“And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” she says, lifting her arms and then dropping them at the same moment the tree behind us bursts with light.
Everyone’s eyes are glued to its magnificence except for Lolly’s. Hers are locked on Chip, and his are locked on hers. Shaking his head, I watch as he leaves the crowd and walks away.
“Shit,” Lolly mutters under her breath.
“I’ll go,” I offer, catching Claire’s eyes and handing her my crown before I move off the stage and after him.
“Chip, wait up man,” I call as I approach him on the outskirts of the party. “You aren’t heading in? The night’s still young.”
“She’s so fucking infuriating,” he says, turning to face me.
“Who?” I ask, trying not to chuckle.
“Lolly.”
“I don’t know. Claire seems to like her, and I think she’s pretty cool.”
He throws back his head and exhales, causing a white puff of smoke to appear in front of his face.
“You don’t get it. You don’t know what it’s like to have a woman get under your skin like this.” He starts to pace in the street. “She’s maddening the way she walks around the town looking like some type of goddess. She makes me feel insane, and then she had to go and make the exact thing I made and do it better. Because ofcourse she would because she has to be so fucking perfect all of the time.”
“Does she know you love her?”
“What? I don’t love her.”
I shrug. “Kind of sounds like you might.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Impossible. She drives me nuts. I’m just pissed she beat me.”
I chuckle. “Claire drives me nuts sometimes, but it’s part of the reason why I love her so much. She tests me and pushes me like no one else has before.”
“I don’t love Lolly.”
Exhaling, I hesitate before I say the next part because I realize I have to choose my words carefully.
“You know Claire has an opportunity in a different city.”
“What?”
“Yeah, uh…we haven’t said anything to anyone, but I think we might be…uh…moving.”
“Moving?” His mouth falls open.
“Yeah, and for a while I’ve found myself considering notmovingbecause life feels really easy here, and going to this other place would bring back some…um…feelingsI never fully dealt with.” I roll my shoulder and swallow hard.
“Seems like a really weird time to tell me this, Everett.”
“I have a point. I promise.”
He nods.
“The thing is, I realized that even ifmovingmakes me uncomfortable, I’m willing to feel that way if it means Claire will be happy.”
“Well, yeah, because you love her. Everyone knows you’d do anything for her.”
“Exactly, so I say all of this because I think you aren’t actually mad that Lolly beat you. I think you’re freaking out because you’re realizing you’d gladly lose the competition that meant a lot to you, if it meant she was happy.”
He stops moving and stares at me, his eyes blinking like he’s realizing his feelings for her for the first time.
