Khloe's POV:

I let out a very satisfied sigh, sitting back so my back met with Nico's chest.

He shifted himself so his back was against the window, his arm snaking around to hold me against him.

"You're full already?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"I was full ten minutes ago," I began, looking over the remnants of the food that we both completely devoured, "Now I'm to the point where if I eat one more bite Ill explode."

Not to mention that controlling myself when it came to this food was nearly impossible.

Nico told me that he didn't know which main course and desserts to choose from out of all of my favorites, so he just had Lily make multiple bite-sized pieces of all of them.

Which made it very easy to accidentally eat too much of.

"Was it worth it?" Nico asked with a slight chuckle, popping the last mini cherry cheesecake in his mouth.

I stretched my arms over my head, stretching out my back aswell in a futile attempt to rearrange the food in my stomach.

"Oh definitely," I replied, extending my stretch to be a bit longer.

Apparently, Nico then decided that he now had the opportunity to dig his fingers into the side of my unprotected waist.

I let out an unexpected squeal and probably somehow jumped at least a couple inches to the left, closer to him.

"Sorry," he said, his voice bubbling with laughter, "I tried to stop myself but it was just too tempting."

My scowl slowly turned to a smirk as I rubbed my side, my revenge quickly coming to me.

"Too tempting, huh?" I questioned, slowly rising to my knees.

Nico rose a brow the corners of his lips quirking up in excitement, his body ever so slightly stiffening in preparation of whatever I was about to do.

Without another word, I pounced directly at him.

Unsurprisingly, he caught me with both of his arms around me to my back. But he still gave me the satisfaction of falling backward, leaving it so he was pinned underneath me, with an arm and a knee on each side of him.

I could tell that he was about to say something snarky, but the sound of something hitting the floor caused both of our heads to turn.

A small white box with a light blue ribbon bounced once before it slid to a stop a couple feet away.

Both of us just stared at it for a moment, Nico's hands absent-mindedly skimming down to my hips.

He clicked his tongue, turning back to face me.

"Well, I was going to give that to you after the fireworks, but I guess fate had a different idea."

"What is it?" I asked.

I was met with his cheeky smile.

"What? Did you think that dinner was the only thing I got you? What kind of boyfriend would I be if that were the case?"

Well... Yeah, I did think that. I thought the dinner and this day was more than enough.

I leaned back a bit as he sat up, reaching over to retrieve it, then leaned forward so that we were nearly chest to chest.

Gesturing for me to do so, I took it from him, gently cupping my hands under the small box.

He then leaned back with his palms pressed against the ground, watching intently as I untied the ribbon.

I had no idea why my heart was beating so fast, but it was.

As soon as I removed the top of the box, I froze, my eyes rounding and my mouth falling agape.

There sitting in the middle of the white tissue paper, was a ring.

I stared at it for a moment, admiring the sleek black band and the burnished gold on the edges of it.

"Nico..." I managed to get out, shifting my look towards him.

He held nothing but a calm, satisfied smile.

"Take a closer look."

I looked back down towards it, slowly taking it into my hand.

I felt like one wrong move and it was going to shatter.

One look and I could already tell this was the most expensive thing I've ever had the privilege of holding.

As I looked closer, I spotted the small black diamonds embedded all the way around the center of it.

"Black diamonds signify love and passion," he began, leaning forward, "the black band signifies strength and certainty. Four things that I know this relationship has."

I glanced up at him, tears beginning to brim in my eyes.

This was... More than anything I could have even imagined.

Out of those four words, one stood out to me more than the others.

One that I didn't even realize I needed to hear.

Certainty.

No matter what, no matter whats got between us, he was still certain that he wanted me.

That he loved me.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted something else.

On the inside, there were three letters engraved in gold cursive letters.

N.E.V.

His initials.

Before I could form words, Nico pulled out a small chain around his neck that had been hidden under his shirt.

At the end of the chain was another ring.

From what I could see, they were identical save for the fact that his had one larger black diamond embedded in his.

He unclipped the small clip that held the ring and showed it to me.

On the inside of his were different letters.

K.E.C

My initials.

Nico reached into the box that I still had, pulling out another small chain, with the same clip his had for the ring.

The first tear fell from my eyes as he reached out and hooked the chain around my neck.

"Y'know, I've known you all this time and I still don't know what your middle name is," He spoke in a hushed whisper, taking the ring from my palm and carefully placing it on my left ring finger.

It fit perfectly.

Everything about this was perfect.

I let out a small laugh, wiping my eyes before I admired it once again.

"Elise," I finally answered, meeting his eyes.

His gorgeous, loving eyes.

"And yours?" I asked as he placed the other ring on his finger.

"Elijah."

Another tear fell from my lashes, my emotions from this whole thing apparently being too much to contain.

"Nicholas Elijah Vanderwood," I said, wanting to hear what it sounded like out loud.

"Khloe Elise Cardinal." He returned, apparently wanting the same.

For some odd reason, the sound of that caused heat to flood to my face.

I hadn't actually heard my full name in years.

Nico, took my hand in his, admiring my ring for himself.

"It fits ok, right."

I nodded, afraid that my voice would crack if I said anything out loud.

These tears didn't seem like they were going to die down any time soon. Not with how Nico somehow manages to always make sure I know how much he cares about me.

Eventually, I just decided to bury myself in his chest, out hands intertwined beside us.

"Thank you," I managed to get out.

I felt a rumble in his chest as his other hand traced my back.

He let me stay there for a few minutes, before his fingers tucked under my chin, lifting my face towards him.

"I love you, and if you ever need a reminder of that when I can't be there, remember the ring."

I nodded, using my free hand to tuck away some of his stray hair.

"I love you too, more than I ever thought was possible," I responded.

Without a second thought, I pulled him to me, our lips meeting with the gentle tenderness that this whole night had.

The first firework boomed through the night but neither of us cared.

I was with him and he was with me and for now, our passion slowly igniting with each touch and kiss.

That was the only thing that mattered to us right now

I never thought that Nico and I could become closer than we already were without a drastic step, but somehow these rings proved me wrong.

Now I had something material to remind me constantly, and the satisfaction of knowing that he was certain about this.

Certain about being with me.

And one last thing became certain to me in this moment.

I absolutely knew how I wanted to spend the rest of my night with him.