“Yes. I... enough.”
Maybe this is not the right moment to talk about it.
Nova doesn’t answer—she just hides her face in my AC/DC shirt. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her closer. Resting my chin on her head, I begin to sway gently, with her still standing on my Converse. Holding her like this brings back every single moment of the Winter Ball and the night of my birthday. I remember her scent, the soft pastel yellow of her sheets, the way she laughed when my touch tickled the inside ofher thigh, the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling, the warmth of her skin, the melody playing from her phone, the look in her eyes when I intertwined our fingers above her head—her. I remember her.
I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s in my mind, in my bones, like a disease that won’t let me go.
“What was the plan?” I finally ask, pressing a kiss into her hair.
“Finn Wilson came to see you play,” she blurts.
A boulder drops in my chest. “Why would you do that?”
“Sam and I thought—”
I pull back just enough to look at her, though she still balances on my shoes. “You know I don’t like him. I’d never work with him. Sam hates him. How could you think I’d betray him like that?”
“It was Sam’s idea,” she protests, voice breaking.
“You should’ve told me first.”
Something inside her snaps. She shoves back, putting space between us. “Told you? Like you talked to me before you got on that plane and disappeared for years? I did thisfor you!I thought—I thought...”
“What did you think?” My voice shakes.
“I don’t know!” She won’t meet my eyes. “It was stupid, though, The stupidest idea I’ve ever had. I need to go findmy boyfriend.” She spins away, heading toward the bar. Not to Steven, though. She gravitates to Maggie, who wraps an arm around her shoulders like a shield.
When I see her and Maggie, it’s like watching a mother taking care of her daughter. It’s as if there’s an invisible string tied between their pinkies. If anyone dared to hurt one, the other would lose her mind. They’re so fiercely protective of each other. Maggie seems like the big sister Nova always needed but never got to have. She had to be the older one, carrying all theresponsibility. And even though she loves her little brother more than she loves herself, I know Maggie’s giving her what she’s always wanted: a bit of lightness, the freedom to be carefree, to just be Nova. And it makes me so happy. She deserves that.
Nova ignores me the rest of the night, and I still don’t get why she keeps dodging Steven’s eyes when Sam pulls Maggie onto the dance floor after blastingGenie in a Bottleby Christina Aguilera, leaving her stuck with her boyfriend.
All I know is, I fucked up. Again.
CHPTER TWENTY-SIX
Nova Marshall
PAST (2017)
"One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting
down with a guitar or a piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a song happen."
Paul McCartney
––––––––
The big day has arrived: Vincent’s coming home. He texted me a few minutes ago to let me know that he and his father are stuck in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge, but they’ll be here soon.
I’m sitting on the front porch steps of my house, facing his house, just as I was six years ago when we first met. Only this time, it’s not my father keeping me company, but Steven.
We’ve spent the whole summer together. Most of the time we went to the movies or stayed in his family’s bakery kitchen, where he baked cakes and let me taste them.
In May, a new Stephen King book was published, so he and Aurora started a little book club that I joined just to spend timewith them. I read the whole book, forcing myself to put my phone away and concentrate.
I’ll admit—having Steven sitting next to me, reading the same book, motivated me to keep going. I actually enjoyed it, even though horror has never been my thing.
The first books I ever read wereThe Chronicles of Narnia, followed by the entirePercy Jacksonsaga—mostly because, when she was a teenager, Vincent’s aunt named Chris and Daniel’s dog Percy after the main character in that series.
