I nod. “Mila and I had a moment.”
He goes still.
“Good moment?”
“Very good moment.”
A beat.
“What did she say?”
I look at him.
He looks worried. The Mila question has been a wire in his chest for two weeks. He’s only mentioned once before that he deserves how much she hates him. I disagreed, but he insisted, and we haven’t brought it up since. He’s been letting it sit. Andhe’s been carrying the small possibility that she would never come around.
“She said she was wrong about you.”
He stops moving.
“Mila said that.”
“She did.”
“Mila?”
“Yeah.”
He exhales. His shoulders drop. He reaches out and cups the side of my face with his hand.
“That means a lot.”
“Yeah.”
He kisses my forehead and puts his arm around my shoulders.
“Come on. Let’s get out of the cold.”
We walk to his truck. He puts my hand in his pocket while we walk. He opens my door for me. I get in. He goes around. He gets in. He puts the truck in drive. We drive home.
On Friday, we go to a movie.
A bad one. The new Marvel thing that Stanley wanted to see, and Stanley dragged Walker and Drew with him, and the four of us — me, Blue, Lucy, Benson — went along for the comedy of watching Stanley watch a movie. Stanley yelled at the screen three times. The theater told him to be quiet twice. He was unrepentant. Lucy held Benson’s hand in the dark theater, and Blue held my hand the entire time. We got pizza after. Stanley paid for everything because Stanley says that he’s rich and can afford it.
On Saturday, we sleep in until nine. Blue makes me coffee in my own kitchen at nine-thirty in his sweats. I sit at the island in his hoodie with my hair in a knot, and Penelope joins us at ten in her own pajamas. The three of us are in the kitchen with our coffees, and nobody is saying anything. The radio is on low. Outside, it’s starting to snow.
I look out the window at the snow falling, and then I look at Penelope.
“Wanna watch the snow fall?”
She nods, so we walk over to the couch, sit, and stare out the window. Blue sits next to me with his coffee. I lean against him and watch the snow.
That night, we’re in my bedroom. We’re just lying next to each other, and I’m on his chest. I stare at the puck on my nightstand.
I think about what Mila said –– if someone told her that Blue would be my boyfriend, she wouldn’t believe it.
And I smile because I’m on his chest.
I was the girl who waited for a miracle. I prayed for him. I took a chance on him before he was ready, and I literally transferred to Camden U because he was here.
And the waiting is done.
I got my man.
