his head.

"How about one with just you two? It's crazy to see how much all of you have grown. I remember the days when I looked out the kitchen window and into the backyard to see you four running around like maniacs together. I can't believe that you're all going off to college so soon," my dad comments, and although he's being overly-sentimental, it is sweet.

Bryce takes my hand, guiding me out of the way so that Dad can get a picture of Jasmine and Charlie.

They aren't really together yet, but I can tell how much they both adore each other by the way they stare at one another.

"You look so hot. It's crazy," I tell Bryce quietly.

Once we're a little farther away from everyone else, he beams down at me, placing his hands on my waist to draw my body nearer to his.

"Thank you. I wore a suit for you even though I fucking hate them with a burning passion," he tells me in a teasing tone, and I giggle as he bends down to kiss me on the forehead.

The heels that I'm wearing tonight minimise our height difference by the tiniest bit, but he always towers over me, and I've realised that that's never going to change.

I rest my hands on Bryce's chest, trailing my fingertips down the length of his tie. He's wearing all black apart from the red tie to match my dress, and I appreciate that he actually though about that; he was the one who helped me pick out my dress after all, but still.

"What's your favourite colour? I don't have any preference so I have no clue which colour dress I should wear," I ask Bryce, removing my hand from his to run my fingers along a satin pastel blue dress.

"Red, obviously. Why else would I drive around a red truck?" Bryce responds, and I laugh as I spin around to face him once again.

"You paid for that truck yourself, did you?" I ask him, to which he nods.

"You make a lot of money, huh? You still haven't told me how much you make," I then add on, to which Bryce rolls his eyes at me.

He takes my face between his hands, tilting my head up to look at him.

"I don't think that you want to know, darling. You could easily go online to find out how much I make, but you haven't," Bryce says with a slight smirk on his lips, and I bite down on the inside of my cheek.

He's exactly correct; I feel like it would hinder my opinion of him a little bit, which I really don't want at all.

"That's not true," I lie, to which he just taps me on the nose with a huge grin on his face.

"Sure it's not. But going back to your question, I like red. I would appreciate if you wore red," Bryce then says, and I nod, looking around to see if I can locate any red dresses.

"Why do you like red?" I ask him, spotting a long red dress that's fitted in the bodice, looser in the skirt. It's long and will definitely fall to the floor on me, but the long slit up the left leg would allow me to still walk normally. It's fairly similar to the dress I wore for the Valentine's dance, but it's different enough that I really, really like it.

"I don't really know. I guess I just appreciate the cool shit that is symbolises; power, passion, love, desire. You know, all that crap," he says to me with a deadpanned expression on his face.

I blink a few times, turning around to stare at him.

"You're such a freaking dork," I comment, finding my size and pulling the red dress off of the rack, holding it in my hands.

Bryce sticks his tongue out at me, but when he sees the dress that I'm holding, he grins, wide.

"That's perfect. You're definitely getting it. You should probably go try it on first, though," he says, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the fitting rooms at the back of the store.

Turns out; he was correct. The dress fit perfectly, and Bryce's eyes nearly popped out of his skull when he saw me in it.

"You look absolutely stunning, by the way. I'm so lucky. I love you. So much," Bryce says softly to me, and I feel my cheeks burn nearly as red as the dress that I'm wearing.

"Thank you. I love you too, you know. So much. I'm just as lucky to have you," I respond, and Bryce's eyes turn bright.

He suddenly strains down, capturing my mouth in his as he draws me in for a tender, caring kiss that causes butterflies to come alive within me.

It's funny how every time we kiss, I still get the giddiest feeling inside. I lost track long ago about how many kisses we've shared by now, but I know that all of them still manage to somehow stop my heart.

The sudden click of another photo being taken sounds, and it causes Bryce and I to break apart.

We turn to find that my dad took another photo, his other arm around my mom as they stare at us with an adoring look in their eyes.

It appears that Charlie and Jasmine had already left without me even noticing, leaving just the four of us in the room.

I step a little farther away from Bryce, even as he keeps his hands on my waist, giving my parents an apologetic smile for having to just witness that exchange.

"I'm glad you two have each other. You look happier now that I've ever seen either of you," my mom comments with a small grin on her face, pulling herself closer to my dad's side.

It's funny how even after all of this time, they hate to be separated from each other.

Bryce gives her a genuine smile. "Is it all right if Lexi stays the night with me? I promise that I'll have her back home in the morning," he suddenly asks, and I must look just as surprised as my parents, seeing as Bryce and I hadn't talked about this beforehand at all.

My parents make silent eye contact for a moment before my dad turns to face Bryce.

"Is Leo going to be home?" he begins to ask, but then sighs as he answers his own question.

"Never mind. I know that he's away this week. I'll just pretend that he's going to be in the house for my own sanity," he then continues, making Bryce laugh aloud.

More alone time with Bryce is just what I need.

"Thank you, Johnathon," he says, before taking my hand and walking towards the front door, which he opens for me.

The June weather means that there's absolutely no need for me to wear a jacket, and so I step out onto the porch right away, giving my parents a small wave.

Bryce steps out after me, just as my dad calls out, "For the love of God, please use protection!"

I feel my face turn bright white, my mouth dropping open in horror.

"Dad!" I scold, embarrassment washing over me.

I never though I'd be having this conversation with my dad, not even for a moment, but especially not when my boyfriend is standing right there.

Bryce seems to find this amusing though, because he begins to chuckle as he does in all situations like this.

I elbow him in the side which doesn't seem to hurt him one bit as he looks to my dad, nodding.

"We will!" he responds casually, before slamming the door shut behind us.

You have got to be kidding me.

"Bryce!" I squeal, which just makes him laugh harder.

He scoops me up into his arms, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he carries me down the stairs.

"You're super adorable when you're all flustered like this," Bryce tells me, to which I just narrow my eyes at him.

He then continues with a question, asking me, "I was just thinking, and I realised that we've never run into you being on your period. Are you dying or something, or have we just conveniently missed it?"

"Maybe I'm just pregnant," I joke, to which his eyes go wide in shock.

He shakes his head rapidly at me.

"No, I highly doubt that, You're on birth control, and on top of that, we've used a condom every time except that one night in my car. That's barely possible," he says rapidly, and I hold my head to the side at him, shocked by how seriously he took my joke, and also by how offensive he seemed to find it.

"Hey, I'm just kidding. I really can't believe I'm having a conversation about my period with you, that's all," I tell him, carefully stroking his jaw as he sets me down on the pavement by his truck.

He takes a deep breath, nodding in understanding.

He gestures for me to continue, and so I do, explaining, "For the first year I had my period, it was absolute hell. I got on a type of birth control to help ease everything, and it makes my periods barely existent; they last for only a day or two, and there's barely any blood at all."

Bryce nods in understanding, and I'm thrilled that he isn't totally grossed out by talk surrounding periods. He acts perfectly normal, opening my door for me and kissing me on the cheek before I sit down in my seat.

I close the car door behind me, watching as Bryce takes his own seat, shutting the door.

The moment he does, he turns to me, a huge smile on his face as he says, "Good to know that you aren't going to drop dead on me at any given moment."

🌸🌸🌸

"You look hot, Lex! Damn!" Jordan compliments the moment that Bryce and I approach him and the rest of our friends.

Jasmine and Charlie are nowhere to be seen, and I can only assume that they may be hooking up in a bathroom somewhere.

"Nope. Mine," Bryce says harshly, his arms around my waist as he pulls me back to him.

Jordan and I both look at him, our eyebrows raised in puzzlement at how protective he's suddenly being of me.

"Get your caveman-talking ass out of here, Bradshaw," Jordan says with a sigh, and Bryce's only responds is giving him the middle finger per usual.

We all end up sitting down at two of the tables that are set up around the huge hall, and Ryan spills punch all over the white tablecloth almost immediately. Jordan won't stop mocking him as he does a lousy job trying to wipe it up, but the tablecloth is already stained pink.

The song blasting through the hall right now is super loud and bass-heavy, and I feel genuinely bad for any guests that are actually staying in the hotel seeing as there're hundreds of obnoxious teenagers running around tonight.

"Hey guys! Mind if I sit?" Camila asks, suddenly appearing beside Bryce.

He gives her a small smile, pulling out the chair beside him and gesturing for her to take a seat.

I notice how Jordan's eyes are immediately glued to Camila.

It doesn't seem like he's capable of looking away right now, and his jaw is hanging open a bit.

I don't blame him; she looks angelic tonight. She's wearing a long, fitted dress with a sheer gold overlay the shimmers under all the strobe lights. Her blond hair is tied up in a high ponytail and she seems to catch Jordan staring by the way her expression fades.

Her eyes widen slightly for a moment, before her lips curve up into a smile. She then chuckles softly, looking away from Jordan and back towards Bryce and I.

"I heard that you two are both moving to New York officially. That's true?" she asks both of us.

Bryce and I make eye contact for a moment, smiling at each other before nodding to Camila in response to her question.

She grins at us. "That's so great to hear. I'm really happy for you guys. You deserve it," she tell us, and I feel myself growing excited about the whole situation all over again.

"Thanks, Camila. You're staying here?" I ask her, to which she nods, shrugging.

"Yeah. I love theatre but there's no way that I'm brave enough to actually pursue it as a career. I'm going into the journalism field I think," she says to me, and I nod at her.

I never thought about theatre being a 'brave' career choice because there's never been a doubt in my mind that that's what I need to do with my life to feel fulfilled. But, I suppose that it does take some courage as it's really hard to book shows and make a living off of the performing arts.

"No way! I'm going into journalism too," Jordan blurts out, and I can't stop myself from giggling at his sudden enthusiasm about college, seeing as he's really never cared much about the whole affair before now.

"What the hell are you talking about, Thompson? Since when?" Bryce asks bitterly, and I give his hand a squeeze to encourage him to take a deep breath and calm down.

He glances to me for a moment, giving me a nod before he places his hand down on my thigh, slipping his fingers under the slit of my dress so that his bare skin is against mind.

Jordan narrows his eyes at Bryce, and when I glance to Camila she looks thoroughly entertained by this whole situation.

She bites her lip in anticipation as she waits for Jordan's response to Bryce, twirling her fingers through her ponytail.

"Yes, I am. You just don't stop blabbering about Columbia long enough to listen to what anyone else is doing with their lives other than your girlfriend," Jordan says bluntly, and I feel Bryce's grip on my thigh tighten.

He seems to think for a moment, taking Jordan's words in before nodding slowly. "My apologies. I'm sorry for not listening to you."

Jordan looks as if he's seen a ghost, his mouth dropping open.

"Oh my God! Did you just say 'sorry' to me? Bryce Bradshaw just apologised to me. What the hell? Is the world ending?" Jordan asks incredulously, and Camila and I both burst out laughing.

"Shut your fucking mouth, Thompson," Bryce says coldly, but Jordan still has a ridiculous smile on his face due to the whole situation.

That annoying rap song finally comes to an end, a slow song coming on instead. I squeal when I hear what song it is, glancing to Bryce.

"What song even is this?" Bryce asks me, and I gape at him.

I hit him gently in the arm, answering, "This Love by Taylor Swift, silly! I love this song. It's so pretty."

"I've never heard it before. Sounds kind of boring," he teases me, to which I stick out my bottom lip in a pout towards him.

He grins, leaning forward to kiss me on the mouth as he uses his grip on my leg to pull me towards him.

I giggle against his lips, quickly pulling away seeing as we're certainly not alone right now, when Camila chimes in to say something.

"Jordan, is it? Would you like to dance with me?" she asks, and Jordan shoots up out of his seat straight away.

He walks around the circular table, offering Camila his hand, which she immediately takes.

"Hell yeah, I would!" he grins, and she beams back at him.

I find myself smiling as well as I watch their adorable exchange, and when I glance to Bryce, he has one of his eyebrows raised in amusement.

The two of them head off to join the other couples dancing on the dance floor, and as soon as they're far enough away that they can no longer hear our conversation, Bryce turns back to stare at me.

"If he continues to act like that whenever he interacts with a girl, there's no fucking way that he's ever going to get a girlfriend," Bryce snickers, and I roll my eyes at him.

He bites his lip as he watches me, giving my thigh another squeeze when I rest my cheek against his shoulder.

"You want to dance, don't you?" he asks me, standing up from his seat.

I grin at him, letting him pull me up before we walk hand-in-hand to the dance floor. waving Mateo, Ryan, and Daniel a brief goodbye.

"Do you promise not to run away from me if I kiss you this time?" Bryce mocks me, his hands falling to my waist as he pulls me tight to his body.

I glare at him, reluctantly wrapping my arms around his neck as we begin to dance.

"I guess not," I tell him, before pulling his face down to mine.

I prove a point by kissing him hard on the lips, running my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck as my lips work carefully against his.

"You were chewing cinnamon gum again before you picked me up, weren't you?" I ask him, to which he nods, smiling at me.

He pulls me even closer, resting his chin on the top of my head as we continue to sway to the lullaby of music. I let my forehead fall to his chest, holding on to him tightly knowing that we're losing two months of time together all too soon.

"I would sing to you again, but I unfortunately don't know a single word to this song. Sorry, baby girl," he tells me quietly, and I pull my face away from him so that I can look him directly in the eyes.

"Always such a gentleman, Bryce," I tease, and his fingers are suddenly under my chin, tilting my face up so that I can't avoid eye contact.

"Only for you, Blossom. Only for you," he whispers before connecting our lips once again.