Chapter 29 Ripley
Ripley
‘Juliet!’ Mom yells from the other side of my door. ‘You need to wake up. We have a show to produce.’
Little does she know, I’ve been awake since four a.m. After Garrick walked me home, I lay in bed, replaying our kiss, analyzing every little move and wondering why my chest wouldn’t stop fluttering with this weird warmth.
Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is Garrick leaning in and our lips finally meeting.
I felt like I’d been waiting for it my whole life.
Like he was the perfect fit to a hole I didn’t know I had in my heart.
This can’t be good.
‘I’m awake. I’ll meet you there!’ I call to her through the door, not wanting to look her in the eyes. I’m worried she’ll see right through me and know I’ve messed up her show.
Have I messed it up? Maybe I’m overthinking things – again – and that kiss with Garrick was literally nothing. He probably brings lots of girls there to woo and kiss. It seems like a move Garrick Walton would have in his repertoire.
But it didn’t feel like that.
Ugh!
When I hear Mom shut the door, I quickly grab my phone and call Anna. She picks up after several rings. ‘I have a problem,’ I say immediately.
‘What happened? Are you hurt?’ The panic in her voice makes me cringe. I didn’t mean to worry her.
‘Sorry, no, not like a life-threatening problem.’ However, it does feel that way to my aching stomach.
I bite my nails. ‘I just … I kissed Garrick.’ It feels real now that I said it out loud.
Let another person in on it. I could tell Nathan and Melika, but they have terrible poker faces, and I’m worried they’ll spill the beans.
I will tell them eventually because they’re my best friends, but I need my sister right now.
There’s a long pause where I think Anna has hung up. ‘Sorry, you what?’
Shaking my hand out, I twist the bottom of my hair through my fingers, trying to give my hand a more productive thing to do than ruin my cuticles. ‘I might have … accidentally kissed Garrick.’
‘Like you tripped and fell into his lips?’ The laughter in her voice is unmistakable.
‘Anna, this is serious. I messed up.’ My voice cracks a little at the end. I’m not sure what I’m admitting I messed up – the show or my well-laid plan of avoiding troublesome heart problems.
‘OK, start from the top.’
I tell her how Garrick and I have been getting closer and how it’s been different than I thought. We can share things we don’t usually divulge, and he tells me things I’ve never heard him say to any of the girls he’s supposedly dating. That it’s been nice to let someone in.
‘Your silence is scaring me,’ I say when she doesn’t speak after I finish.
‘I hate to break this to you, Rip, but it sounds like you might be in love.’
I scoff, getting up from the bed and peeking out the frost-covered window into the parking lot. My heart drops when I don’t spot Garrick waiting in the tree. ‘Anna, don’t be ridiculous. I am not in love with Garrick Walton.’
‘All right, fine. Maybe not love love, but heavy like, and that path leads straight to the heart.’
‘Anna, I called to have you help me, not spout propaganda about the heart.’ I put the phone on speaker while I get dressed.
‘Sorry, but it is what it is.’ There’s a loud squeal in the background, and I know this as Molly’s noise when she’s making trouble.
I pull on my leggings and sweater. ‘Ugh. I have to go, but thank you for the unhelpful advice.’
‘I love you.’
‘Love you too,’ I say, shoving my phone into my pocket and heading toward the one person I really want to see and should totally avoid.
Today is another on-screen date. We’re ramping up for the last push before the holiday, and everyone is determined to get all the shots we need so we can enjoy the break.
As I pass the crew, I walk on eggshells, waiting for someone to pounce on me for my clandestine morning activities.
But no one calls me out for kissing the star, so Garrick must have kept quiet.
Not that I thought he’d say anything, but sometimes you never know what will come out of that boy’s mouth.
‘You all right?’ Nathan asks when I get to Glacier Peaks. ‘You look like crap.’
The date is what the Waltons call a ride-off.
It is a simple concept: you ride the roller coaster until you can’t ride it any more.
The last one standing wins. The team thought it would make a great segment.
Personally, I think it will be a nightmare, especially when the girls start throwing up everywhere.
No one liked that comment, but I’m a realist.
I pull my ponytail tighter. ‘I didn’t sleep much.’ Not a lie. When I see the girls come dressed to the nines, my stomach somersaults. It’s a roller-coaster day. I thought we’d get baggy sweatshirts and top knots, not cute peacoats and blowouts.
I didn’t go to more trouble than brushing my hair with my fingers and topping my outfit with my puffer jacket. I’ve been wearing it most of the time. It is easy and efficient – and warm. But now that I see these girls all styled super cute to impress, I feel self-conscious.
What does Garrick think of me compared to them? Ugh, why do I care? Stop caring!
Garrick smiles at me when he walks in, but then he smiles at everyone. Is the one he flashed my way more intimate than the others? Does it mean more? I wish my brain would stop. But I’ve spent seventeen years with it and know that’s not how it works.
As the date goes on, Garrick is his usual, charming self. No different than he’s been every other day. It’s like this morning never happened.
Maybe I’m feeling more than he is. I’m being so dumb for letting myself think that Garrick Walton, who has all these outstanding girls to pick from, would choose me. Or choose anyone. We’ve had that convo. We both agreed love is crap. So why won’t my heart get with the program?
Riya takes the win, and I’m not surprised – she even beats Garrick.
She is the most adventurous. The other day, in an interview, she said her goal was to climb Mount Everest before she was twenty-five.
I wonder if that’s something she planned with her clandestine boyfriend.
Because she won, she gets a one-on-one date.
It’s the last one before the double elimination tomorrow, so all the girls were clamoring for it.
The contestants are ushered off to do post-date interviews and probably eat something bland based on how green some look.
And yes, two of them threw up – so gross.
Garrick comes up to me after the contestants are gone and the crew is breaking down the cameras. My heart ticks up several annoying beats as he approaches. My body is aching to kiss him again for a quick reminder of what it felt like when we were alone.
‘So, I was thinking …’
I ready myself when Garrick starts a sentence like this.
‘What if we do Santa the knight? And Santa could have on some of my knight armor. Like the hat could be part of my helmet? What do you think?’
Oh, so nothing about our clandestine kiss? OK, cool. ‘Absolutely not. That doesn’t even make any sense.’
He flops down on the stool beside me. ‘You don’t think Santa was around delivering presents during the medieval ages?’
‘I think the armor would way down the sleigh.’ Don’t look at his lips, don’t look at his lips. I try, and I fail.
He drums his finger against my hand, which is lying on my leg.
And those butterflies are zooming around again.
It’s not that I’ve never been kissed before.
I have, and they were fine. Nothing I was ready to write home about, but they were nice enough.
It’s just when they were done I didn’t think about them further.
That kiss from Garrick feels imprinted on my skin.
‘Hmm. That is a good point, Juliet. This is why we make a good team.’
Ugh. Why does he have to look so cute? Before, I could write these feelings off as just a hot guy making me flustered, but now that I know him, the real him, I can’t do that.