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“Cameron gave me mine yesterday. They’re beautiful, huh? We should get Aimee a pink one.”
A sadness washed over Holly’s expression, and he was sure he could guess what had made her change. “Already done,” Eric said, “but I think I’ll let Justin give it to her. They matched, so it will be perfect. Maybe the two of them might have something soon.”
Holly raised an eyebrow. “You’re right. They did seem to get along. Let’s just be careful. If she asks who bought them all—”
“I’ll say it was me, because that is the truth. I bought them all at the same time.”
Diane stopped at a red light and glared at Cameron. “Wait—so you didn’t pick mine out? You said—”
“I said I’d like to give you something that made me think of you.”
Cameron turned to him with murder in his eyes, making Eric laugh. “I just didn’t want anyone to feel left out,” Eric said with a shrug. “I was happy to get them, and I was happy for Cameron to be the one to give it to you. I’m sure he would’ve picked it out if he’d seen it first.”
“Next time, just tell me the truth,” Diane mumbled under her breath.
It was somewhat reassuring that someone else was having relationship problems. He untangled Holly’s necklace from the box, and she turned so he could put it on for her. Once it was in place, she held it in her fingers. “It’s beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful. It fits in perfectly.”
She laughed and leaned against his chest again. “Okay, now resume playing with your girlfriend’s hair.”
He laughed and his heart lifted. Girlfriend. It had the perfect ring to it.
13
Holly
Holly couldn’t remember a time when she’d been happier. Four solid days of being with Eric all day, and she wasn’t tired of him. And luckily—happily—he didn’t seem sick of her either.
A few times, he and Cameron went for runs or she and Diane went to the mall for a girls’ trip, but every meal and every other activity was spent together. Instead of going out, they lounged around in the big bonus room upstairs and watched movies, played games, or just talked.
At times, it felt too perfect. Holly’s life, up until then, had been a series of unfortunate events. If she lived in ancient Victorian times, she would have no parents, no dowry, nothing to offer in a relationship. But this was modern times, and people started from scratch all the time and made something of themselves.
Eric reassured her of his feelings several times, even when Aimee continued to ask for pictures from the group, always questioning why she hadn’t been invited. Right then, Holly felt as if she was in a relationship cocoon with Eric, protected from any daily-grind tasks, classes, or jealous-girl outliers.
When they returned to school, things would be different, and Holly wanted to hold onto their time together as long as she could.
At that moment, she was curled up in Eric’s arms as he snoozed, long after their movie had ended. Diane and Cameron had gone out for a walk, and her parents were at work. It was the most peace she’d felt in a long time.
She snuggled against him, resting her scarred cheek against his, and closed her eyes. It thrilled her that he didn’t even flinch.
“Everything okay?” he murmured when she gave a happy sigh.
So, he wasn’t asleep.
“Mmm-hmm,” she murmured, burying her face in his T-shirt, taking in all of his scents. The laundry soap her family had lent him to wash his clothes after the four of them had taken a hike, his aftershave. Even the salty smell of popcorn still lingering on his lips. It was heaven if there ever was one.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“About everything. How things will be different when we leave tomorrow. How Aimee will react when she finds out, how life will be crazier once I get a job and have a heavier workload.”
“You’ve got a lot going on in that mind. I, instead, like to take things day to day.” He laughed and held her close. “Like today. Today is awesome.”
She poked his side for making light of the serious situations in her head. “But what are we going to do? I especially don’t want to hurt Aimee.”
He played with her hair and hummed as he thought. “Well, we’ll take things slow. Ease into it. Cameron and Diane are on board with keeping things quiet for a while. Once Aimee’s had a chance to see us all hang out together, she’ll figure it out.”
“I think taking it slow would be best too. No rubbing it in her face, and no PDA.”
