I walked to the ledge and held my hand out, hoping to move her from the window. What if she fell out? “We’re legally adults now.”
“Don’t make me regret that cupcake.” Hope rolled her eyes at me.
“I know what you mean. We’ll be old people.” I had to start at the bottom of the organization at my family insurance firm and learn all the jobs, but eventually, people were going to call me Mr. Jones. I was not ready for it.
Hope grabbed on to my hand and let me pull her to her feet. “Neither of us are going far. I’ll still see you every day.”
“Every day?” I asked with a raised brow. I’d love that, but I didn’t know if it would actually happen. Not if we were both working. Eventually, we’d slowly drift apart as our lives grew busy.
One day, Hope would get a boyfriend or worse, married. And it wouldn’t be to me.
“Yeah, every day,” she said. “Who else will buy me cupcakes from the bakery?”
I spun her around so we could watch the end of the fountain’s show.
If I didn’t speak up soon, someone else might become the one buying cupcakes for Hope. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to share what I thought of her before we left Vegas. If we returned to school, I’d never get the courage to be honest with her.
Here we weren’t just best friends but two people in Vegas celebrating New Year’s Eve. I never told Hope I wanted more with her because I didn’t want to risk losing the friendship, but now the thought that we’d move on to the next phase of our lives without her knowing sounded like a worse fate.
The fountain show finished and Hope pulled her hair back, looped it at the back of her head, and clipped it into place.
One way or another, I’d tell her before we left Vegas. I had to give it a shot. I’d regret it forever if I let her slip through my fingers. Too many years had already passed with me scared to ruin the friendship if she didn’t feel the same.
“Hope,” I said, and she turned from the window.
“We should go outside and watch the next show closer. I want to hear the music.”
I smiled. Of course, she wanted to get closer. So Hope. “Okay, I think there’s a few minutes between songs, so we can get down there if we leave now.”
We walked to the elevator, and I hit the button as we chatted about what we planned to do in Vegas. With such a short lead time to get here, I hadn’t bought tickets for a show. With it so close to New Year’s, I didn’t expect any seats to be available, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t stay entertained.
The elevator stopped at our floor, and the doors opened. A couple pulled away from each other in shock.
“Oh, hey dude,” the man said as the woman he’d been kissing hid behind him and laughed.
I nodded at him and pulled Hope closer to me. It was Vegas. What did we expect? Hope gave me a silent laugh as she stood on the other side of me and the elevator door closed, locking us in with them.
The other man met my gaze for a split second. “Don’t mind us.” He turned and trapped the woman with him in the elevator’s corner. She wrapped her leg around his waist and moaned.
Hope pulled on the sleeve of my shirt. When I turned to her, she darted her eyes in the couple’s direction. I shrugged and tugged on a piece of her hair.
That could be us.
I just had to tell her the truth.
The doors opened a few awkward moments later, and the noise from the gambling floor bombarded us as we stepped off the elevator.
“Wow, I forgot how noisy it is down here,” Hope said.
She’d commented on the ruckus when we checked into the casino hotel, but our room was quiet. It gave the place a false sense of calm.
“Do you want to do a little gambling?” I asked.
Hope shook her head. “No, you know I suck at cards.”
“We could try the slots. No skill needed.”
Hope hesitated in front of the gambling floor. “I don’t really have the funds for slots.”
