22
‘Everything Has Changed’’
—Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran
Lara
I thought kissing wasn’t appealing. With Isaac, it felt sloppy and awkward, like kissing someone just because I was supposed to. With Scotty, it felt different. It felt safe. Like, I finally understood why people wrote songs about it.
I sit up in bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Scotty is still asleep beside me, fully dressed except for his hoodie, which is lying on the floor next to my sweater. We must’ve fallen asleep after talking half the night.
I glance at the alarm clock.
8:00 a.m.
“Scotty,” I whisper, nudging his shoulder.
“What time is it?” His morning voice is so sexy.
“It’s 8 a.m.” He rolls his eyes, lying back down.
I check my phone, seeing multiple missed texts from my parents.
The door swings open. “Scott Delgado!” Sabrina shrieks, then spots me. “Oh my god, we were right!” Scotty just laughs, while I cover my face with embarrassment.
“Mom, can we talk about this later?” Scotty asks.
“I’m calling her parents, they were worried sick!” Then she shuts the door, I peek out from my hands, looking at Scotty.
He grabs my arms, placing them on his shoulders.
Then he plants a kiss on my forehead.
“Relax, Butterfly.”
**
We walk downstairs, and my parents are already there waiting for us in the living room.
Scotty’s dad looks so over it.
“Lara Mae!” My mom yells, I look down at the ground because I do not want the sex talk with my parents, especially with Scotty here.
“Aquí vamos.” Scotty’s dad mutters.
“You two lied to us!” Sabrina scolds.
“Technically, we weren’t doing anything then.” I glare at Scotty’s blunt words.
“So it’s better that you're doing it now?!” They are really mad.
God, I wish this wasn’t happening. I am mortified.
“You two are hooking up.” My mom mumbles.
“I love her.” My eyes widen in shock, my heart pounds in my chest. Scotty loves me? I can’t believe this.
“If he loves her, it’s fine.” My dad declares. “This is what you two have been wanting, isn’t it?” My dad looks between Sabrina and my mom. This is what they’ve always wanted, but now that their children actually like each other, they don’t want it.
“I agree with Kyle.” Scotty’s dad chimes in. Thank God we have someone on our side.
“My son would never hurt Lara. Lara is a sweet girl.” Our moms are quiet for a long moment before clearing their throats.
“Okay, you have my blessing,” My mom says. I smile, looking over at Scotty.
He gives me a warm smile back.
“Me too, you have my blessing too,” Sabrina says. “Just…be smart.”
**
“You love me?” I ask, taking another bite of my burger. We are at Sally’s getting lunch because we have nothing better to do. If we stayed home, our parents would be all over us, asking questions about how we found out we loved each other.
“I do,” He replies, staring at me intensely, making my heart flutter. “I love you, Butterfly.”
“I love you too, Scotty,” I reply. “For how long?”
“Since you cried in my arms that one day. I realized I never want to see you hurt again. Probably longer, I was just brushing it off. Whenever I saw you with Isaac, my blood boiled, and I wanted to punch someone.” He takes a bite of a French fry. “What about you?”
“Not until recently, like when you took me to the bookstore. I realized something was there.”
“Nice to know I was the only one yearning.” He laughs. “I want to be with you.”
“Are you asking me out, Scotty Delgado?”
“Maybe… May I be your boyfriend?”
“I don’t know…” I fake hesitate, even though I already know my answer.
“I would’ve asked with flowers, but none of this was planned. Well, maybe the New Year's kiss. That's it.”
“You planned that?”
“Yeah, your grandpa told me he did it with your grandma, so I thought, why not try?”
“You’re insane. Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I will be your girlfriend, Scotty.” He grins, sliding out of the booth to plant a big kiss on my lips. He takes out his phone, snapping a photo of us together.
“What are you doing with that?” I ask. He presses some buttons on his phone, then flips it around to show me his new Instagram post.
“This.” The caption reads, ‘My beautiful girlfriend’
“That was quick. What's next? Are we going to have matching bios?”
“If you want to.” he says, I laugh.
“I don’t know how these things work. I’ve never been in love.”
“Me neither! I just know I’m not doing that corny stuff. No matching profile pictures or bios. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
**
Later that night, my phone begins blowing up with notifications.
Unknown: You’re going to regret it.
The message is eerie, sending chills down my spine.
Me: Who is this?
Unknown: Jenna.
Me: Regret what?
Unknown: Dating Scott.
Me: Sucks to suck.
I dial Scotty’s number.
“Hey, baby,” Scotty answers.
“Baby? Let’s stick to Butterfly.”
“Princess? Babe? Kitten?”
“Definitely not Kitten.” I take a deep inhale. “Jenna found out we are dating from your Instagram post. She likes you now, she’s mad. I probably lost my only friend, and I might get beaten up at school.” I say all at once.
“Slow down. She isn’t going to lay a finger on you. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Okay, Scotty. Thank you.” I feel tears well up in my eyes. What did I do to deserve a guy like this?
“Are you crying?” His voice is softer now.
“No,” I say, then let out a sob.
“I’m on my way,” he says, then hangs up the phone.
5 years later
‘Peter’
— Taylor Swift
Scott
“What are you going to do now?” Maggie asks, her feet propped up on my coffee table, concealed with her chunky black boots. I just told her everything that happened between Lara and me during our visit to Danny in the hospital, who is now perfectly fine.
Damn it, Danny. He had us scared for nothing. I mean, when I got the call, all they said was he was in a coma.
“Probably wait until she reaches out to me,” I answer. I need to give Lara her space. She obviously doesn’t want me back right away or maybe even at all. I mean, she was quite literally screaming at me in the middle of an empty park.
“She’s not going to, Scott.” Maggie brushes her now purple hair out of her eyes, pulling it back into a ponytail.
“Let’s just change the subject,” I say, trying to shake the thoughts out of my mind. “Anything new with you?”
“Nope. I’m a boring person. All the drama comes from your end,” she chuckles softly.
“Great.”
Lara
“Can you tell us about your new book?” I released my new book without much social media promotion.
I mean, the perfect time to have it placed in stores is Christmas Eve Eve.
It’s basically when it all took place. It’s just a weekish before I was planning on releasing it anyways.
My characters are basically Scott and me.
They fell in love at my grandparents' cabin.
“It’s very special to me because I lived through it,” I explain to the media.
I hold up my new book; there’s a huge crowd in my favorite bookstore. I scan the crowd, maybe part of me is hoping to see Scott here, but I don’t. I guess we aren’t really on talking terms right now, so of course, he wouldn’t show up.
“Can you tell us about the character, Dylan?”
“Dylan is a kind, loving soul.” I stare into the camera. “Yet he was never what he seemed. Lovers to strangers. It’s how it always goes.” I’m getting a little too emotional. I need to chill out.
“If you could explain your book in 1 word, what would it be?” The reporter asks.
“Angst.”
“Can you tell us about your relationship with Scott Delgado?” My heart drops when I hear Scott’s name. I pause. These questions are getting way off-topic.
“Next question?” I ask, trying to pull back to the focus of what's important—my book.
“What songs do you think Ava relates to throughout the book?” Another reporter with orange hair and glasses asks me.
“I think, “Cornelia Street” by Taylor Swift and “Making the Bed” by Olivia Rodrigo. There's a playlist in the book.”
“You're a Taylor Swift fan?”
“Huge.” I take a deep breath. “I think I’ve answered enough questions.” I pack up my stuff and leave.