I can feel my heart racing as soon as the words leave her mouth.Everything. Why does everything he pretends to say make my heart swell? I can feel the tears prickling at my eyes, but I blink them back and turn to him.
“He said that?” I ask Clara while still looking at him.
I can’t tear my eyes away from him. He looks at me passionately, as if we’re suddenly existing outside of time. As if there is no one else in this room but us.
“I did,” he murmurs.
*
When Miles takes me home, we wait in the car when we're parked outside my apartment. I don't feel like going in just yet and I don't know why. I know my girls are going to be waiting for me, ready to pester me with questions the second I get in there.
Instead, I turn to Miles in the car.
He's taken off his jumper and he's in a short-sleeved black top, his curly hair falling wildly on his forehead as he taps rhythmically onto the steering wheel, letting us sit in comfortable silence.
"You're getting to good at this," I say, the words falling out of my mouth almost accidently.
"At what?" he asks, slowly turning to me.
"The whole boyfriend thing," I say, "Why is it that you weren't dating anyone? Isn't it supposed to be in your culture?"
He laughs, running a hand through his hair before pinning me with a look. "I've had one serious relationship: Emily. But you know about her. We just didn't work out. We had different goals and we weren't committed to make time for each other."
I nod, chewing on my bottom lip. "But it's different with me?"
"Yes, Wren. It's different with you."
My heart trips over itself. "Because we're fake dating?"
He shrugs. "Sure."
"Do you think-" I begin but he cuts me off.
"I had a good time today," he begins and I smile. "I know my family are a bit much to deal with but you made it bearable. Better."
I don't follow up what I was going to say. Because whatwasI going to say? I've had a good day with a nice boy who turns out to be more than what he lets on. That's the only reason why I feel like I want to stay in the car and sing christmas songs with him forever.
"I had a good time too," I say, breaking eye contact with him as I glance up a the apartment blocks. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."
"Tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that and the-"
"Don't make me regret taking this vacation, Milesy," I reply, cutting of his rambling.
"I would never compromise having so much alone time with you," he replies with that smug smile of his and I slip out of the car.
CHAPTER 28
WREN
Deciding to host Friendsmas is probably the best decision I’ve made all year. Even when we all lived at home, we always spent Christmas day together. After spending the morning with our family opening presents, we’d go all go over to Gigi’s house and eat as much shit we could.
The holidays have been hard for Ken because her mom and sister still live in South Carolina while we’re here in Utah. It’s too expensive for her to fly out and too far for her to drive, so last Christmas it was just us three. I always call my parents on Christmas Day but to them, it’s seen as a day off work for my mom more than anything special. I had a long call with my dad, wishing me and my girls a merry christmas, as well as sending me a new pair of skates. My mom's 'merry christmas' came in the form of a four foot bouquet with a generic and impersonal card.
I asked Gigi to come over too but as soon as she heard that Miles and his friends would be here, she declined.
We decided to do Secret Santa which wasn’t very secret since there’s only three of us. It didn’t take long for us to guess who had who, but we still act like we don’t know. We sit down on the living room floor, all in our Christmas pyjamas which we intend on wearing all day, each with a present in front of us.
“Okay, I wonder who had me,” Kennedy starts with an eye roll, shaking the box in front of her. I look over at Scarlett who’s beaming. She opens the box and pulls out two hardback books. “Oh my God! Shut the fuck up. Who had me?”
