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I gape at him, my mouth hanging open. “What?”
“Well, after I saw you in the ER and then in the café, all the feelings from high school came flooding back, and I knew I wanted to ask you out. To get to know you as an adult. But I didn’t think I could get you to trust me again so easily after what happened in high school. And then the news about our ‘relationship’ came out and it all sort of fell into place…”
“You made up the whole thing?”
The tips of his ears burn red. “Well, yes. My PR people didn’t think we should pretend to date. In fact, I don’t really have any PR people.”
All the pieces of the puzzle from the last weeks fall into place. How Jordan interacted with me, all surly and resentful. It’s because he wasn’t the one pulling the strings and making us pretend to be a couple. He probably thought this whole thing had disaster written all over it!
“How did you think this was going to end?”
He moves me closer. “Like this. Getting to know you now and learning that you’re even more amazing than you were in high school.”
I reward his honesty with a long, lingering kiss, which takes on a life of its own.
“Wait,” I say, a little breathlessly as our lips finally part, “do you think lying to me to get me to trust you was a good idea?”
“If it worked, convincing you to be my girlfriend for real? Then hell-yeah!” His laugh is infectious and we both chuckle together, a euphoric sound filled with joy.
“So, you’re my boyfriend for real?” My insides jiggle with glee at the mere thought of it.
His gaze turns serious. “It would be my honour to be your boyfriend, Natalie.”
I smile up at him. “Then it’s sorted. We’re in a relationship for real.”
We hold each other close and sway in time to the music, and I’m lost in the magic of this moment. The magic of finding the one thing I’ve been looking for, knowing that now I’ve found it with Matthew, I’m never letting it go.
“Oh, and Matthew?”
He looks at me with that special smile of his, and my knees knock together.
“If I’m to believe you, that you ‘noticed’ me in high school, and that day in the hall wasn’t the first time you’d laid eyes on me, why did you call me ‘New Girl’?”
He runs his hands over my hair, letting them land on my shoulders, which he squeezes gently. “That, New Girl, is a story for another day…”
EPILOGUE
Matthew
12 months later
My bow tie is too small.
Is that even a thing? Do bow ties have sizes? Is my neck too big?
Whatever the case, I’m being strangled by a piece of clothing that Natalie insisted I wear on our special day. I think her request for me to wear a tuxedo today was more like an order, but what my girl wants, my girl gets.
“Are you ready for this?”
My best friend Ryan gives me an anxious look and I know I must look like I’m panicking from the outside, what with all the tugging on my collar like I’m drowning. Still, he should know that I’ve been waiting for the day to make Natalie my wife for a long time now.
“Of course,” I whisper back. We’re both standing in front of a small group of close family and friends anticipating the moment the doors of this quaint but elegant chapel will open and reveal my bride to me.
Jordan, my longtime manager, had pushed for us to have a large, ‘celebrity’ wedding, complete with a magazine spread and a spot on the entertainment segment of the nightly news, but when just the thought of it turned Natalie’s face a vibrant shade of green, I instantly vetoed the idea. This small, intimate wedding is much more our speed, anyway.
“I can’t believe you’re actually marrying Natalie Henderson.” Ryan, along with the rest of the male student body, had fancied Natalie in high school, a fact she refuses to believe even to this day. She just doesn’t see, not now, not then, how incredibly beautiful and magnetic she is. Back when we were teenagers, she’d float through the halls, lost in a book or her thoughts and she’d never see the heads turning to follow her progress. We used to talk about her in the locker room, always in a respectful way because she demanded that even from teenage boys. But none of us knew how to approach her, how to break through that shell of unattainability.
And then it happened. My beloved grandmother died and gave me a way into the heart of this woman. Most people didn’t know it, but despite having two very loving parents at home, along with a younger brother who adored me, my grandmother was my favourite person in the world. She lived with us my entire life, and it was with her that I had all the meaningful, life-altering conversations. My nanna was the one who watched old World Cup soccer matches with me, pointing out which player was the most attractive while I studied the way they moved, the way they played. She taught me about life and love, how to treat women, and how to navigate the world in a confident, yet respectful way.
