I bite back a smile as he grabs my hand, pulling me closer to him.
“We can’t toast yet,” I say. “I haven’t hit a million followers.”
He grins wide. “But you will. It’s gonna happen. Tonight.”
The crowd in Nick’s house cheers and raises their drinks.
“Yes! We’re minutes away from you hitting one million,” Anna says. “I can feel it!”
Everyone cheers in agreement. My face heats as I grin even wider. I glance over at the white sheet covering the entire wall of the living room, which is projecting the image on my laptop.
It’s a live count of the followers I have on my YouTube channel. I’m currently at 999,995 subscribers.So closeto one million.
My tummy dips as nerves fire off inside of me. Nick leans down and kisses my cheek.
“I can’t believe you organized all this,” I say to him. “You didn’t have to go through all this trouble.”
He winks at me. “I want to celebrate just how amazing and brilliant my girlfriend is.”
My heart flutters in my chest. I gaze around Nick’s crowded house. There must be fifty people in here.
Ever since I decided to put off law school to focus on my channel over the past few months, my viewership has exploded. And I started gaining subscribers like crazy.
When Nick saw how close I was the other day, he threw together a party for me to celebrate the exact moment I hit one million followers. He invited so many people. Anna, all my friends, everyone at the Writing Center. Even his teammates are all here to help me celebrate me.
Nick’s family’s here too. I glance over at his parents, who are hanging out in the kitchen with Ryker and Madeline. I smile when I see Ryker pour ginger ale in a champagne flute for Madeline before gently patting her belly. She’s just a couple of months away from giving birth, and she has the cutest baby bump.
Emotion bubbles up inside of me. I grab Nick’s T-shirt and pull him down to me and kiss him hard.
“This is the most thoughtful thing anyone’s ever done for me,” I say quietly.
His bourbon-brown eyes shine with emotion. “I’d do anything in the world for you, hot tutor.”
My chest squeezes. I can’t believe this is my life. I have a job I love and get to attend a great college. I have amazing friends. I’m on good terms with my parents, and they actually support me pursuing my passion.
And I have the most loving, supportive boyfriend in the world.
As I gaze up at Nick, I’m overwhelmed with my feelings for him. I know we’re going to end up together forever. Yeah, we’re young. We’re a long way from marriage. We’ve talked about it, but we agreed to wait until after college to start talking about getting engaged. I want to focus on my career, and Nick wants to focus on hockey.
But what I feel for him is embedded in my heart. Whether we’re dating, engaged, or married, I’ll be in love with Nick St. George forever.
“Your parents are on their way, right?” Nick asks.
I nod, heartened that he thought to invite them tonight, too. Despite how rocky things were with my dad at first, he genuinely likes Nick now. So does my mom. Every time we hang out with them, they see just how kind and loving he is with me. They’ve even attended a couple Hollis U games to watch him play.
I walk over to the table where all the drinks are set up against the far wall. I’m in the middle of topping off my drink when I see Anna walk out of the bathroom. She bumps into Travis, who’s standing just a few feet away.
I brace myself for them to bicker, but to my surprise, they both just stare at each other. Anna’s eyes widen slightly, and her cheeks are flushed, like she’s surprised to see Travis. Or maybe a little nervous?
Travis’s normally stern expression is dialed back to something unreadable. He still looks serious, just…not as annoyed. Which is weird because he’s always annoyed around Anna.
They hold eye contact for a moment before he walks off. Anna lets out a breath, then heads into the kitchen. Huh. I wonder what’s going on with those two.
I start to head into the kitchen to ask her, but I only take a few steps before my phone buzzes. I look and see a message from the group text I’m in with my old LSAT study group.
Hey, did you guys hear the news about Brody?
I quickly text back.
