AllFreeNovel
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“Love you too, babe. Call me tomorrow.”
“Okay, I will.”
There are a few moments of pause where neither of us hangs up or speaks, as if through the silence we’re somehow having a conversation. Our eyes say things our mouths shouldn’t. Words I know neither of us is ready to hear. Because we always agreed this thing we have going would never come between us.
“Night, my Queenie,” I say, just above a whisper, before ending the call.
Nine
Quinn- 23
Eli- 25
Ifinally did it.
It may have taken me a year longer than my best friends, but I graduated. And guess what? I still have no freaking clue what I want to do with my life or this degree in exercise and sport science.
“I’m kinda jealous my parents didn’t rent me a house in the Hamptons when I graduated,” Sloan says from beside me on the patio furniture.
Looking past Ava’s long blonde hair as it whips in the wind, I take in the beautiful view of the ocean. My parents really did outdo themselves.
“Mine are probably just so happy I actually graduated, they couldn’t help themselves.” I laugh.
“Don’t make fun of yourself. It may have taken you longer, but you did it,” my sweet bestie deadpans, and I drag her into a hug.
“I’ve missed you so much, Lo. The city and Long Island haven’t been the same for me and Av since you ditched us for the West Coast.”
“Yeah, no one is here to calm us down, so I’ve been having to keep up with Quinn every weekend… and you know how that goes.” Ava playfully rolls her eyes.
“Okay, miss goes on tinder dates three nights a week.”
She sticks her tongue out at me. “At least I go on dates… how long has it been, Q? You are practically celibate.”
“Whatev—” I start to say, but she interrupts me. “Actually, here comes the problem and the solution as we speak.”
Lo turns to see what Ava is looking at, but I already know. And not just because there is no one else here she could’ve been referring to, but becauseI feel him.
I feel him like you feel a cold winter morning…all the way in my bones.
When Eli told me he was going to be at my graduation, I was honestly shocked. It’s the beginning of his season and I had already prepared myself that he probably wouldn’t be able to make it. But we got lucky, and he plays Boston tomorrow, so he got it approved to meet the team there first thing in the morning.
“What are you ladies hiding up here for?” Eli asks as he sits on the couch beside Ava, right in front of me. All six-foot-four-legendary-perfection with his new sleeve on display, making his arm porn even harder to look away from. I may or may not have rewound Sports Center multiple times to drool over it when he got it this season. It’s all black and shaded ink except for the forearm piece of the tattoo where he has a lion with piercing blue eyes.
Shit, I’m drooling again.
I rub my hand over my mouth just in case, managing to say, “Between the five-course meal and cake, we’re in food comas. It was all so delicious.”
Once the guests who weren’t spending the weekend here left, me and the girls snuck up to the upper patio to relax and gossip with our full bellies and a bottle of tequila.
“It was really damn good… tell me how our parents always manage to out party us. They are down there playing a drinking game as we speak.” Eli shakes his head at their antics.
“They are another breed,” Lo answers. “To all that is sacred, I pray I don’t have to hear Mom and Dad do it again tonight. I’ll sleep on the beach before I have a replay of Mexico.” We all die laughing at the memory of that traumatizing story. My eyes find Eli’s blue-gray ones, my smirk matching his because we also remember what happened earlier that day. When his parents almost walked in on a show of their own.
Shit, now I’m thinking about him being inside of me.
The earthy smell of weed filters through the air, distracting me. “Now that answers where my brother and his friend got off to. Little shit. Isn’t even going to share with the grad, that’s fucked up.”
I grab my phone to text Brayden, letting him know he owes me a graduation present in the form of a joint asap.
