I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but I was afraid to say it first. I didn’t know if he felt the same way. He treated me like he loved me. I now knew the difference. Alec never loved me like this. He loved me like I was his possession. Something that belonged to him. Not something he cherished.
With Jett, everything was different.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Doesn’t really matter if your mom likes me. It only matters if you do.” He stroked my hair, and I closed my eyes.
“I do. I like you a lot,” I said. Wanting to say everything. Tell him how much I loved him.
“I like you a lot too, Ace.”
He pulled out his phone and he read me another chapter from Twilight. We were on the third book, and it had sucked us both in, even if he wouldn’t admit that he liked it. We’d watched the first movie together as well.
I settled against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart as he read the most romantic book of all time to me.
And I wished I could freeze this moment because I never wanted it to end.
The girls and I were meeting downstairs for our usual catch-up. I waved to my mom who was on the phone with Mama T, per usual when I walked in. I pointed to the basement to let her know the girls were meeting me downstairs.
“Thirty minutes, Adelaide,” Mama said as she covered the phone with her hand.
I nodded and jogged downstairs just as Gigi and Maura came in. Coco and Ivy were right behind them and we all settled in our usual spots.
Ivy dropped the enormous book on the table and laughed. “We may need two books for senior year.”
“Good. Then we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Coco said, leaning back on the couch and propping her feet on the table.
“Okay, who wants to start?” Ivy asked.
“Kyle and I are calling it quits.” Maura shrugged and Ivy paused before writing it down.
“What?” I asked. “You guys seemed so happy over break.”
“We were. But he’s staying at school this summer for an internship and I’m leaving for school in the fall. We’re still going to talk all the time, I’m sure. And I’ll see him when he’s home. But it’s too much pressure trying to keep a relationship going when I have no intention of going to TU. I didn’t even apply there, not that I’d get in. So, it’s just not realistic.”
“Are you okay with it?” Gigi asked.
“I am. He said he’d still come take me to prom if I wanted him to, but I don’t know if that’s the best idea. I think we both need to put a little distance there, you know?”
“Okay. Maura is on the market,” Ivy said, scribbling into the book as she wriggled her brows.
Maura laughed. “I’m hardly on the market. I think I just want to enjoy these last few months together and head off to college with no attachments, you know?”
“Good. We can be the only single ones together,” Gigi said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
“Well, I guess I should say it. Ty and I had sex. The deed is done. The canary has landed. Yadda yadda. Boom.” Ivy folded her arms over her chest and stared at us as if she’d just told us the weather.
Coco squealed and jumped to her feet. “I’m shocked. You were hanging on to that V-card like Addy’s mom is holding on to hope that she and Alec will get back together.” She bellowed out a laugh at her own joke. “Tell us everything. How was it?”
“I’m not a girl who kisses and tells, but I will say this… it was so much better than everyone said it would be. Ty is, well, he’s amazing. And he wrote me a song, you guys.” She paused and placed a hand on her chest. Ty was a budding country singer. It started with him singing in church when we were growing up, but a music producer had discovered him last year and he’d started performing at a few country music festivals over the past few months. His voice was amazing. “It was worth the wait for sure. But I don’t want to talk about it anymore, because I think it should be something that is just for Ty and me.”
“Damn. You’re all so virtuous. Paste that V-card right in there and date it,” Coco said, before falling back on the couch. “Well, I’m thinking of taking the plunge with Shaw. He is just so… I don’t know. Hoootttt.”
I laughed. “You really like him, huh?”
“It’s not like you and Jett. But it’s pretty damn awesome,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that you two are just oddly connected. I never saw that with you and Alec. You never seemed like you fit to me. It always seemed so forced. It looked good on paper, but there was nothing really there. You never laughed together or seemed like you had deep conversation. But you and Jett…”
“I have to agree, Addy. I need a cold shower whenever I’m around you two. The way he looks at you—it’s… something to see.” Ivy fanned her face with her hand.
I couldn’t hide my smile. Because that’s how I felt. “I really think I love him, you guys. I’ve never felt anything like this before. I may have said the words to Alec, but this is the first time I’ve actually felt it. It’s that can’t live without you kind of love, which is scary because we’re taking it one day at a time.” I shrugged. I loved that I could say anything to them and never had to worry about being judged.
“You could both end up at the same school,” Gigi whispered, because she knew my parents didn’t know yet that I’d applied to several schools. Mama had refused to discuss it, and we weren’t speaking much about anything lately.
“Maybe. He’s signing his letter of intent at TU this week, and that’s a long shot for me.”
“What does Jett say?”
“He says I should go wherever I want to go and shouldn’t consider anyone else when making my decision. He encouraged me to apply to more schools and have options. But we don’t talk about the future. We made a deal at the start of this, that we would take it one day at a time. I never had that with Alec. It was always expected that I’d go along with his plan. He wanted me to go to the school that he wanted to go to. He never considered what was best for me. Jett is so different. He wants the best for me.”
“That’s how it should be,” Coco said. “And he’s not even trying to get in your pants. Damn, that boy is something.”
I shook my head and felt my cheeks heat. “Well, it’s become challenging for me not to beg for more. The way he makes me feel…” I said, shaking my head and trying to tamper down my thoughts.
“I’m happy for you. You deserve this,” Maura said, leaning over and squeezing my hand. “How about your mom? Is she still being a royal bitch to him?”