Chapter 41

  Love. Love is probably the most powerful thing in the world. It can bring people together, or it can break people up. And being in love is totally different than just loving someone. Being in love drives people to do crazy things, and loving people just drives them to do the right thing. Yet, these two aren't so different. They both mean something to these two people.

  I always pictured my love life as boring. I would met some guy in my twenties, maybe at school or a bar like everyone does, we would simply start dating. We would go on those cliche fancy dinners where we would talk about what we both want in the future. Like a family, or what my job is, because I'm already that old.

  But I never pictured meeting him. I met Spencer before I even became an actual adult, before I even knew what I wanted that job to be, because I was that young. I never pictured my love life to be as thrilling as it today. I never pictured playing on a boys soccer team with him, I never pictured having my first date in a soccer arena, and I certainly never pictured myself standing on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park when my boyfriend told me he was in love with me.

I don't dare turn around to face him, as my heart goes wild in my chest.

"So now you finally don't have anything to say huh?" Spencer says to me, and I can feel the harshness vibrate off of him.

"Say it again." My voice strains and I stay frozen in my spot, staring out at the Park right in front of me.

"What? That I'm in love with you." I can sense he is freaking out inside too. "Because I know I am. I love you kitten. I've loved you since the moment you first showed me your perfect sass when I laughed at you when we first met. I just didn't know it then, but I've known it for sometime now. That I've been crazy in love with you. I can feel it in my bones, in my heart, whenever we touch or hell, whenever you look at me. I feel rush of emotions, I feel the electricity and I feel the giddiness. I melt whenever you just look at me and smile. And I feel like the luckiest guy in the world when you kiss me."

My hand covers my mouth as I feel a sob coming, a sob from that young girl who thought she would never find a man until she was old and working. That sob is the happiest crying sound in the world.

"Are you just gonna make me ramble on about how much of a lovesick puppy everyone knows I am?" Spencer's voice weakens. "Or are you actually going to look at me and say something. Just please look at me, make me go crazy with emotions by just looking at me. Actually I'm already crazy, because I'm near you. God dammit kitten, I love you. Do I have to be cliche and say it again?"

I can tell he is about to leave, but I'm sure not about too.

I feel my own rush of emotions, I feel my own giddiness, I feel the electricity, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world, when I turn around and smash my lips against his.

  I close my eyes after I grab the side of his face, and I melt as I instantly feel him kiss me back with just as much passion if not more.

I could describe this kiss with a million words. But there are the top three that come right to mind.

Passion.

Emotion.

Love.

And the last thing is the thing that scares me the most in the world.

  My eyes flutter open as our mouths part, and I look up to see Spencer staring right back at me with the most intense, loving, look I have ever seen in my entire life. More than the time we first kiss, the time we started dating, the time I got him our own baby puppy.

  I take a deep breath inward, both preparing myself for what will happen next, and needing air from that.

"I love you Jessica Michaels, I love you so fudging much." Spencer whispers to me before taking me by surprised and taking me off my feet and twirling me in his arms. It was thrilling, fun, and perfect for me, just like him. But it was also something else. Just like something I would never expect in our relationship. It was just like a movie. A perfectly cheesy romance story. That is our relationship. And I love it.

I giggle and smile back at him as he places me back down on my feet gently.

"Um, no need to pressure you," Spencer pushes my messy hair full of light, fluffy snowflakes out of my face. "But isn't this the part where you say it back?"

I look down, watching the snowflakes fall to the ground beside my boots. "I've always needed more time for things than you. I overthink, I take time, lots of it."

"Kitten...." Spencer trails off, and for a split second I worry he doesn't know what I'm getting at, but of course he knows.

"You know me better than anyone else." I look up from the ground to his piercing eyes. "And because you know me that much you knew I would never say it first."

He doesn't reply for a while. But then he does, letting my fears disappear. "And you know me better than anyone else, well, I don't know about Parker."

I laugh, calming us both down for good. "That's understandable."

"And because you know me that much you should know that I wold never pressure you into something as big as falling in love with me." Spencer strokes my cheek and I gently close my eyes, relaxing even more under his touch.

"You're perfect." I sigh to him, keeping my eyes closed.

"As are you kitten." Spencer pauses. "That is why I wish for you to fall in love with me."

My eyes flutter open to peer up at him. "I guess we will just wait until I'm ready."

"I'll wait an eternity if that's what it takes." Spencer beams down at me.

And I'm sure it won't take that long at all, My inner self sings.

"Have I ever mentioned I have the best boyfriend in the world?" I grin back at him and just notice now that are hands our interlocked and held up in between us.

"No, but you should mention it more." He fake pouts. "But have I ever mentioned I fell in love with the best girl in the world?"

Suddenly feeling squeamish, I look away and over to the people going about their lives, as they walk right past us. We are in our own little bubble.

"No, but that's because you just said that like a minute ago." I whisper.

Ignoring my awkward actions, Spencer chuckles. "True. But I've known you were perfect for me since forever ago."

"Ever since we first met?" I confirm what he said before.

"Ever since we first met." He whispers as he leans his forehead against mine. "Even though it felt like we met years ago."

"I thought I was the only one who felt that way." I smile to both Spencer and myself.

  Suddenly, out of completely nowhere, someone clears their throat, breaking our much needed bubble. At first I think it is Mrs. Gold, but then it sounds like a man.

"Please take off those ears ma'am."

  My head turns to the voice. There beside us stands two men, wearing matching security guard outfits. But on top of their heads are matching hats with the Mickey Mouse symbol.

My eyes widen as Spencer and I awkwardly unwrap our hands. That's when I remember. I'm still wearing the signature Minnie Mouse ears that Spencer placed on my head just seconds before he started talking about the future. And that was when I rushed out of the Disney Store.

I quickly take off the ears as requested. "I'm, I'm so sorry."

"We could very well charge you for shoplifting ma'am." The second man warns me as his colleague grabs the sparkly headband from my hands.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I was wearing them when I walked out off the store, I didn't mean to. Please don't put me in ja-" My voice truthfully quivers. So much for coming here to look at Universities. I may as well just start looking at Juvenile Detention centres.

The first security guard cuts me off with a laugh. "Hear that Gary, she thinks she'll go to jail!"

His buddy, Gary, chuckles with him as Spencer and I exchange confused looks.

"But seriously," Gary turns his eyes back to me after the two calm down. "You could go to jail."

"What?" I squeak, feeling slightly faint.

"It's all my fault. Don't punish her." Spencer blurts out, defending me. "If anyone should go to jail it should be me."

"What?" I repeat myself, feeling even more faint, but also feeling outraged. Spencer shouldn't get in trouble for me being stupid and careless.

"Explain boy." The first one crosses his arms, looking not so patient.

"Well, I was pestering her, getting on her nerves, and she tried to walk away from me but I kept following her around the store, but I wouldn't stop, so she darted out of the store, end of story." Spencer somewhat lies to the both of them, staring them right in the face with a blank look.

"That does make sense Paul," Gary turns to Paul, and we finally know both of their names.

"That does," Paul looks at him with a full expression of belief, then spins to look at Spencer and I. "Too bad we can tell you two are in some sappy relationship."

"What?" I repeat myself for the second time, trying my best to make a face of denial.

"Oh please, you two were clinging onto each other like this young man just proposed or something." Gary says in a monotonous tone.

"And since we are kind security guards....." Paul pauses for dramatic effect. "We will let the both of you off with a warning."

"And also because the Disney Store is the happiest store on earth!" Gary grins happily, the both of them instantly changing their mood faster than a teenage girl on her period.

Spencer and I both sigh, and after ten more seconds of talking with them we walk back to the Disney Store with them. Yet not because we are getting arrested, but because Spencer is buying me the Minnie Mouse ears after all.

"Think of it as a way to always remember this moment." Spencer whispers in my ear as he places them back on my head, as we walk out of the store for the last time with Mrs. Gold walking in front of us. "The moment you found out I'm in love with you."

I feel giddy inside as I smile up at him.

"The next moment we will need a souvenir is when you say it back." Spencer confidently adds.

And I guess we will just have to find out when the moment will be.

Sooner than both of us will expect.
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"That pizza for supper was absolutely delicious." I groan as I rub my stuffed stomach.

Mrs. Gold and Spencer both laugh at me.

"New York defiantly has the best pizza ever." Mrs. Gold agrees as she sits down on one of the chairs in front of the couch where Spencer and I sit, cuddled up to each other.

Spencer snorts. "How would you know mom? You got a salad."

I tilt my head upward to see if he really is serious. My inner thoughts disappear as I notice he is just being his adorable self. Joking around with his mom and I.

Mrs. Gold rolls her eyes. "You haven't seen me during my lunch breaks. I devour those pizzas instantly."

"I think you should join me for a lunch some day, we could have a pizza eating competition." I grin at her. "It would be a real match."

"Ugh," Spencer buries his face into the crook of my neck. "Why do I have to have both a girlfriend and a mom who love food so much?"

Mrs. Gold winks at me quickly before speaking. "Who do you think you got your love of food from?"

Spencer groans defeatedly.

I grin back at his mother in victory, but then frown. "So are you sure you have to work tomorrow?"

She firmly nods her head in disgust. "Yea, we are having some huge board meeting all day where the CEO of the company will be there."

"But it's Sunday." I pout to her like I'm her own daughter, not wanting her to leave me.

"Well, just think of it as a day alone with my son to tour the city." Mrs. Gold shrugs as Spencer lifts his head up to tackle me and give me a kiss on the cheek.

"But we will get lost." I cheekily pout again and look at Spencer who fakes hurt.

"Oh trust me, Spencer knows the city pretty well." Mrs. Gold states. "He comes here all the time."

Spencer stays silent, probably thinking about how he told me last night how he used to come here all the time. Back when things were still normal for his family. And I sense that Mrs. Gold doesn't want to remember the time after it all went downhill, because she is already picking herself back up like the amazing mother she is.

"I'm tired." Spencer calmly says with a blank look at he sits up on the couch.

"It's only 9:30." Mrs. Gold replies, slightly suspicious.

A light bulb flashes in my brain as I come up with a reasonable reason for Spencer wanting to leave.

"Well, I guess he will probably just want to sit in bed with me and talk for like half an hour." I shrug to her as I sit up too.

"Good night mom." Spencer hugs his mother as I stand up and wait for him.

"Good night." She hugs him back and I follow Spencer to our room.

"Good night Mrs. Gold." I turn around behind me, and see her give me a dangerous warning look. "Good night Ruby."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise as I get pulled into a strong hug by her.

"Good night darling." She says as we hug. "I'll be gone in the morning, so tell my son to behave himself, okay?"

I giggle. "Of course."

And just before we pulled apart I felt a stir in the pit of my stomach. I felt something I haven't felt in quite awhile. I felt like I was apart of a big family. Sure, when we came over for Christmas dinner with Golds, I felt like we were all one huge family, but this was different. And sure, I have my own beautiful family, Lily and Nathan. But I felt like I being told I was apart of this family. The Gold family.

I smile back at her as I walk down hallway, watching as she smiles back before she turns back to the living room to watch television.

"What's got you more perky than usual?" Spencer asks as I sit down in bed beside him.

"You may not think your family is perfect, but I do." I look in front me, feeling his eyes on the side of my face.

"How do I reply to that?" Spencer studies me.

I crack a bigger smile, resting my head on his shoulder.

"You don't have to, as long as you know that your family isn't as messed up as you think it is." I smile as he sighs.

"Every family is messed up in some way kitten." Spencer adds.

"Including mine." I whisper. "The family that is three kids without their parents, living hours away from their other relatives. The family where the oldest is only home on weekends, sometimes even twice a week. The family where the teenager raises the child, yet the child is probably the wisest of them all."

Spencer kisses my head. "The Gold family. The family full of boys, only three now, but two of the three are complete maniacs now, and the other is too young to be a maniac. The family everyone thinks is wonderful because they have so much, but they lost someone. And losing that someone destroyed all of them in different ways."

And we talk and talk for almost an hour. We talk about the different types of families, the different types of people, the types of people we are, and the type of couple we are. But we also talk about the future of this certain couple. We discussed our feelings of each of the school's we visited.

"Good night Spence." I yawn as I turn over to look over at him, resting my one side of my face of the pillow.

"Good night kitten." Spencer's eyes scan my face, as my own eyes scan his, as if neither of us ever want to forget one feature of the other.

"Good night Spence." I repeat myself, half asleep.

Spencer lightly chuckles. "Goodnight kitten, again. Be prepared for the perfect day ever tomorrow."

I smile as my eyes close. "As long as it involves you I know it will be a perfect day tomorrow."

I feel him kiss my nose. "Now who is the cliche sappy one?"

"Me." I smile still as I rest my face into the fancy fluffy pillow.

"Good night kitten." I hear him say for the last time as I drift off into a wonderful, peaceful sleep. "I love you."

I feel him press his lips to my forehead.

And I feel my heart flutter for the millionth time today.
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I wake up to the smell of bacon, a perfect way to wake up.

  I stretch my arms up to the sky, smiling as I try thinking of any of the dreams I had last night. But none come to mind and in my opinion that is a good thing. Dreams should stay dreams and nightmares should stay in the night.

  I look over to where Spencer is supposed to be sleeping, but I only find the spot empty. Then I realize that Mrs. Gold said that she would already be gone by the time we both wake up. So that means that the smell of bacon can only be caused by a certain chef I call Spence.

  Still smiling I get up out of bed, my feet planting down on the dark hard wood floor. I wake out of the room and into the hallway.  

"Yum, bacon." I unintentionally scare Spencer as I walk into the kitchen and stand behind the island. Well, maybe not fully unintentionally.

"Sorry." I say once Spencer looks back at me, surprisingly smiling back at me.

"You should be sorry. I expected you to still be sleeping." Spencer grumbles as he flips pancakes. "I was going to surprise you with breakfast in bed."

  I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my head on his back, since I'm too short and he is too tall from me to rest my head on his shoulder. "That's okay babe. It's the thought that counts."

"I know, I know." He sighs into my touch. "But I like surprising you."

"I like surprising you too. But I still like you." I begin. "And I also like when you mess up." I joke as he grumbles.

"Kidding kidding." I put my hands up in surrender as he hands me a plate to help myself.

"Anyways good morning." Spencer kisses my forehead, making me flashback to last night when I fell asleep. He said I love you.

"Good morning to you too." I do a joking curtsy, yet I'm only in pyjama pants and one of Spencer's t-shirts, not some fancy ball gown.

"I think today is the perfect day to act like tourists around the city, don't you?" Spencer asks once we both sit down at the table.

"I think so too, I mean it is the only day we have left though." I giggle as I point out to the city from the open wall windows in front of us. "But we do get to act like foreign tourists around this magnificent city."

"And what language do you suppose we try speaking?" Spencer says to me as he stuffs his face with scrambled eggs.

"I would say French since I actually know how to speak it, but I think we should just stick with English." I chew on my delicious bacon.

"Then we better hurry if we want to see all the amazing stuff." Spencer points out.

  And that's exactly what we did. I finished my whole plate of food in less than five minutes. Spencer on the other hand wanted to go back for a fourth pancake, but by mimicking his words from earlier I manage to get him to not.

  We quickly get ready, and I just put on some warm sweatpants, a school sweater, but hide that with my thick coat.

"So where are we going first?" I ask Spencer as we walk out of the condo building and onto the sidewalk.

"I'm not going to be mean or cliche and make it a surprise, so I'm just going to tell you." Spencer walks beside me as we walk through the busy sidewalk.

"Okay!" I happily respond as I stuff my cold hands into my mittens.

"We are going to the Empire State Building first." Spencer looks down at me before looking away. "Taxi!"

  I stand in shock as Spencer tries to get a taxi, just like his mom did yesterday, except he isn't wearing high heels on the ice.

We sure are going to be crazy tourists.
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"Static electricity gathers at high heights, and under the right atmospheric conditions, couples can experience a slight electric shock when they kiss here on the Empire State Building." The tour guide, named Lester, explains to the dozens of tourists including Spencer and I.

"Yes sir?" Lester asks a special someone when they raise their hand. I look down, getting ready to be embarrassed.

"So does that mean that when I kiss my gorgeous girlfriend here, I will get bloody electrocuted?" Spencer asks the man in a pretty impressive British accent. Well it does help that he once lived in Great Britain. And that we've been acting like we are British since the beginning of this tour.

My cheeks redden to the colour of a tomato as I send Spencer a warning look. I try to ignore all the people around us who turn their heads back to look at us oddly. Spencer just grins. He really did mean that we would be crazy tourists.

"Oh um, you won't die or get injured or anything like that." Lester tries to calm down the whispering crowd.

"Then what will happen because I can tell you, my boyfriend always wants to kiss me?" I pipe up, hiding my nervously butterflies. I make sure to mimic Spencer's on point accent. I feel really bad about sort of ruining this tour.

"If you do kiss, you will feel slight shock, but nothing to major whatsoever, being it will not even last for more than a second." Lester reassures us and the other couples around us.

There is even some old couple who look to already be making out as soon as Lester says that. I don't know whether to feel grossed out or to laugh because that might be Spencer and I someday. Maybe.

With that Lester gives up trying to teach us all more about the Empire State Building. Instead he just lets us go off on our own.

Spencer and I look around, take pictures, talk to other tourist couples, and tell them about how we came all the way from Manchester, Great Britain to tour the Empire State Building.

"Ah yes Julie and Jim, but we aren't just here for this beautiful building." Spencer begins with a cheeky smile as he looks between the couple and back at me. "We are also here for the Statue of Liberty too."

My eyes light up as he looks back at me lovingly. "Surprise." He mouthes to me before turning back to the middle aged couple.

"Well that's adorable, from what Julie and I can tell you two have quite the connection." Jim smiles at us.

"You two sure are the best couple. And from what I can see myself is your type of love won't die down." Julie points her finger back and forth between both of us with a serious smile on her face.

I widen my eyes at the same time Spencer nods his head. "Oh um, I-I.." I stutter nervously.

"Well, we better get heading back, y'all have a great time here in New York." Jim grins showing off his Texan accent.

"Bye Julie and Jim, you two better have a bloody great time here too!" Spencer waves to them as they walk away.

And they weren't the only couple who had a breathtaking day here.
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"I think you made the right choice not reminding me that Central Park has ice skating in the winter." I look at Spencer as we walk through the gorgeous park.

"Yea, I think so too, because I really don't want you to hurt yourself while I'm trying to get you to fall in love with me." Spencer whole heartedly smiles at me.

My mouth goes dry at the new topic. "I'm okay with that. By the way the State of Liberty was simply awesome!"

"It was." He agrees. "Don't I look just like her?"

I bark out into laughter as Spencer strikes a hilarious pose, giving me a blank stare and putting his one hand up in the air pretending to hold the torch and the other hand to his chest pretending to hold the books.

"Oh yes, you two could be twins." I giggle as we start walking agin. "But where is your spiky crown?"

Spencer opens his mouth to speak, but he is cut off my the familiar sound of Adele singing her famous song.

Hello.

I scrunch up my face perplexed as I look down at the callers name before looking up to Spencer. "It's Emma."

"Jess?" The brunettes voice asks as soon as I accept the call.

"What's the matter? Why do you sound worried?" I rush out suspiciously. "This is on speaker phone by the way."

I look over at Spencer as we stand near a bench, neither of us bothering to sit down. We both know something is up.

"I know I promised none of us would call either of you during your trip, but something came up." Emma anxiously rambles. "And I'm sorry but this may or may not ruin the rest of your day. Yours too Spencer."

Spencer and I communicate with our eyes, making sure both of us are ready for the most likely horrible news.

"You can tell us Emma." Spencer says.

"Okay..." She trails off before taking a deep breath. "I saw Nova and Jace kissing."

Well, that certainly did ruin the rest of our perfect day.
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"I'm even still confused." Spencer reassures me as we get out of the car.

We left New York City. As soon as Mrs. Gold came home from work early in the afternoon at about three o'clock, and we all packed our small bags, we headed back home.

It's been a couple hours now, and even though it's only around six o'clock the sky is already getting dark.

"I know and it's not just because Emma was too shocked to talk to them." I sigh as I walk out away from the gas station part of the diner and gas station. "She already explained that she was walking over to Novas house and she saw Nova and Jace kissing on her front porch."

"But you don't get why Nova would be kissing him. The guy who broke her heart." Spencer scans me. "She has Brian."

  I nod my head as we walk out farther to the end of the cleared put pill of snow. I stare out at the sunset. The sunset that looks almost exactly like the sunset I was so awed-stricken by when I went for a run months ago. The sunset I stared at with Spencer right behind me. And now he stands beside me.

"But why would she be kissing him?" I sigh. "She was possibly lying to us the whole time. She has all of us, and Brian. The poor guy, I thought they were perfect for each other."

"Sometimes not everyone who is destined for each other stay together. Sometimes they might be destined for each other, but they aren't perfect for each other."

"But that's not us, right?" I suddenly peer up at him. "We aren't Nova and Brian?"

Spencer chuckles slightly. "We aren't Nova and Brian. We aren't Emma and Parker. We are Spence and Jess."

I smile and look back at the sky. "Good."

We stare at the sky for sometime now, before Spencer talks again.

"You remember the time we saw a sunset just like this?" Spencer asks making my heart flutter again. We are basically the same person, yet we are so different. But we are perfect for each other, and destined for each other. We are Spence and Jess.

"Yes, and you still call me kitten." I grin as I turn my body to face him, putting the sunset behind me.

"And you are still the kind, special girl I will always call kitten." Spencer's forest green eyes twinkle at me,

"And you are the same not-so-bad bad boy....." I only think for a second. "That I'm in love with."

That ladies and gentlemen, is not the end of our not-so perfect perfect love story.

There is so much more.

Because this story is full of love, love, and more love.

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Hey perfect people!

I would just like to let you all know that this book is soon ending, but don't worry it define won't be finished before September starts! And my updating schedule might be a bit messed up soon, my birthday is in exactly one week on Monday so I don't know if I will update. And I might also be busy on Thursday, and that is why I will start working on the next chapter right after I finish this one!

Anyways what did you think of this chapter? Like the beginning scene? Favourite scene? What will happen with the whole Jace and Nova situation? And what will Spencer's reaction be to Jess say she is in love with him? Let me know in the comment section! Please don't be a silent reader!

Bye for now my lovely bookworms,
Ashley🌸