The Exception// Jack Avery [1]

CHAPTER 41 [a promise]

I check my phone for the time and realise its nearly 12am. I should be ringing Jack soon. I unlock my phone and click his contact. It rings only twice until he picks up. "The park, 20 minutes" Jack says quickly, I laugh a little to myself, "why so pushy" I joke, "see you there baby" he says hanging up the phone. That was strange, but that's just Jack. I pull myself up off my bed to change my outfit quickly. Nothing too extravagant, just high waist blue denim jeans, along with a red jumper and plain white Nikes. I shove my phone into my back pocket and look at my self one last time in my mirror.

Me and Jack had come up with a plan to tell my mother I'm going to get 'snacks' for the journey otherwise she would probably stand in front of the door and prevent me from leaving. I leave my room and walk down the stairs trying to not make too much noise. My mum walks out the sitting room with two boxes piled on top of each other and placing them down in the hall way along with a few other boxes. "Grace grab the other two so I can feed your brother" my mum says as she leaves to walk to the kitchen, "after, can I go to the shop, I wanna get some snacks for the journey, I can pick some stuff up for you if you'd like" I say awkwardly as I walk into the sitting room grabbing the last two boxes. "I don't need anything, but sure, don't be long" my mums says giving me an awkward smile. I nod before placing the boxes down. I walk out the door and make my way to the park.

As I reach the park I smile when I see Jack sitting on the swings. My smile grows bigger when his eyes meet mine. I run over to him pulling him into a tight hug. "How long do we have" he says pulling away from the hug and looking into my eyes, "maybe half an hour at the most" I say frowning a little. "Shit" Jack says letting out a breath. His eyes become teary and he avoids my gaze and looks to the floor. For once I'm the once calming him down. "Jack, we're going to be fine" I say smiling. He looks up at me and smiles weakly. He grabs my hand and begins to rub circles with him thumb on the back. After a few seconds of just starring at each other with beaming smiles on our faces, Jack shakes his head a little as though he was breaking himself out of thought. He looks off to the side and smiles to himself. "What is it Jack" I say laughing a little. He lets out a deep breath and faces me again. "Present number three" he says confidently, I roll my eyes and laugh a little along with him.

Still holding my hand he guides me over to sit near the skateboard ramps like we always do when we come to this park. "You need to close your eyes" he says, "why" I say, slightly scared, "do you trust me" he says raising an eyebrow, "of course" I say in a 'duh' tone, "then close your eyes" he smirks. I groan and close my eyes so I cant see anything. "One second" he says. I feels his breath on my face, so I know he's close. He places one small peck on my lips before I feel him move backwards away from me. I smile after he pulls away and I can feel my cheeks becoming red. Even with the smallest thing, Jack still makes me blush like he always used to at the start of me and him. I hear him fiddling a little and after a few seconds of silence he finally speaks. "Okay, open your eyes baby" he says. I slowly open my eyes to see Jack standing in front of me with a small box. I raise an eyebrow slightly confused. He laughs a little and slowly opens the box. My jaw drops when I see a beautiful silver infinity ring, I keep switching my gaze from Jack to the ring, and every time I look back at Jack his smile gets bigger.

Jack takes the ring out of the box and grabs my left hand. He pauses, "now, I'm not proposing" he laughs which causes me to laugh a little. My eyes starts to become teary as the butterflies in my stomach overwhelm me, "but, I am making a promise" Jack says looking me in the eyes. "I know we haven't had the easiest ride, and it'll never truly be easy for us" he says smiling, "but I want you to know the we will be the exception in our families, I promise you that we will" he says seriously, he looks down at my hand still holding the ring, "so what our love story isn't perfect, nothings perfect, but I'd rather do hard with you than easy with someone else" he says as a tears falls down my face. My hand starts to shake and all I want to do is pull Jack into the biggest hug and just kiss his gorgeous little face off. "So Gracie, I give you this ring as a sign of my promise to you, to never leave, to never give up, to never back down on my feelings for you, to always want you" he says, "for fucks sake I beg you accept this ring" he says laughing nervously, "of course I do Jack, I promise to never leave you, you are my almost perfect love story" I smile wider than ever before.

I pull Jack into a hug as a few more tears fall onto his shoulder. As I pull back he puts the ring on my finger, I look down at my hand whilst he does, smiling like crazy. I look up at him and he leans in to kiss me. We've had some amazing kisses but this one was different than every single one of them. This kissed sealed all the promises. Jacks hands grip my waist as he pulls me tighter. The kiss is filled with pure feelings for each other, with love and with care. As we pull away I have to let out a breath. "Fuck Jack its so pretty, thank you so much" I say looking down at my hand, admiring the ring. I pull him into one more hug. I pull away still admiring the ring. "Gracie" he says, causing me to meet his eyes. "I promise the distance isn't going to destroy us" he says, "I promise too" I say smiling. "Present number four" he says, "what" I say before getting cut off, "I love you" he says. My entire body softens as I process the words that just came out of his mouth. "I love you too" I breathe out. "But I wanted to say it first" I say pushing his shoulder, he laughs. "Fuck, I love you so much" he says pulling me into another kiss.

We get broken up by my phone ringing. I pull my phone out my pocket and see my mums caller ID pop up, "shhh" I say to Jack putting a finger over my mouth before I answer. "Hey mum" I say, "where are you, we're leaving in 20 minutes" she says, "I'm sorry, I was looking for some food to buy but there's nothing I want" I say making up a lame excuse. "Just come home, we need to leave or we'll miss our flight" she says, "okay I'm coming" I say. With that she ends the call. I look up at Jack to see he's still smiling. "I have to go now" I say putting the phone back into my pocket avoiding his eyes. Like he always does, he lifts my chin up so I'm looking at him, "I know, but no matter how far away you are, I'm always going to be with you" he says, as his other hand fiddles with the ring on my finger. I smile a little.

We leave the park hand in hand as he walks me to the corner of my street. "This is the last time I'm walking you to this corner" Jack says, I could hear his voice break on the last words. "Jack do not cry" I say turning to face him, "shut up, I never cry" he says causing me to laugh. "If I did this one time though, you wouldn't judge me right" he says with tears threatening to spill. "No" I say trying to fight back the tears also. I fail as I feel a tear rolls down my face, Jack gently brushes it away. "Baby you can cry if you want" he says laughing weakly, "if I cry it'll feel real" I say breaking at every word trying to keep myself together. "It is real baby, but no matter what, I'm never leaving you" he smiles with glossy eyes, "promise?" I say, "I promise" he says. Another tears falls, followed by another, then another, and soon enough Jack is engulfing me in a hug as I cry into his chest. "I'm sorry it had to be like this" I sniff, "baby we'll be fine" he says still hugging me tight. "I promise you that" he says kissing the top of my head. I pull away to face him. I pull him into a kiss, one last kiss. I could taste my own tears. I pull away from him and begin to walk backwards. "I love you Gracie" he smiles, "I love you too Jack Avery" I say. And I meant every word.

So, our story isn't perfect, but for us, its everything we ever wanted. Until next time Jack Avery, I love you.

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And that is the end of the book guys. I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm very proud of this book and it is definitely my favourite one that I have written. There is a plan for a sequel but it depends on how successful this book becomes so, keeping sharing, reading and voting guys. I appreciate all of the support. Kisses,

- Pinky <3