Page 67 of Finding My Forever

“That’s all I can ask.” She turned and leaned back against the headboard, bringing her food with her. She turned on the TV and selected a movie for us to watch without asking. A superhero movie with a hot guy and no romance. Perfect.

Chapter 19

School was even more painful than a typical Monday. Katie asked about New York when she saw me in the morning, but after I said it was good, she changed the subject and never brought it up again.

We’d been friends for four years, but I felt like I was finally seeing her. She was so single-minded and only raddled on about cheer. Maybe I’d been focused so much on myself that I hadn’t noticed before.

Sophia and I had texted over the weekend, and I sent her a message at lunch asking if her day was sucking as much as mine. She hadn’t responded, so I took it as a no.

My parents asked everyone to come over last night for family dinner so I could share all of my stories at once. I couldn’t tell who had been shocked the most about the necklace changing, Mom, Grandma, or Elise. Surprisingly, they were all a lot more supportive than I expected.

After dinner when I’d been hiding in my room, Elise came in and we talked more about what happened. She told me about Dallin leaving and how she only had days left before it was too late. She knew exactly how I felt, and even though she couldn’t do anything to help, it felt good to know I wasn’t alone.

Sixth period was dragging on. One minute felt like a full hour. I wanted to go straight home and hide in my bedroom after school, but I had an hour of cheer then a shift at the store. No pity party for me.

I was going through the motions during practice. Katie was nice about it for the first twenty minutes before yelling at me to snap out of it. She watched me like a hawk after that, and I was forced to pull myself together and focus. It might have only been for her benefit at first, but when I was changing back into normal clothes, I realized I hadn’t thought about Liam for forty whole minutes.

But I didn’t want to forget him or move on. I wanted us to work out. I wanted us to be in love.

Skylar was waiting for me in the backroom when I walked in.

“You and I are on orders. Your mom said she’ll handle the front.”

I nodded and pulled my apron over my head.

“She told me what happened, April.”

I cringed. She was next. The necklace was hers after me. She had to hate me right now.

“I’m so sorry, Sky. I swear I tried, but he…”

She threw her arms around me, shutting me up.

“April! Don’t you dare think about me right now! Your heart is broken.”

I didn’t know what to say so I put my arms around her and held onto my cousin, so grateful that I didn’t have to explain what happened to her.

She pulled back and leveled me with her gaze. “I mean it. Don’t think about me right now. We have three weeks to convince Liam he’s being an idiot.”

I wanted to laugh, I really did, but there was no energy left in me.

“I think I found his Mypage account. I just need you to confirm it’s him.”

“Um…why?”

She grabbed an order from the desk and handed it to me before grabbing one for herself.

“So, I can tell him how dumb he is for letting you walk away.”

I shook my head and walked to the fridge to grab the roses for the order. Of course. I was making an anniversary bouquet while nursing a broken heart. I went back to my table, working mindlessly on the arrangement.

Sky reached across her table and tapped mine. “Hello? Is this him?”

She was holding up her phone when I looked up and I instantly felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I wanted to lie but she could see it on my face.

“He’s hot.”

I smiled for a brief moment. “Yeah.”