Days and weeks flew by and before Julie and Nick knew it, it was their two-month anniversary. They decided to celebrate it by remaking their first date. Nick made the reservations at the restaurant a week before and everything was set. They were going to exchange their presents after they ate. They arrived at the restaurant and Julie noticed that the place was completely empty.
"Where is everyone?" she asked.
"I bought out the entire place for the night, it's all ours." Said Nick smiling. "Do you mind?"
"Not at all, no distractions this way." Said Julie kissing him.
"Mmm, I should do things like this more often." He said kissing her back. They were led to a table and ordered their food. Julie looked out the window at the beautiful ocean that was seen and noticed, from the corner of her eye, that Nick was staring at her.
"What?" she asked smiling.
"You get more beautiful everyday." Complemented Nick. "These two months flew by so fast I didn't even realize that they were gone." He said.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, but I enjoyed them immensely and I'm looking forward to the future." She said.
"So am I, I can't wait to see what happens then." Said Nick putting his hand over Julie's on the table.
"You're not the only one." She said and they shared yet another kiss. After they ate, they went for a walk on the beach just like on their first date. They sat down and gazed at each other. It was time to exchange presents.
"Ok, me first." Said Julie taking out a rectangular flat box and giving it to Nick. "Happy Anniversary."
"Thank you." Said Nick and opened the box. Inside he found a long frame made out of three frames. The frames on the sides were silver, and there was a heart shaped one in the middle connecting the other two. In the left frame there was a picture of Nick smiling and looking to the right, like towards the heart frame. In the right frame, there was a picture of Julie also smiling and looking to the left, at the heart frame. In the heart frame, there was a picture of Nick and Julie before they left for their first date. They weren't aware that Kevin had snapped a picture of them that day; he told Julie about it when he got the film developed and she got the idea for the gift. There was a smaller heart inside the heart frame, which contained the stones peridot and garnet, which were Nick and Julie's birthstones.
"Wow, this is wonderful!" exclaimed Nick. He hugged and kissed Julie. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." Said Julie smiling.
"Ok, now it's my turn." Said Nick handing Julie a small velvet box. She opened it and found a white gold ring. It had a heart-shaped light-blue stone in the middle, surrounded by two small diamonds; it resembled the necklace, which Nick had given her for her 18th birthday.
"Thank you, it's stunning!" Said Julie. Nick took the ring and put it on her left ring finger.
"This is a promise ring." He explained. "This means that I promise we will be together forever and nothing or no one will ever come between us." He said.
"I love you." Said Julie.
"I love you too." Said Nick.
They remained sitting on the beach and listening to the waves for a while after exchanging gifts. They returned home to find the house dark since it was almost three in the morning. They quietly said good night and went up to their rooms and fell asleep instantly.
*~*~*
The following day, Julie and Nick were at home watching TV with Brian, Kevin, Jess, and Jen. Angela, AJ, Howie, and Stacey went out to a movie. Nick went to the kitchen to get more soda but returned empty handed.
"We're out of soda." He said sitting back down next to Julie.
"Oh, it's ok, I'll go get more." She said getting up.
"You don't have to do that, we'll buy more tomorrow." Said Nick pulling her back down.
"It's ok, I don't mind." She said getting up again.
"Do you want me to come with you?" asked Nick starting to get up too.
"Nah, the store is only ten minutes away, I'll be back in less than a half hour." Said Julie putting her shoes on.
"Are you sure? Aren't you going to miss me?" asked Nick smiling mischievously.
"Of course I'll miss you, but this will give me something to look forward to when I get home." She said giving him a quick kiss.
"Hurry back!" he called after her.
"I will!" she called back and the door slammed behind her.
A half an hour passed and Julie was still not back. Nick was wondering where she was when he heard sirens outside. They were far away so he didn't think anything of them. Only when he realized that they got closer and stopped not far away from the house did he begin to worry. He mentioned it to everyone else and they all came out of the house. They saw that a crowd had gathered about a block away and began to walk towards it. Nick got a sinking feeling in his stomach, which he tried to ignore, as he got closer to the scene of the accident. There were two police cars and an ambulance standing there. A few police officers were trying to keep the crowd away. As Nick pushed through the crowd, he didn't want to believe that it had anything to do with Julie but deep in his heart, he knew that it was her he was going to find. He got to the front of the crowd and looked ahead. His heart nearly broke in half when he saw Julie. She was lying on the ground unconscious and her leg was twisted at an unnatural angle.
"OMG!" he exclaimed and tried to get past the police officer.
"I'm sorry sir, but you'll have to stand back with everyone else." Said the police officer trying to stop Nick.
"That's my girlfriend!" yelled Nick; he was on the verge of tears. He was let through and he rushed up to Julie.
"What happened to her?" he demanded turning to the EMT workers.
"She was hit by a car, it was a hit and run." Said one of them.
"Is she going to be ok?" asked Nick looking at Julie who looked like she was sleeping.
"We don't know that yet, we'll know for sure when we get to the hospital." Said an EMT worker.
"I'm going with you." Said Nick following Julie's stretcher as it was loaded into the ambulance. He got in and the doors closed behind them. The ambulance drove away and Brian, Kevin, Jess, and Jen all followed it closely behind in Kevin's car.

chapter 11 chapter 13