Into the Light (University of Isles #2)

35. Chapter 35

Chapter thirty-five

Three Months Later

I was running late for the final exam, which was unlike me. I stayed up late last night, meticulously editing the photos I needed to present in class. As I pushed open the massive wooden door to the building in Isles, the rain and gloom outside didn’t match my internal rush I was feeling for being late. I blamed it on the adviser meeting I had to have this morning, but ultimately, I knew it was my own fault.

My academic adviser had encouraged me to take the required summer classes, which would allow me to graduate a year earlier than planned. Despite all the challenges I’d faced, I was still on track to achieve my original goal.

Clutching a large envelope containing my final assignment, which was a collection of images, I entered the building and quickly sent a text to Rain, asking him to save me a seat.

I practically sprinted down the long underground hallway to the classroom. When I burst through the door, I was met with an immediate rush of embarrassment. I’d arrived late, and our professor was already present and starting the final exam presentation.

“Sorry,” I whispered, my face burning with embarrassment. I hastily scanned the room, searching for Rain. I didn’t need to look for long; his distinctive long black hair made it easy for me to spot him in the crowd. In some cosmic way, I could always find him, even if we were in the most crowded place. I was drawn toward him.

I hurried over to Rain and took the empty chair next to him. Concern filled his blue eyes as he looked at me.

“You’re never late. Are you okay?” he inquired. I lifted the envelope containing my final assignment, then settled back in my seat.

It was hard to believe today marked my official last day of school. The spring bonfire event had come and gone, and despite Rain and I being present, we’d shared a quiet night with no significant developments. The Den held a vigil the weekend after for the one-year anniversary of Ash’s passing. It was the first time that Rain and I had publicly acknowledged that we were together.

Rain still maintained his leadership status of the Den until graduation, at Mr. Ortiz’s request. A lot needed to take place behind the scenes, contacting Mexico and other countries so they were aware of the leadership change. It felt like the right decision. Plus, most of campus seemed to move on to the next big gossip thing and most people were back to being sociable to me. I was sure there were still a dozen questions people had, but I learned to ignore them. Because what mattered was us, and I had learned to drown out the noise.

We spent the last few months living mostly at my apartment during the week, and on the weekend, we alternated between the hunting cabin and the house in the countryside. I even drove him to my house in Dansport. God, what twenty-one-year-olds could tell you they owned or rented four properties. Every time I thought of it, I giggled a little, understanding how ridiculous it sounded.

We loved each other hard. We fucked each other hard. We sat on the couch, naked most days, being absorbed in our books or pieces we were writing. I’d even gotten the courage to start plotting the story I wanted to write. It was a long process, so I was taking each step with ease and focusing on school.

“Rain Fortin,” our professor announced, and my thoughts retreated to reality as Rain leaned over, giving my knee a quick little squeeze before walking up to the front room with his portfolio envelope.

He turned off the lights so he could project the images onto the screen. As he grabbed an array of black-and-white images, hanging them on the board behind the screen, we could barely make out the images. Then he took a handful of filmlike photographs with a grainy, vintage look to them and placed them on the projector, but my eyes were stuck on the man standing before the class. Clad in his black jeans and signature black T-shirt his golden skin almost illuminated in the dungeon of a basement we were in. His gaze locked with mine.

“My name is Rain Fortin, and this is my final project entitled The Girl Who Scares Me. I know Ember and I were supposed to do the project together, but we decided it would be best if we split it up.” Shit. I knew where this was going without even looking at the images, but my eyes pulled away from Rain to look at the projector.

The screen displayed hundreds of black and white photographs of me. I gasped when I saw my feet resting delicately on Rain’s lap, his hand caressing my toes. There was another image of me wearing an oversized sweater, grinning ear to ear as I realized how it swallowed me. Then there was one of me in the driver’s seat of the Jeep, my hand outstretched toward Rain, a radiant smile on my face.

I shifted my focus to the area behind the projector screen, where a dozen selfies of us together adorned the board. The first one showed the back of my hair as I nuzzled into Rain’s shoulder and he looked down at me with pure adoration. The next featured both of us with our feet resting on Ash’s rock during one of our visits to honor him. Another showed us sipping milkshakes at the diner. The one next to it was us walking through our orchards at our countryside house, and one snuggled next to the fire in the hunting cabin. There were countless snapshots of our shared moments.

“This is Ember Solis. We live together. We officially own a house now.” Rain smiled while announcing, which prompted cheers and laughter from the room. He gestured toward me. “She is the strongest human being I’ve ever met, and she’s incredibly beautiful, too.”

“Hell yeah, she is,” a voice chimed in from the back of the classroom, provoking more chuckles.

“Hey, hold on, pal. She’s mine,” Rain quipped, smiling at me.

He continued, “Ember brings me immense joy, yet she terrifies me. I could lose her. I’d be shattered without her, lost in a world of numbness, unable to find the words I so desperately chase in my head and commit to paper. I’d be drowning in my own despair. Because without Ember, you’d all be witnessing me scorch the very ground beneath our feet just to get back to her.”

“Wha-what do you need to know I am not going anywhere?” I murmured forgetting we were surrounded by our entire class. A class that probably thought this was getting ridiculous as this was the second time this had happened in front of them.

“I need you, Ember,” he rasped out. In a way, I knew what he was saying because I’d given him most of me but never allowed him to label what we were. “I want to be able to take you out in public in Dansport like a real proper date so that I can ask you to be mine . . .”

I swallowed audibly before the tears streamed down, wetting my cheeks. “You should’ve just asked,” I choked out in an attempt to make a joke, but I was doing a poor job.

“Please?” He begged, and I could have folded right there in front of the entire class.

“Yes, of course,” I assured him. “I’d love to go on a proper date with you. But I also want you to understand that these moments”—I gestured to all the images behind him—”are the moments that feel even more intimate to me than parading around a fancy restaurant in the city. You’ve always been mine, but if you want to make it official, use whatever label you need, because I’m yours too, Rain.”

He beamed, and applause erupted around us.

“That is absolutely beautiful, Rain.” Our professor grabbed the images from the projector before bringing him in for a hug and whispering something before he took his seat next to me.

“What’d she say?” I asked.

“That I aced the project.” Leaning over our seats, I planted a kiss on him before hearing my name. Feeling more confident after going after Rain, I made my way up to the lit projector. There, I shared polaroid’s along with some of the digital images I had worked on editing.

“My name is Ember Solis, and I am probably going to fail this final because I did not answer the prompt and I did not work with a partner.” I giggled while glancing over at Evie and then meeting Rain’s gaze.

I showed a variety of photos of myself on the screen. There were pictures of me studying, at Ash’s rock, at the cabin, and doing mundane tasks like brushing my teeth. Dozens of photos I took of myself floated on the projector.

“I did not answer what scares me because right now, nothing scares me,” I admitted, my voice filled with a newfound confidence I had never known before. My gaze shifted from Rain to my classmates, their faces reflecting anticipation. “This past year, I’ve overcome so much, faced unimaginable grief, and wrestled with the fear of moving on. But I did it. I opened my heart and let someone in, and now, it feels so damn good.”

Rain’s eyes sparkled with pride and affection as I continued, “I’ve found a life I’ve always wanted, a life that feels normal. Now, our biggest arguments are about whether Rain used my toothbrush.” I chuckled, and the room shared in the laughter.

“It’s the little things, the everyday joys, that I cherish the most,” I said, my voice filled with ease. “The feeling of waking up next to Rain, his warmth beside me, and realizing that I’m no longer alone. Sharing morning coffee, navigating the day’s ups and downs, and falling asleep next to the person I love. These simple moments, this life we’ve built together, that’s what truly matters.”

I walked over to him, my eyes bore into his, and extended my hand to invite him to join me at the front of the classroom. He rose from his seat and came to stand beside me, our fingers interlocked.

Taking a deep breath, I continued my speech, “You see, when I look back at the person I used to be a couple years ago, I was scared of everything—scared of the darkness, scared of the secrets, scared of the world I lived in. I thought that was my only reality.”

I glanced at Rain, his hand squeezing mine, providing the support I needed to keep going. “I’ve learned that fear is only as powerful as you allow it to be. It’s a choice. I chose to embrace the love I found with Rain. I’ve learned that it’s okay to be scared sometimes. It’s okay to love and be loved in return. And that’s the life I want, a life where love and happiness conquer fear. A life where my heart stayed open, overflowing with love, enabling me to cherish a tale blessed by two of the deepest loves I’ve ever experienced.”

As the applause filled the room, I leaned in and kissed Rain, savoring the taste of love and contentment on my lips. “This is what feels right,” I whispered, my heart brimming with gratitude.

Our professor applauded the loudest as she came toward me. “You aced this assignment,” she whispered as I felt the flush return to my face. We walked back to our seats where we watched the rest of our classmates dive deep into what scared them. I’d be remiss to say I was actually listening to them because I couldn’t help but watch Rain.

He kept looking at me as he reached over the table to hold my hand, giving me a squeeze every so often. When class finally finished, we gathered our stuff before we walked outside. It was still raining and gross, but I sat outside the class building looking around. Both of us would still be here all summer to take our classes, but this felt different. There was a finality to the semester ending and us moving on.

“So, do you really want to take me out to dinner?” I asked. He turned toward me and grabbed my waist, pulling me tight into his.

“It would be an honor.”

I frowned momentarily while his eyes searched mine.

“What?”

“I was just thinking about what you said. You wanted to officially make you mine, but I feel like being your girlfriend just seems so trivial after everything we’ve been through,” I said.

He laughed—like one of those genuine big belly laughs.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Nothing.” He shook his head.

“I’m being serious,” I pressed. We were getting soaked in the rain, but I made no rush to get to the car. When you lived in Isles, being wet was just part of your whole aesthetic. It wasn’t cute.

“Nothing, princesa. I agree with you. I think we are beyond the boyfriend slash girlfriend title.”

I narrowed my gaze at him, but let it go, taking him up on our dinner date and leaving the rest shrouded in the cloak of mystery.

He linked his fingers into mine as we ran to the car before jumping in. I took my new place as his passenger princess before he turned on the heat of the car.

“When’s our date?” I asked.

“Tomorrow.”

“Where are we off to tonight?” I asked because it was Friday and it was usually when we decided the weekend, but this one was extra special because we were done with the semester and both passed, so there was lots to celebrate.

“To our future,” he said. I leaned back on the car seat, staring out the window while Rain’s hand rested on my thigh, giving it a little squeeze as we drove down Isles. No longer did we have to look behind us or live in fear of leaving the neutral territory. The Den and the Alpha house had made peace with each other.

In that moment, the world opened up as we watched the pine trees thin out, eventually revealing the city beyond the woods. I arrived in Isles as an immature eighteen-year-old, seeking a typical college experience, but what I found here was a mix of the best and worst moments of my life. While painful memories often took center stage in my mind, I needed to remember that this place had also given me the two great loves of my life. I wouldn’t trade meeting either of them. I instinctively reached up to touch the tattoo behind my ear, a reminder of the man it represented and the person who gave it to me. I had feared that the world had room for me to fall in love only once, but I was one of the fortunate few who got to experience this earth-shattering, all-consuming love twice.

I was one of the lucky ones who got to be in love with the person who grounded me here on earth. The one who gave me the space to find my own inner strength, the one who encouraged me to be the best version of myself, the one who was so fucking beautiful in every single way. But I was also lucky because I loved someone else up above, too. The one who showed me the darkness in the world. The one who showed me an all-consuming love. The one taking care of our daughter.

I sighed deeply, keeping my eyes shut as Rain’s hand gripped my thigh.

“You okay, mi pareja?” he asked. I turned over and drank his beautiful features in. The way his hair tousled, the way his eyes turned hooded whenever he drank me in, the way his arms flexed as he reached out toward me. But I also loved the way he was always checking in with me while giving me the space I needed to feel.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “I’m really good,” I confessed.

As we descended into Dansport, everything felt just right. The lightness I had finally found in a world once veiled in darkness was a testament to the remarkable resilience of the human spirit. I grasped this marked the beginning of a new chapter, a chance to embrace love and cherish a life brimming with endless possibilities.

Into the darkness I’ll go, and into the light I’ll be.