“I know it was. I’m sorry. Please tell me.”
“So, Logan and Maggie—I swear, I totally ruined their night—anyway, they took me to an afterparty. We did some shots. Well, I did quite a few shots. And there were a couple of girls there who felt sorry for me.”
My mind is trying to figure out why he wouldn’t want to tell me this.
Wait. “A couple of girls?”
He hangs his head in embarrassment and nods. “Yes. Two. My life was out of control. Eastbrooke was a blur of drinking, girls, and sports. And although my friends were proud of me, I wasn't very proud of myself.” He pauses and looks at me. “You haven’t walked away yet.”
“I’ve done some stupid things too, Aiden. Things I’m not really proud of. So then you just decided to change?”
“Sort of. I went back to my hotel room. By then, I had sobered up and was feeling pretty bad about myself. So I sat out on the balcony, drank the champagne alone—straight out of the bottle—and, as the sun was almost ready to come up, I made a wish on the moon.”
“You what?!”
“Silly, right? You're supposed to wish on shooting stars. But I was tipsy, couldn’t find any, and the moon was just there.”
“What did you wish for?”
“My perfect girl,” he says wistfully, looking out at the moon shimmering above the ocean.
I feel like I just got punched in the gut.
Could he have really wished for me?
Could it be true?
“Um, Aiden, when was your prom?”
“It was May 13th. Friday the 13th. Weird, huh? Having Prom on Friday the 13th like some bad horror movie. But I guess that was the only time they could get the venue. Probably because no one else wanted it then.”
Aiden is speaking. Going on and on about Friday the 13th, but my mind is busy calculating. It was 2:30 when I got in my room the night I made my wish. A three hour time difference would be around 5:30am. Before the sun came up.
Oh. My. God.
“So after that, I didn’t date anyone. Didn’t do anything with anyone. Until you kicked a soccer ball at my head.”
I start to cry.
I can’t help it.
Fate is so, so cruel.
I want to tell him that I wished on the moon too. That he’s my perfect boy.
But I can’t tell him that.
Not when I have to tell him goodbye.
I have to make him believe I’m not it.
That it’s someone else and that she’s still out there waiting for him.
And that’s when I lose it.
I put my face in my hands and start bawling.
Aiden puts his arm around my back. “Why are you crying so hard? Do you hate me? I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you before, but we were . . . And then everything . . . Please stop crying and tell me what you’re thinking.”
I look up at him and say the last thing in the world that I want to say to him. “Because I’m probably not the girl you wished for, Aiden.”
He squints his eyes at me and shakes his head. “Is that because after what I told you, you don’t want to be that girl?”
“No, it’s not because of that.”
“Then what is it?”
“I just don’t think . . .”
He grabs my hand and places my palm on his chest. “Close your eyes. What do you feel?”
I close my eyes, only because it will be easier to finish this without looking at him. “I feel you breathing.”
“Try again,” he says in that voice. The voice that has the power to make me comply.
“I feel your heartbeat.”
“No, what you feel is my heart beating for you. Always. Only. Ever. For you.”
I open my eyes and look at him, shaking my head. “How can you even say that? After everything?”
“Because I can feel it. And I know you feel it too.”
“Love at first sight is just a crazy notion made up by hopeless romantics.”
“There's a lot about us that's crazy, but there’s a lot about us that’s right. You belong with me, Boots.”
“Because I couldn’t be anyone else’s?” I say before I think better of it.
I get the blazing love god smile. “So you do listen to what I say?”
I let out a little chuckle. “Maybe.”
“I always thought Dawson was the reason you were holding back emotionally, but it was him, wasn’t it?”
I nod.
He flips both our wrists over, exposing our fresh tattoos. “Did you know that each leaf on a four-leaf clover has a special meaning?”
I shake my head and let out a big sigh, trying to stop myself from crying.
“The first petal is for faith. You need to have faith in us. The second is for hope. The hope that we can get through whatever life throws at us. The third is for love. And the fourth is for luck. We already know that we’re lucky together.
I notice that he skipped commenting on the love petal.