36. Tell her

Chapter 36: Tell her

Ethan's POV

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"Didn't Kelsey put you in charge? Why do I have to take care of them?" Jake asked as soon as I explained to him why I called him over, something which he clearly wasn't happy about.

"Yes, she did, but I need to go do something with Noah and Meg real quick. It won't take long, I promise, and my sisters love you, so please," I begged my best friend, hoping that he would say yes.

It was Kelsey's birthday the next day, and the only chance I had to go and buy her a present was when she wasn't there. I knew that she would have found it suspicious if I ever randomly went out with Noah and Meg without her, and knowing Kelsey as well as I did, I knew that she would have been annoyed at the fact that I was going to be spending money on her.

Kelsey wasn't quite like any other girl I had spent time with. She was real, and genuine, and she was also too proud for her own sake. I noticed that she was never one to ask for help unless someone offers, which was why I had been cooking breakfast for everyone out of my accord. I knew that she would have said no if I had actually asked her to allow me to help. Her birthday was supposed to be an important day for her, and I wanted to give her something special, to remind her just how much she meant to me.

"Alright, fine," he sighed. "But only because I love them."

I smiled at him, grateful that I had a friend which I could rely on. I gave him a quick fist bump before thanking him for helping me out, and then carried on to call Noah to get down from upstairs so that we could get going.

"Why can't I come Ethan?" Lara asked as she came in the room with a pout on her face.

"Because you can't. Stay here with Jake, I won't take long baby," I replied as I knelt down next to her before giving her a peck on her chubby cheeks, making her giggle.

"Fine, but you better buy me something pretty," she said with a huff before turning around and walking away from me.

I laughed at her reaction, knowing that I would certainly miss my little Lara when she grew up. I remembered when Noah was her age, and he would always come in to my room, curious as to what I was doing. It wasn't long before he grew up in to the man he was becoming in to, and whenever I gave myself enough time to think about it, I found myself getting nostalgic.

As soon as Noah was ready, I told the kids that I was heading out, and met up with Meg outside my house before driving to the mall.

"Okay, so why exactly do we have to buy a locket for Kelsey?" Noah asked, breaking the silence that had swallowed us, not counting the faint music coming out of the speakers.

"Because, it's her birthday tomorrow, and I want to give her a present. She told me that she's always wanted one so I'm getting her one," I replied.

I knew that what Kelsey actually wanted was her mother's locket, something which, unfortunately, I was unable to give her. Despite knowing that, I still wanted to find her her own locket, one which I could personalise especially for her. The thought of giving her a gift like that filled me with joy. She had done so much for me, and she was always trying to cheer me up whenever I was down. I had never been as happy as I was whenever she was around, and I wanted to thank her for all of that. For once, I wanted to be the one to make her happy.

It wasn't difficult to find a parking spot, and we were inside the mall quicker than I could have imagined. There were quite a couple of stores which I wanted to visit, hoping that I would be able to find just what I was looking for. Five jewellery stores in, I had not yet been able to find the perfect locket for my Kelsey. I started giving up with every store that we visited, and sincerely hoped that we could find one in that store.

"Ethan, look," Noah said, waving me over to a small section of the necklace display, pointing at a gorgeous silver locket.

"It's perfect," Meg said as she laid her eyes on it.

It was a really gorgeous silver locket in the shape of a heart. As if it couldn't be more perfect, there was a 'K' engraved on the front of it in what seemed like a whiter shade, and a small white gem on the right side of the letter. I smiled, knowing immediately that that was the locket which I wanted to buy. It was as if destiny wanted me to find that locket, and I couldn't turn away from something so perfect.

"That's the one. I'll go tell the guy," I said before walking towards a worker at the store. He seemed like a middle aged man, strands of white hair contrasting with the rest of his chestnut brown one. "Hey, I'm interested in buying that locket, can I please have a better look at it?" I asked gently, unable to control the excitement that was bubbling within me at the idea of having found the perfect gift for Kelsey.

"Yes, of course," The man smiled before walking over to the display and unlocking the glass door, carefully grabbing the locket in his hand and placing it closer to me for me to be able to see it better.

"How much is it?" I asked him. "It's 150, but I'm willing to discount it to 120," he said with a kind smile.

"Woah, that's expensive for a locket," Meg whispered in my ear.

"I don't care, it's for Kelsey," I told her with utmost sincerity. "I'll take it."

I had saved up an amount of money from my part-time jobs, and from the monthly allowance which my parents give Noah and I. I didn't mind spending any of it on Kelsey-in fact, she probably deserved it more than anybody else.

The guy put the locket in a small box with a wrinkled smile on his lips as he put a ribbon around it, tying it up neatly, much to my delight. I was never good when it came to wrapping presents, I always either asked my mother to do it for me or simply shoved the gift in a bag. Kelsey deserved a lot more than just an object shoved in a bag.

"Your girlfriend is one lucky girl," the guy said as he handed me the small box before I gave him my credit card.

"I know, and as soon as she sees this, she'll know it as well," I said with determination.

After giving it some thought, I finally convinced myself to ask Kelsey to be my girlfriend. I was hoping I could get to do it after I gave her the locket, hoping that she could see how serious I was about her upon seeing it. There was the possibility that she still needed more time, but she had become a lot more confident from the last time we talked about it, and I hoped that the moment had come for her to finally say yes.

I would have been crushed if her answer would have been otherwise, yet that still wouldn't have made me give up on her. Nothing which she could say or do would ever make me want to change my mind about her. She was right for me, and I knew that just by seeing what a big change I had gone through from the moment she stepped in to my life and took it by a storm.

"Are you sure you're not in love with Kelsey?" Noah asked out of the blue as we got out of the store and started walking back to the car.

I froze in my steps at his words, looking straight at him in disbelief. I had never thought about it before. Sure, Kelsey was really important to me, but I wouldn't have gone as far as saying that I was in love.

"She just makes me happy when I'm around her, and all I ever want to do is make her smile. It crushes me to see her upset and I love it whenever I see her getting excited about something. She's like this gorgeous ray of sunlight and I-" I choked up as it finally all made sense to me. "And I'm in love with her."

"Dude, you have to tell her," Meg said, the excitement evident in her face at the fact that I had just admitted my love for her best friend.

"She's not even my girlfriend yet, how can I do that?" I asked her, suddenly becoming very scared of my feelings.

I hadn't been in love with anyone for a long while, or at all for that matter. I knew that love was one of the strongest emotions a person could ever feel, and it could either be the best thing that happens to someone, or the worst.

"She's my best friend, and I'm sure she's not going to reject you, trust me," she convincingly said, giving me a supportive smile.

"You think?" I asked before she nodded, making me smile.

Meg had known her for years, and that meant that she knew her more than I did. I knew that she wouldn't have told me to go for it if she didn't believe that I actually had a shot at her reciprocating my feelings.

I couldn't stop thinking about it as we drove back home, and an excited smile overtook my face as I thought about the best idea on how I could let her know how I felt about her. All I hoped was that it worked.

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