“Okay, what?” Mom and Blair both say in unison.
“I’ll come with you,” I say to Mom and her eyes instantly well. Blair looks over and mouths I love you. It doesn’t make the feeling of nausea at talking to the asshole go away, but it does give me a strange sense of peace every time she speaks those words to me.
“I’ll book us on the six-thirty flight. I’m not sure how long we'll be staying, so pack for a few days, okay?”
A few days—shit. I thought I’d get there, talk to him and fly back the same night.
“Come on, Princess, you can help me pack.”
We get to my room and Blair closes the door before pushing me down onto my bed and straddling my lap. I’d be way more excited about our position if she weren't looking at me like she felt sorry for me.
“I’m proud of you for doing this; I just wanted you to know that,” she says as she pushes me backward and rests her head over my heart.
“You know, I could always come with you if you wanted me to.”
“I love that you offered, but I think I’d rather do this by myself.”
She lets out a long soft sigh and asks if I’m sure. I plaster a fake smile on and tell her absolutely; only it’s a huge fucking lie, because I’ve never been more unsure about anything in my whole goddamn life.
Mom shouts up that the flights are booked and that we need to leave within the next two hours. I figure that gives me ten minutes to pack, and the rest of the time to spend fooling around with the sexy little nerd currently lying on top of me.
“You need to call the guys and tell them the score. You should be at practice in an hour,” Blair announces, and it’s good she did, because it had slipped my mind. Jackson will be pissed; he’s keen as hell to get as many hours banked as possible. I think he’s still secretly hoping we’re going to get signed. Our manager, Sam, seems to think it’s a real possibility, and Jackson has pinned all his hopes on me changing my mind about going to Eastman if we do land a contract. I’ve told him before that college is my priority, and it still is. In fact, the thought is more appealing now than ever before. It will be great to finally leave this place behind.
“I’ll call them in a minute; I have something important to do first.”
She lifts her head from my chest.
“Like what?”
I flip her and pin her underneath me in one quick movement. She looks completely disorientated, and I take the opportunity to carefully remove her glasses, leaning over and placing them on my cabinet beside me. I push my fingers through her long dark messy hair and lower my mouth to hers. Kissing her is like a drug; the more I do it, the more I need to do it. It’s an addiction and I have no intention of kicking the habit. I gently draw her bottom lip into my mouth and suck on it; she has the most amazing lips. They’re tantalizingly soft and full and I love that they always have a hint of her cherry lip balm flavor.
I have to force myself to cut the kissing short; it's awakened all my senses, and if I carry on, I’m not going to be able to stop. Which is kind of a problem, seen as how my mom’s in the other room. She wriggles underneath me, and I’m instantly hard. Her eyes widen when she realizes this and I groan at the prospect of having to get up, pack and leave her here. I place one last quick kiss on her nose then jump up and head into my bathroom. I need to throw some cold water on myself and get myself sorted. I peer out of the door and can see that Blair’s still rested on my bed with her hair draped across my pillows. Yeah, going to need lots and lots of cold water.
I’M SITTING IN my car outside Emily’s house. I’ve only been here once since she died, and it felt so wrong to be surrounded by all of her things, and not have her there. I’ve made excuses to avoid visiting with Pam and Bill, but I know it’s not fair of me. I promised Em that I would still come and see her parents, especially her mom. The conversation we had about it is one I’ll never forget.
“So I need to ask you a favor. I’m really hoping that you will agree to this because it’s probably one of the most important things I’ll ever ask you to do,” Em tells me as she sets her pumpkin-flavored coffee on the dark wood table of the café and leans back into the huge tan leather sofa we’re both lounged on.
“Okay, sounds ominous,” I say taking a sip of my hot chocolate and hugging it tight to my chest. “Shoot.”