chapter 40

~sullivan~

       "Are you ready?" I ask.

       Caelus hesitates before he nods. "I'm ready."

       "Okay," I say. "Three, two, one, and... Send it." I press the send button on my phone to deliver the prewritten text message to my family's group chat. We only use it to send important news or to send invites for family events.

       Caelus sends an identical message to his family, though I'm sure his message is filled with more wit as opposed to the simple message I sent. "There," he says. "Now we wait for shit to hit the fan."

       I furrow my eyebrows. "Why would shit hit the fan?"

       "Because last time we got married, our family basically took over our wedding because of how excited they were," Caelus says. "I'm sure they're not going to be exactly thrilled that we not only got married without telling them, but we also did it in private and didn't have them there."

       I shrug. "They've already been to our first wedding. They don't need to see us get married a second time."

       "I guess," Caelus says. "So who do you think is going to be the first to see our messages and who is going to be the first to throw a fit?"

       Before I can even make a guess, my phone buzzes with a text message. I look at it, seeing that Katrina has replied to my message with a lot of excitement. I didn't have any doubts that she would be supportive of it.

       "Katrina was first," I say, handing my phone over to Caelus so he can see the congratulatory message. Katrina also mentioned in her text that Quinn offers their congratulations as well. One down, a few more to go.

       Caelus's mom ends up being second, first questioning why there wasn't a wedding. When Caelus tells her that we mostly did it on a whim but at the same time weren't too interested in having a wedding, she offers her congratulations as well and her happiness that we found each other again.

       Within the next hour or so, we get a reply from everyone in our family group chats. Mom was the only one who really seemed upset that we didn't invite her to a wedding, no matter how many times I tell her there wasn't a wedding nor would there likely be one. She wishes us well, but is still upset there won't be a wedding.

       Oh, well. I don't want my relationship with Caelus to be based on what other people expect from us. That's what went wrong last time. The only things that should matter are what we want, not what everyone else wants.

       Caelus looks at his phone. "I should get going. I don't want to be late on my first day."

       "I can drive you there," I say.

       "You don't have to."

       "I know, but I want to. What better way to wish you luck on your first day of culinary school?"

       Caelus smiles at me. "Yeah, okay."

       The moment Caelus and I walk to the front door, Kona follows us and spins around once. She wants to come with us, not knowing where we're going. She just likes tagging along. Since I'm just driving Caelus to school and won't be going inside, I let Kona come with us so she can enjoy the car ride.

       Kona happily gets into the backseat of my car, ready for the car ride. Caelus gets into the passenger seat, and I can tell that he's excited for his first day of culinary school. He has a small smile on his face, something he had ever since he woke up this morning.

       Once I turn on the car, Caelus enters the address to the school he's attending into the GPS. It's not too far of a drive. Even if it was far, I would still drive Caelus there. I'm so proud that he's going to culinary school to improve his already amazing cooking. I want to do whatever I can to show his support.

       Like always when we're in the car together, Caelus hooks his phone up to the speaker to play some of his favourite music. He sings and dances to whatever song plays, and I can't help but smile at him. He's so adorable.

       I pull into the parking lot of the school and pull up to the entrance while still giving room for other potential drivers dropping someone off. I want to get out to properly wish Caelus good luck, but I don't want to park and have to leave Kona in the car alone.

       Caelus does have a bit of time before his class starts, so we both get out of the car and stand by it. I rolled down the back windows beforehand so Kona can stick her head out and still feel like she's included.

       "Are you excited?" I ask.

       Caelus nods. "Excited, nervous, both mixed into one. But mostly excited. There's probably a lot of techniques professional chefs use that I don't even know. And just so you know, there might be times where I'm too tired from cooking at class to come home and cook something for us."

       "That's okay," I say. "I don't want you to cook when you don't feel like it because you might just end up hating it. I can always cook too. Not as well as you, but I still know how to cook."

       "Throwing frozen pizza into the oven isn't cooking."

       "I only did that once when I said I was cooking dinner."

       "I know. I'm just teasing you. I should probably head into class. I want a good seat."

       "Okay." I pull Caelus into a hug. "I know I keep saying this, but I'm extremely proud of you, Caelus."

       Caelus hugs me back. "Thank you. And thank you for encouraging me for going to culinary school. I wouldn't have even thought about going if it weren't for you." He gives me a soft kiss. "I'll see you after class, Sully. I love you so much."

       "I love you too, Caelus."

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THE END!

i had a lot of fun writing this silly but lovely book <3 i just wanted to try writing an exes to lovers without having to write their heartbreak to begin with lol. ooh but now that i think of it, a prequel sounds like a good idea, like how they got together in the first place... but that will have to be put on the back burner for now.

thank you so much for reading, voting, and commenting on this book! i appreciate each and every one of you <3 i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it.

-laeti