Chapter Thirteen
Gage
"It's my turn," I say, scowling at Corey as I step up behind Troian on the dance floor in the gym. It's decked out with fairy lights and tissue paper, but it still smells like ass.
Troian doesn't. She smells like peaches, and Corey is hogging her. The fucker has already danced with her twice tonight. I'm pretty sure he's doing it specifically to piss me off. He thinks it's funny. It's not.
My girl looks like a fairytale princess, and I'm tired of sharing her.
I want her all to myself for a little while.
"Fine," Corey says, smirking at me. "Ruin my fun."
"Go have fun with your date," I mutter, tugging Troian closer to me. As soon as she's pressed up against me, I dip my head, brushing my lips across her shoulder. Her skin is so soft. I've been touching her for two weeks straight, and I still can't get over how soft and sweet she is everywhere.
"You mean my beard."
"Yeah, your…" I trail off when I realize what he said. "Wait. What?"
He laughs instead of answering.
"Bye, Corey," Troian says, waving at him as he salutes me and then turns to go back to the table where Laura's signing autographs while waiting for him.
"He's gay?" I ask, spinning Troian to face me.
"Um…" She looks everywhere but right at me, which is confirmation enough.
Shit. That's what he meant that day when he asked if she ever told me about him. I thought he was asking if she'd ever told me they were friends. Clearly fucking not.
"How long have you known?"
"Since sophomore year," Troian says. "I promised not to tell anyone."
"I wanted to punch him in the face after you asked him to Prom."
"Gage!"
"What? He was hugging you. You were laughing." I mutter a curse. "I was jealous as hell, butterfly."
"Get over it. You're my date tonight."
"Fuck, yeah, I am."
Troian buries her face in my shoulder, her body shaking.
My irritation with Corey vanishes when I hear her laughter.
I swear, there's no better sound in the world than her giggles.
It's the sweetest little sound. She could probably topple empires with that laugh if she wanted to do it.
Lucky for me, world domination has never interested her much.
"I missed that sound so much when you were mad at me," I whisper, resting my head atop hers. The last two weeks have felt a little like magic, but I still keep thinking about how close I came to losing everything that mattered. It's impossible not to think about it.
"I missed you," she whispers back, sobering. "Even when you were here this year, you felt so damn far away sometimes."
"I'm sorry, butterfly." I pull back and then tip her face up so she's looking at me. "I'm such an asshole."
"It's not your fault," she says, instantly letting me off the hook.
"It is," I disagree, wrapping one of her curls around my finger. It's as soft as the rest of her. She has most of it pulled up in an intricate updo, but a few curls frame her beautiful face. "I should have been paying more attention to a lot of things. I promise I will be from now on."
"You know it's not your fault Victoria hates me, right?" she asks as we sway back and forth on the dance floor. I don't even know what song is playing or if we should be slow dancing. She's in my arms. That's all I need to know.
"Victoria is a word I won't say because it'll upset you."
"She's a bitch," Troian says, giving me a tiny smile. "But you're not the reason she doesn't like me. Remember my first week at school?"
"I remember everything about you," I say, completely serious. She might not have noticed, but I've always been too busy looking at her to care about anything else.
She's so damn perfect. No one else could ever possibly compete.
It seems like people are finally getting the hint.
No one has bothered her once in the last two weeks.
Victoria and her little posse avoid her at all costs.
And with them no longer talking about her, everyone else has stopped too.
They're finally seeing her the way she deserves to be seen: as the magical little goddess she is.
Frankly, I can't fucking wait until we graduate and never have to see any of them ever again. They don't deserve to breathe the same air as her. She's already agreed to spend the summer in Los Angeles with me while I'm filming. We'll be living together for ten whole weeks. I can't fucking wait.
"I ran into Victoria at the mall," she says. "I guess she thought she was dating this college guy, but he was dating someone else. She confronted him and made a big scene. He told her that they were never dating, and he only took her to some party because he felt sorry for her."
"Ouch."
"She was so humiliated," Troian says. "I saw the whole thing, and she's hated me ever since."
"You feel sorry for her."
"I used to," she says, running her hand through the hair at the nape of my neck, slowly driving me crazy. "Now, I just feel sorry for everyone around her. She chose to be the way she is. That's sad."
"It is sad," I say, nuzzling my face into her neck.
Even after everything she's put Troian through, my girl never told a soul what happened.
She could have humiliated Victoria, but she chose not to, because that's the kind of person she is.
I didn't think it was possible to love her anymore, but I fall a little harder.
"For her. We'll be out of here soon and never have to deal with her again. "
"Don't remind me," she says, her voice soft. "We might not be at the same school next year."
"Hey." I tip her chin up until those pretty green eyes are locked on mine.
"We have ten whole weeks together in Los Angeles soon.
And it doesn't matter if we're at the same college or not, butterfly.
I'll still love you. I'll visit every damn weekend and FaceTime you so much, you'll get sick of me. "
"I won't, Gage," she says, her expression somber.
"I could never get sick of you. You're my best friend.
Even if you didn't feel the same way about me, I'd still miss you next year.
Even though Victoria has been horrible, and people say stupid things about me, I've never regretted switching schools because I met you. I love you."
"I love you too," I whisper. And then I send up a thank you to God for giving me a chance to fix what I messed up.
I feel a little like I'm walking on air.
Knowing this extraordinary girl loves me makes me feel like a king.
Nothing else even compares to that, certainly not the stupid ass crown they put on my head tonight.
I kiss Troian softly. At least it starts out that way.
As soon as her tongue touches mine, I forget everything except for how badly I want her.
I'm an eighteen-year-old virgin, dating the hottest girl in school.
Of course I want her basically every minute of the day.
But I've been good. I've been so damn good.
We've fooled around, but I want our first time to be special, not some quickie before her parents get home.
"You can't kiss me like that, butterfly," I groan, breaking away before I take it too far.
"Why not?"
"Because every time you do, you make my dick hurt."
"Gage," she whispers. And then she squirms a little, her cheeks turning pink.
Ah, fuck.
"You're hurting for me too, aren't you?"
"Yes," she whispers, looking up at me through her lashes.
Jesus. How did I get this lucky?
I don't know, but I'm never going to take my good fortune for granted. I'm never going to take her for granted.
"Come home with me, butterfly," I say. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to do, but I want you in my arms in my bed at least once before I leave home. I've been thinking about it for years."
"What about your mom?" she asks.
"Garrett has a sleep study at the hospital tonight, so she's with him until morning. You're allowed to say no," I promise her. "If you'd rather stay here, I'll dance with you until they kick us out and be happy about it."
"That's not what I want, Gage. I want to go home with you."
"Yeah?"
She nods.
"My brave little butterfly," I whisper and then kiss her again. Because I can. Because she's mine. Because, for some reason, this beautiful girl loves me too.
Thank you, God. Thank you.
We leave the dance hand in hand, our hearts racing. Troian giggles when Corey gives her a thumbs-up. He's been a hell of a friend to her the last few weeks. Even when it drove me crazy with jealousy, I was grateful to him.
She deserves friends like him in her life.
Victoria glances at us as we slip out. She doesn't say anything, though. She knows she has no power anymore.
My girl is free now. And so am I.
I can finally love her the way I've always wanted. The way she deserves. Taking care of her heart is my job now, and I won't mess it up or break it. Not ever. It's the biggest gift she's ever been given…and she trusts it in my hands. No movie deal or stupid ass crown could ever compete with that.
"I love you," she whispers as I tuck her into the passenger seat of my truck.
"Always, butterfly," I whisper back.
She gives me that sweet smile, and I've never felt better.