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He placed a finger over my lips. “Don’t apologize. I just hope you know I would never do anything like that to you. Not ever.”
“I was an idiot for ever thinking otherwise.” I glanced down at the flowers, and my lips spread into a slow smile. “They’re gorgeous.”
He shrugged, a sheepish smile curling the corners of his mouth. “You deserve all the blooms this world has to offer.”
With a contented sigh, I placed my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him to me. “That was so cheesy.”Then I stood on my tiptoes and whispered, “But I liked it,” and pressed my lips to his.
Epilogue
BARRY
“Hereyougo.Havea great day,” I said, handing the customer the order of boxed cookies just as the bell on the door chimed.
I glanced up to see Ella coming toward me and my smile transformed from polite to enamored faster than I could blink. Dressed in a pair of denim cutoffs and a black tank that showed off her tanned skin, she looked good enough to eat, and when she raised her hand in a little wave, butterflies took flight in my chest. Every day with Ella was like the first, and every day was better than the rest. Part of me still couldn’t believe she was mine.
“Hey.” I came around the counter and pulled her in for a kiss. Cupping the sides of her face with my hands, I brushed my lips over hers, savoring every second until she pulled away, cheeks stained a pretty pink as she shyly glanced around us to see if anyone was watching. Lucky for her, Bake and Batter was pretty dead today.
“Do you have to finish up yet?” she asked, biting her lower lip and inadvertently drawing my gaze.
I might never tire of kissing her.
“All done. I was just waiting for you.” I slid an arm around her waist and turned, calling out to Scarlett over my shoulder and letting her know I was leaving.
I’d been working at Bake and Batter for more than a month now, and it was the perfect summer job to earn extra cash for college. Plus, the Reeses were pretty chill, and I got to hang out with my friends while on shift.
On our way to the door, several new customers entered and brushed past us—two of them, people I avoided at one time but didn’t even faze me now. I didn’t so much as blink in JT and Luca’s direction as we left. They were no longer a threat to me or a thorn in my side. In fact, ever since the masquerade ball when I delivered a right hook to Luca’s jaw, they no longer held any power over me. The insults and jokes at my expense suddenly vanished. All anyone could talk about was my new look and the exaggerated story of how I beat Luca up in Ella’s honor and stole his girl. What little remained of their reign had vanished.
The remaining months passed in a whirl. Ella and I went to prom where we danced all night, and no one stole my tux or forced me into a murky pond. On our last day as high schoolers, we walked out of Lakeview Prep hand-in-hand, anticipating our future and sharing it together.
From what I heard, the Royal crew was slowly disbanding as well. Mikey was headed to the Army at the end of summer, Luca to a school across country for baseball, and JT to work for the family business while attending VCU for accounting and finance in the fall. Everyone was going their separate ways.
But not Ella and I. Though she was going to Columbia and I to Princeton, it was only about an hour’s drive, and I’d be damned if I’d work this hard to capture her heart only to let it go.
We stepped out into the midday sun, and I stared up into a cloudless sky, for a moment, wondering how I got here—unafraid, confident, a new man with the girl of my dreams on my arm. Then I glanced down at her and squeezed her hand in mine, a reminder that this was real. Thatwewere real.
“You ready for this?” I asked.
“You swear we won’t get attacked by bears in the middle of the night?” Her almond eyes stared into mine, trusting, and it was the most incredible feeling.
“Swear. I even got bear-safe canisters to store our food.”
Ella and I were headed on a two-day camping trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains where we planned on sleeping under a blanket of stars. And though I may not have a ton of experience camping, research was one thing I was good at. After all, it’s how I got Ella.
She eyed me for a moment as if to determine my sincerity, and once she knew I wasn’t teasing her, she relaxed. The tension in her shoulders slipped away and she smiled. “I brought stuff for smores,andwe get to see an asteroid. What’s it called?” She bounced lightly on her toes, like a kid on Christmas, and I loved that she got so excited about something I loved; it made me fall for her all that much more.
I chuckled. “Asteroid 29 Amphitrite. It will only be seen tonight because it will be at opposition and lit by the sun. We’ll find it in Scorpio.”
“That’s so cool. Think we’ll see a shooting star?”
I shrugged and stared down into her eyes. Ella was my shooting star—every bit as beautiful and bright.
I took in her radiant smile as a warm fuzzy feeling rose inside my chest like smoke. And then it hit me. And I knew with all certainty I loved this girl. I loved her from the first moment she sat next to me in chem lab and asked me to be her partner. And so I answered, “I think we might get lucky.”
After all, shooting stars really weren’t all that rare. And stranger things could happen. Kinda like me and Ella Randalls.
Mom reached out, holding me at arm’s length. “I’ve known this day was coming for a long time now, but I can’t believe you’re graduating.”
Her eyes teared, and I fought the groan tickling the back of my throat. “Mom, you’re not gonna cry again, are you?”
