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“Fuck it—let’s do this!” he blurts suddenly.
My chest starts hammering. “The…the butt stuff?” I ask, half terrified, half trying to be funny.
Nolan starts laughing and some of the tension in the air dissipates. “A relationship,” he says quietly. “I want to be in a relationship with you. Be my girlfriend, Inez.”
W-whoa…
Nolan Brighton asking me to be his girlfriend was not on my bingo card for tonight. Or for this week. Or for this century, even.
Yet, here we are.
I need to sit up for this conversation. “A relationship?”
He sits up, too. Now, he seems a little less sure of himself. “I…yes, I just mean…” He clears his throat, taking my hands in his. “Saying this to you feels crazy. I never thought we’d ever be having this conversation. But the more I think about it, this just feels right. You and me.”
My leg begins to bounce with nerves. “Yeah, I…I wasn’t expecting this…”
He squeezes my hands. “Look—I’m not asking for a commitment you can’t handle. I know that things are sort of up in the air for you. And you’re not exactly sure what you’ll do or where you’ll go next. I know this whole thing between us is probably temporary. But with you, I’ll take whatever I can get. Whatever you’re willing to give me.”
With each word he says, my pulse pounds faster. “What are you saying, Nolan?”
“What I’m saying is this isn’t just about sex for me. While you’re here in Starlight Falls, I want to spend time with you and genuinely get to know you and enjoy you and learn everything about you. I want to help you and protect you and take care of you. I like you, Inez, and I want…I want you. Just you. I want you to be mine.”
Nolan’s heartfelt monologue leaves me speechless. I can’t lie. I’m taken off-guard. I wasn’t prepared for any of this.
But also, I can’t stop smiling. I’m smiling so big it hurts my face. And I’m not thinking about the talent agents or the auditions or the script in my inbox. All of that is so very far from my mind.
In this moment, I’m just thinking about Nolan and me.
“I like you, too,” is all I can say. Because these emotions I’m feeling weigh so heavily on my windpipe.
“So you’ll be my girl?” he asks, his nostrils twitching with restrained excitement.
I bite down on my bottom lip. That doesn’t stop my smile from growing wider and wider and wider. “I’ll be your girl.”
He squeezes me so very tight, kissing my forehead and my cheeks and the tip of my nose. “I’m so fucking happy, Inez.”
“I am, too…” I nuzzle into his neck.
My boyfriend, my boyfriend, my boyfriend. Nolan Brighton is my boyfriend.
His chest rattles with a tiny chuckle. Like he’s got his own little inside joke. No fair.
“What?” I mumble sleepily.
He tenderly strokes the curve of my ass. “Butt stuff to celebrate?”
I bite his nipple. “Go to sleep, you horn dog.”
35
INEZ
Ispent the afternoon with Thalia, helping her pick out a prom dress at Daphne’s boutique. It was so much fun and I loved seeing her come out of her shell a little bit as she tried on the pretty gowns.
She and I have hung out a few times over the past few weeks. She’s more of herself each time we meet up. I know that being in the system can be so hard. It can feel impossible to let go of your defenses. I’m just glad that Thalia seems to feel like she can lean on me, and the Wangs claim they’ve seen a positive change in her lately.
Now, I’m sitting on the couch, mumbling through my audition script and blowing my freshly-painted nails dry. Although I still haven’t even decided whether I’m going to the audition or not, I know the whole episode backward and forward by now. I’ve analyzed and re-analyzed the character's motivations, her background, her quirks.
