Bookworm

Prologue

7years ago…

Last Danceby Donna Summer crooned in our ears as Adam held me close and swayed with me on the dance floor at my dad’s wedding.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever been happier. It had taken me a while to settle into that feeling. The feeling that I was secure. That I knew who I was. That I could be me and not some rebellious version of myself trying to prove a point by being someone I wasn’t.

I was Harper Meyer.

Booklover. Introvert. Semi-punk girl who loved changing my hair color as often as my nail color. Kind of a weirdo, but of the best variety. I wasn’t always great at focusing on my studies, but when it was time to choose a book I loved? I could devour that thing in a matter of hours.

Adam was my opposite in almost every way—extroverted, sporty, popular, academic. He was on track to start Dartmouth in the fall while I couldn’t decide what college to go to… and thus, I decided to take a gap year.

In fact, I wasn’t sure Adam and I had anything in common other than the fact that we both loved reading… and each other.

That, and we both hated Adam’s father.

Okay, okay, I know how that sounds and trust me, I don’t say that lightly. But that guy is the biggest dickwad.

A couple years ago, he tried to hit on my dad’s girlfriend—well, now wife—and he literally started a fistfight with my dad on our front lawn. Then proceeded to say that I was the equivalent to trailer trash and that both his son and Addy deserved better.

See? Dickwad.

I didn’t hate many people, but I hated him.

But I loved Adam and at the end of the day, that pile of human crap was still his dad. So I swallowed down those contemptuous feelings and bit my tongue like any good girlfriend would do when I had no choice but to be around Mr. Stone.

“I wish I didn’t have to go home tonight,” Adam whispered, swaying with me to the music.

I glanced around the dance floor at everyone who’s played a huge role in our lives this far.

Dad held Addy in his arms as they kept rhythm with the music. Even though her hair had fallen out of its updo and her dress had a tear in the hem, she still looked as radiant and gorgeous as she had hours ago walking down the aisle.

Her friends Haylee and Enzo danced with their partners nearby. Linda, Addy’s mom, sat off on the side, sipping a coffee and tapping her foot to the beat.

We were completely and utterly surrounded by people we loved.

“Maybe you don’t,” I whispered.

Adam’s brows lifted. “What’s that, now?”

“Well… Addy and Dad are spending the rest of the weekend at the Maple Grove Inn. Now that I’m eighteen, I convinced them to let me stay home alone for the weekend.”

Adam’s eyes brightened at that and he raked his hand nervously through his dark curls. “Are you saying, um, that… you want… company?”

I smiled up at my boyfriend of two years. Though we’d been inseparable basically since the moment I moved here to Maple Grove, he and I had never taken that next big step. We’d done… stuff. But I was still a virgin. Technically.

“I’m saying, I want you to spend the night,” I whispered. “Do you think you could convince your Dad that you’re staying at a friend’s house tonight?”

I was finally ready. I loved him. And even though he was going off to college and I still didn’t know what I was going to do for the better part of the year, no matter what happened between us, there was no doubt in my mind that Adam was who I wanted to take this next step with.

There was no one else more loving or special to me that I could imagine losing my virginity to. Even if we broke up tomorrow.

With the spark still in his eyes, Adam lowered his mouth to mine, brushing a chaste kiss to my lips as the music switched from slow to fast.

I groaned with the light peck he gave me, craving more. Even though I knew that with my parents around he couldn’t kiss me like he wanted to.

“My dad doesn’t care what I do or where I sleep at night,” he said.

It wasn’t a sentiment that should make me smile, but it did. Just this once, his dad’s level of assholedom would work to our benefit.

“Dad arranged it so that Haylee is going to drive by the house and check for cars in the driveway and noise and stuff.” He didn’t know I’d overheard him asking her for that favor. “So as long as you don’t park near the house?—”

“I can leave my car at Marco’s and walk over through your backyard,” he said, eagerly.

Again, my grin widened. “I’ll be waiting at the backdoor for you at midnight.”

“Do you feel any different?” Adam asked after we had finished.

I layed on top of him, my cheek pressed into the firm lines of his chest as he ran his fingertips gently up and down my bare back.

I shook my head. “No… not really. Do you?”

He pressed his lips to my forehead and I felt him shake his head no. “I’m just so glad it was you,” he whispered.

I knew what he meant. Adam was my person. My best friend. We’d been through so much together and I wanted to go through this with him. And only him.

I didn’t know if we’d be together forever or whatever, but I knew I wanted and trusted him to be my first.

Beneath me, his stomach growled and not for the first time. I giggled and pushed up to look at him. “Are you seriously hungry again? You had two slices of cake!” Not to mention filet mignon and scalloped potatoes and caesar salad and tons of apps during cocktail hour.

His face turned pink, but he shrugged casually. “I can always eat.”

Chuckling, I stood up and grabbed my robe off the back of my bedroom door. “We have some frozen chicken nuggets and fries I can toss in the airfryer.”

He tossed away my covers and went to stand up as two headlights turned down our street, lighting up my window. I dove for Adam, knocking him back down on the bed. “No! Stay here and out of the windows!” I giggled. “It’s too risky if Haylee drives by!”

“Do you seriously think she’s going to drive by every hour all night? It’s like 1:30 in the morning.”

Honestly, I doubted it. But I didn’t want to take any chances either. Technically I was eighteen and I was pretty sure Addy could talk some sense into my dad if he found out and freaked out on us. But still… I’d rather not go down that road if I didn’t have to.

“Just… stay here,” I said. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll toss them in the air fryer, grab a couple of sodas, and be back up here in fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes!” Adam cried out. “Can’t I just stay away from the windows and army crawl beneath them?”

I tossed him the remote for my tv. “Don’t be a baby. Just watch some Netflix and I’ll be up for the chill in a bit.”

His grin was breathtaking, his dark, curly hair flopping across his forehead and across his bright blue eyes.

He was truly the most stunning guy I’d ever seen.

Not that I’d ever say that to him. Holy awkward! We were best friends, but there were certain things even best friends and boyfriend-girlfriend didn’t share, right? I mean, I didn’t want to seem like a psycho stalker.

I bounced downstairs, popping open the freezer and dumping out the bag of chicken nuggets and french fries into the air fryer basket. My phone rang, the facetime app opening up with Haylee’s picture on the screen.

Sighing, I slid my thumb across the screen to answer. “Hey Haylee, what’s up?” I said, doing my best to act as though I didn’t know that my dad had asked her to keep tabs on me tonight.

“I was just driving by your house and saw the lights still on. It’s so late, just wanted to check and make sure everything’s okay.”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just kind of enjoying having the house all to myself for a night,” I said, truthfully. “I’m gonna eat some junk food, then probably fall asleep binging Brooklyn 99.”

“Okay, cool,” Haylee said. “Like I said, just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“What were you doing driving down this road so late?” I asked, trying to keep my voice innocent. “It’s not on your way home from the afterparty at the inn.”

“Oh. Um… no, it’s not. I, er, well, I wanted to check on b… ees.”

I lifted my brows. “You wanted to check on… bees?”

“The bees. Yep. Finn has an apiary over on that side of the lake.”

Oh my God. Haylee was the absolute worst liar in existence. Seriously, my dad would have been better off choosing literally any other friend to do this.

“Huh, really? I’ve never heard Finn talk about bees, like ever.”

“Ohhhh yeah. Bees and honey. He’s super passionate about them. Wants to make his own hot honey for the hot dog stand. Hot honey hotdogs!”

“Wow,” I nodded, playing along. Man, this was going to be fun to mess with her for years to come. “I’d love to see the bees sometime.”

She glanced nervously around. “Yeah. Yes, of course. I mean, we only have one beekeeper suit of course, so it’ll be a little tricky.”

“Of course.” The air fryer dinged that it was ready and Haylee immediately picked up on the noise.

“Okay! Well it sounds like your midnight snack is ready. Call me if you need anything andI’lltalktoyoulaterBYE!” She smushed all of her last words together, then promptly hung up on me.

“Bees,” I chuckled and slid the phone back into the pocket of my robe. Dumping the basket of fried deliciousness into a giant popcorn bowl, I grabbed ketchup and honey mustard as well as two cans of Coke and made my way up the stairs.

Couldn’t wait to tell Adam about that. As I climbed the stairs, I almost called up to him, but heard his voice talking first.

Who was he talking to? And at 1:30 in the morning? Or was he watching YouTube on his phone?

I finish climbing the stairs and my footsteps freeze just as I reach the open doorway. My eyes latch onto Adam’s dad’s face taking up the entirety of his screen on a Facetime call. Heart in my throat, I follow my instinct and shrink back, retreating out of view and lean against the door jam.

“Dad, come on, don’t be like this,” he said. He wasn’t exactly whispering, but I could tell he was trying to keep his voice low. “She’s downstairs on the phone. I heard her Facetime ringtone.”

Oh God. His dad called him? And he knew he was here… at my house?! At one-thirty in the morning without my dad home.

Was he planning to tattle on us? Tell my dad what we were up to? Wasn’t that like some sort of parental code?

I knew I should give Adam his privacy, but there was something in his tone that rubbed me the wrong way.

“You need to tell her, Adam,” his Dad’s voice said, then. It was quiet, as though the volume on his Facetime was turned down low. “That’s the only reason I allowed you to stay there tonight. You owe her the explanation before you leave next week.”

Adam was leaving? Next week? College orientation wasn’t for two months. We had the whole summer before he was supposed to leave.

“I know I need to tell her. And I will. It’s just… Dartmouth isn’t that far away from Maple Grove, you know? With the freshman summer program, I can still see her a lot. And she hasn’t chosen a school yet. Maybe she’ll go to UNH?—”

“Adam,” his dad boomed. “Girls like that don’t go to college. Those ‘gap years’ are just lame excuses to start working in the service industry. And even if she could hack it in college, she’s not Dartmouth material. You’re going to meet a lot of girls in the next four years. It’s time to let Harper Meyer go. I told you two years ago when you started dating that girl… you’re too good for her. And now here you are. At the crossroads. Don’t throw away your Ivy league college experience because your lame high school girlfriend could never get out of her dead-end town.”

His words hit me like a frosty punch to the gut. Even still, it wasn’t anything I didn’t expect Adam’s father to say.

“This is your dead-end town, too, Dad.” Adam said, his voice low and lethal.

“Exactly,” Elijah said as a response. “How do you think I know so much about it? I knocked up my high school girlfriend and got stuck in my hometown. Learn from my mistake, son. And for the love of god, use a condom tonight.”

Then, silence.

Heat burned the back of my throat. Tears pricked my eyes. It wasn’t so much what Adam’s dad had said. Elijah had been saying that shit about me for years.

It was the fact that Adam didn’t correct him.

He didn’t fight for me.

He didn’t tell his dad that girls like me can and do go to college. That a gap year is just to figure out what I want to do. That not only could I hack it in college, but I was Dartmouth material.

He didn’t say that it wasn’t time to let Harper Meyer go.

Or that he wasn’t too good for me.

A tear slid a path down my cheek and I dropped to sit on the top landing of the staircase.

Well, I’d show him.

I’d show Adam Stone and Elijah Stone just what a catch I could be.

He’ll regret ever letting me go.