AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gemma giggles. “No way, I couldn’t.”
“Yes way, you can. You’re the guest of the evening. Might as well get a good night’s rest.”
She shakes her head, and I’m sure I won’t be able to convince her to trade with me, but I try anyway.
“I’m perfectly fine. I’ve passed out after too many drinks on this couch more times than I can count. I sink into it just like a cloud.” She lies back and shows me.
“Have you always been this stubborn?” I ask firmly, but I’m grinning at how cute she looks.
“Ever since I was a teen,” she throws back.
When our eyes meet for a moment, many unspoken words stream between us. I imagine walking over to her and sliding my lips against hers, tasting her tongue and the leftover margarita. I want to tell her how goddamn beautiful and perfect she is as I swoop my arms under her body and carry her to my bed. I’d slowly undress her, making sure to take in every smooth inch of her. I’d feather kisses along the softness of her skin and—
Fuck. Before I completely lose myself, I shake my head and push those thoughts away.
“What?” Her question pulls me from the fantasy of it all.
“Nothing. Just exhausted.”
She sits up. “Liar! Now you have to tell me.”
I grab my bottle of water off the coffee table. “I don’t think so. That’s a trap just waiting to happen.”
She snorts. “A trap? Okay, maybe I don’t want to know, but it was something.”
Gemma carefully watches me, and I lift an eyebrow at her. “It was something, but I’ll keep it to myself. I am a gentleman, after all.”
I walk closer, adjust the blanket over her body, then brush a loose strand of hair from her face before placing a kiss on her forehead.
“Good night, Gemma. My bed’s waiting for you if you change your mind,” I say.
She swallows hard with wide eyes.
“No. Shit. That totally came out wrong. I mean, if you want to trade.” I nervously laugh, and she does too, but I also notice the blush on her cheeks. “Okay, good night!”
I walk to my room, replaying my own stupidity. Apparently, I forget to think straight around her, and I’m afraid one of these days it’s really going to catch up to me
Chapter Sixteen
TYLER
I hardly sleep, tossing and turning all night as images of Gemma’s tears burn in my mind. Hanging out and watching a movie with her after Everleigh went to bed was probably a bad idea, but I don’t regret it. I hated seeing her so upset, and it makes me want to track Robert down and speak to him with my fists. If spending two hours with her was enough to put her in a better mood, then I’d do it all over again. Hearing her laughter and seeing her smile was worth the awkward tension.
At five a.m., I give up trying to sleep and can’t stop thinking about one of the letters she sent me. She was sixteen and obsessing over romantic comedies.
* * *
Dear Tyler,
Do y’all get to watch movies over there? If so, you NEED to see 13 Going on 30 with Jennifer Garner. It’s my absolute new favorite movie, and if I don’t fall in love the way she does, then I don’t ever want to. Just kidding (kinda!).
But seriously! Jenna’s best friend, Matty, is basically in love with her, and while she’s having this horrible middle school party, she starts wishing she was thirty instead of thirteen. Matty builds her a dollhouse and sprinkles it with “magic dust.” As she’s wishing to be 30, the dust goes everywhere, and her wish comes true. When she wakes up the next day, she realizes her wish was granted. The kicker is she doesn’t remember any part of her life since the party and has to go through the next several weeks trying to figure it out. She grew up as one of the catty popular girls and ditches Matty basically. And since she doesn’t know anything about her adult life, she has to catch up and ends up finding him. She doesn’t realize they stopped being friends and guess what? HE’S ENGAGED! (I legit screamed!!!)
They rekindle their friendship while she’s discovering who she is and doesn’t like the person she’s become. At the end, he’s about to walk down the aisle and returns the dollhouse he made for her. She leaves in tears (and at this point, I’m SOBBING) and closes her eyes to make another wish, and the magic dust on the dollhouse blows in the wind. Then, she’s 13 again and kisses Matty! She gets a redo, and it ends in a big fat happily ever after!
I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s seriously the best, and I’ve put it on repeat. Then Everleigh and I decided to have a girls’ night, and we chose A Walk to Remember. Though we bet each other we wouldn’t, we cried through the second half.
