“He’s coming over for tacos tomorrow night for my birthday. His mom has me over all the time, and he’s never come to dinner with my family. My dad and Clem love him, but my mom is still desperate for me and Alec to get back together. I wouldn’t get back together with Alec even if Jett weren’t in the picture. There’s nothing there. I just had to step away to realize that. I wish she’d just be happy for me.”
“That woman has such a stick up her ass, she wouldn’t know happiness if it slapped her in her botoxed face.” Coco huffed.
“I’m putting that in the book,” Ivy said through her laughter.
“What’s happening with you?” I asked Gigi. “Is Hayden still trying to get you to go out with him?”
“I guess. But I think we’re just friends. He came over to watch a movie, and oh my gosh, I wanted to kill Cade and Gray. They came in and grilled him. And then that stupid ass, Gray, plopped down right in between us and reached for the popcorn. Cade went off to bed, and Gray just sat there like the bastard that he is, for the entire movie,” Gigi huffed. Her older brother Cade’s best friend, Gray Baldwin, was a thorn in her side. We all thought he was charming and funny. Gigi not so much. She despised him.
Coco’s laughter filled the room. “Gray totally cockblocked you.”
“Oh my gosh, you are so crude. There was nothing to block. Hayden’s kissed me once, and there was nothing there. But that doesn’t mean Gray needs to involve himself. Ugh. I can’t stand that kid.”
“He is hot though,” Maura said. “And if you get into TU, you’ll have to deal with him.”
“Don’t remind me. It’s been my dream school forever, but I don’t know if I have the grades to get in. And the only negative thing about going to TU is that freaking Gray is there. I don’t know how that jackass got in there, anyway.” She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. “It would be so cool if we went there together, Addy.”
My stomach dipped. We both definitely had the grades. Gigi was fifth in our class, so we were fairly similar on GPAs and we’d both killed it on our SATs, but I was worried about my essay. I should have just answered it the way I knew they wanted me to. Instead, I’d decided to be totally honest, and that just might be the nail in the coffin that kept me from going there.
“It would be amazing. We could room together. But I don’t want to get my hopes up.” I shrugged.
Ivy shut the book and glanced up at us, eyes watery. “I can’t believe we’re down to these last few months together.”
We all leaned forward and grasped hands, as my mother shouted down the stairs that it was time for dinner.
“The warden beckons. Love you guys,” Coco said as we all pushed to our feet.
“Love you,” we called out before they walked out the door.
I took a minute to gather myself. I needed to tell my parents that I had applied to several schools and I had no intention of going to State. My mother thought I was bluffing when I’d mentioned the idea of going elsewhere.
But I was dead serious.
I just had to find the right time to tell her.
Chapter Eighteen
Jett
I’d told Adelaide to meet me out at our spot on the lake after school. We didn’t have AP calc today, and I’d had my mom call me out of English a few minutes early so I could come out here first. I wanted to surprise her for her birthday, so I grabbed the flowers from Violet’s floral shop on my way over. When she found out they were for Adelaide, she added a few more of her favorite flowers to the bouquet. I’d never bought a girl flowers aside from Ma and Gram.
I’d also bought her a bracelet which even surprised the shit out of me that I’d thought of it. Shaw and Jax had gone with me and helped me pick out the charms, razzing me the whole time about it. I wasn’t sure if it was a stupid idea because we were supposed to be taking this one day at a time, but that shit had gone out the window a few weeks ago. I was all in on this girl. I’d never felt anything close to this and I didn’t know what to do with all these feelings. But just like I knew to look out for Ma and Gram as early as I can remember or the way I knew what to do the first time a football was placed in my hands—I knew in my gut that this was right. This thing with us was the first thing that felt right in my life in a long time. And it made no sense.
Adelaide and I being together made no sense.
We came from different worlds.
But right now, I wasn’t going to question it. I was just living in the moment. And she made me feel like a fucking king. Being with her ignited things in me I’d never experienced. Feeling thankful, feeling joy, those weren’t part of my usual demeanor. But fuck it. I was going to feel all of it for as long as I could.
“Jett?” she called out, and I pushed to my feet, shifting around like some sort of dorky, romantic, shithead.
“Hey, I’m down here.” My gaze locked with hers and she started running my way. She wore a white dress that hit her mid-thigh, a jean jacket and her favorite cowboy booties. And she looked fucking gorgeous.
She whooshed into my chest, and I caught her. “Why’d you leave school early? I got your note to meet you out here.”
I laughed and set her down on her feet. “I wanted to give you your birthday present.”
If anyone had told me six months ago that I’d be picking up a certain type of flower and personalizing a bracelet and going to all this trouble to make it special for a girl—I’d have called them crazy. But here I was. Doing all the things I thought would make her smile. Hell, I hadn’t even slept with her, and I wanted to give her everything.
She worked hard at everything she did, and she listened better than anyone I’d ever known. She hung out with people like Lenny and Violet just because she knew they needed a friend. She was good to her very core. And I fucking loved that about her.
I’d told her things I’d never shared with anyone. Not everything, obviously, or she’d be running for the hills. But I shared parts of myself I’d never thought I’d be comfortable sharing.
So yeah, I was going to make an effort to make her birthday special. That included having dinner at her home and kissing her mother’s ass because I knew it was important to Adelaide. Never thought I’d go that far for a girl. But I was just getting started.
Her gaze moved from me to the hammock where a bouquet of flowers sat surrounded by some sort of tan paper with a ribbon around it.
“Oh my god. You got me peonies?”
I shrugged. “They’re your favorite, right?”
“Yeah. I can’t believe you remembered.” She moved over and picked them up, pulling them to her nose and breathing them in. Long dark waves tumbled over her shoulders.