Gage
Chapter five
Five Years Ago
The last month of senior year of high school was really one party after another. We had some last-minute schoolwork thrown in there, but mostly we were celebrating.
Senior prom was three weeks before graduation and felt a lot like a last hurrah with my friends before we all went our separate ways for work or college.
Annie and I would be separated, too, for the first time in our lives, because we were going to different colleges.
Not until the fall, but still. These were the last few weeks of being in school with my sister.
I got a baseball scholarship locally here at UT Austin, and Annie would be moving three hours east for school. At least Annie got to stay with Olivia, who accepted a spot playing Division I soccer at the same school.
But that meant I wouldn’t be seeing Olivia every day anymore either.
As much as I hated the idea of being separated from my twin, my heart literally ached when I thought about being away from Olivia.
Not seeing her smile or her electric green eyes.
Not hanging out with her after school or cheering her on at her soccer games.
I really hated being apart from the people I loved, and as stupid as it sounded, I knew I was in love with Olivia.
My feelings developed slowly, almost without me noticing.
Through middle school and starting high school, she was my sister’s best friend, one of my best friends.
I always knew she was cool and funny, and pretty, once I started paying attention to that sort of thing.
In tenth grade, I was dating a girl named Chelsea. She was nice. Cute. We got along well. A month into the relationship, I realized that I spent way more time thinking about Olivia than I did about Chelsea. I broke things off, knowing it wasn’t fair to her.
But I didn’t make a move on Olivia. I mean, it was Olivia. What if she didn’t feel the same way? What if I admitted my feelings and it made hanging out awkward? What if Olivia and I dated, and it turned Annie into a third wheel and made her feel left out?
So, I kept my feelings to myself. I didn’t even tell Annie. I watched for any sign that Olivia might consider me as more than a friend, too.
And now we were going to senior prom together. Well, sort of.
Annie, Olivia, and I were all going together. The Three Musketeers. The Three Amigos. The Three’s Company roommates. Luke, Leia, and Han from Star Wars. Hey, that one was actually a pretty good fit. Boy-girl twins and a love interest, except that would make me Leia, Annie Luke, and Olivia Han.
Anyway. The truth was that I’d rather go to prom with Olivia as “friends” than go with anybody else as a real date.
I had no idea how she ended up dateless, though. Every guy in school would have killed to take her to prom. Their loss was my gain.
The girls didn’t want a fuss, so the plan was for Olivia to meet us at our house to get ready with Annie, and then we’d drive over together in my Jeep.
I was ready way before the girls, so I put the Texas Rangers game on the TV in the living room while I waited for them.
Annie came downstairs first, in a pretty black dress with a halter top neckline and lace accents around the waist. Her brown hair was down but pulled back at the top, with loose curls that fell around her shoulders.
I stood up. “Nini, you look great,” I told her, using the nickname I’d had for her since we were learning to talk, and I couldn’t quite say Anaya, or even Annie.
At the bottom of the stairs, she twirled, giggling as she showed off her outfit. Our mom came out from the other room with her phone.
“You both look so good!” she gushed. “Let’s get a few pictures. Is Delaney coming down?”
Annie nodded. “She’s almost ready. She’s finishing her makeup.”
“Okay, I’ll get the two of you first then.” She lined us up in front of the fireplace mantel in the living room. Our mom had been taking photos of us our whole lives; we knew the drill by now. We smiled as she took at least ten identical shots.
Distracted by movement in my periphery, I looked away as she was taking at least her twentieth picture. Olivia descended the stairs, an absolute vision.
I thought I was going to pass out—forgetting how to breathe, I got lightheaded, my eyes fixed on Olivia. Finally, I felt a jab in the side, courtesy of my sister, and I took a breath and closed my mouth.
I want to be clear: Olivia always looked beautiful. Wearing her soccer kit or dressed up for church, in jeans and a T-shirt or in sweats. But this … this was something else entirely.
Her dress was jade green with a deep V-neck and spaghetti straps.
The material was something flowy and kind of gauzy, with a crisscross pattern across her midsection where the skin of her stomach showed under several layers of sheer fabric.
The skirt was long, reaching all the way to the floor, but with a slit on one side where almost her entire leg—long and muscular—peeked out as she walked.
Her hair was down, flowing past her shoulders, but with some of it up in the back in complicated-looking mini braids that formed sort of a crown.
She wore more makeup than usual, and I wasn’t sure if it was the makeup or the dress, but her eyes were electric—a deep green that sparkled like emeralds.
I couldn’t look away.
It was an outfit designed to grab and hold the attention of everyone around her. Well, she certainly had mine. Then again, Olivia always held my attention, whether she knew it or not.
Olivia reached the bottom of the stairs, and both Annie and my mom immediately started fussing over her.
“You look so beautiful!”
“Come on over here, now, Delaney. I promised your mom I’d take some pictures for her.”
Laughing, Olivia looked up and met my gaze. Her smile softened as I watched her scan me from head to toe and back up again. Her cheeks were flushed when she focused back on my face.
Olivia allowed my mom to pull her over to where I was still standing by the fireplace. Mom lined all three of us up, nudging Olivia closer to me on one side, while arranging Annie on my other.
While my mom was fiddling with Annie’s hair, I leaned close to Olivia’s ear. “You look amazing,” I whispered.
She tilted her face toward me, pursing her dark red lips. I wanted to kiss the gloss right off them.
“So do you,” she murmured.
Our eyes locked. She had never looked at me like that before—a mixture of awe, happiness, and desire. It was hypnotic.
“Okay, smile!” my mom called, breaking the spell.
After a few more pictures, we left for the dance. Inside the hotel ballroom, the space was crowded with our classmates and chaperones. The music pulsed, the beat syncing up with the pounding of my heart.
If Olivia feels something more than friendship for me, I could find out tonight, I thought.
We found a table to be our home base for the night, and Annie sat down. She wasn’t big on dancing, or really anything that might draw attention to her.
Olivia tugged on Annie’s hands. “Come dance with me. Please?”
Annie shook her head.
“I’ll dance with you,” I found myself volunteering.
Annie smiled. “Ooh, good idea. You both love to dance. Go ahead. I’m going to check out the food.”
I held out my hand to Olivia. She looked at it, biting her lip as if she wasn’t sure she should take it.
I wiggled my fingers. “Come on, Olivia. It’s not a snake.”
My teasing comment must have put her at ease because she smirked and put her hand in mine. It was warm and soft, and I immediately intertwined our fingers as we walked to the dance floor.
With ideal timing, the fast dance song that was playing came to an end, and the DJ switched to something slower paced.
I dropped her hand, and we faced each other, laughing awkwardly. I raised my eyebrows. “Shall we?”
Olivia smiled, slipping her arms around my neck. I set my hands on either side of her waist, above her hips. The warmth of her skin seeped into my fingers, even through the fabric of her dress.
Before I could stop it, a contented sigh escaped my lips. Holding her, having her this close, felt so right.
“Why didn’t you have a date tonight?” I asked suddenly.
She ducked her head and glanced away. “I don’t know.”
“I bet you had at least a dozen guys lined up to ask you. Why did you tell them no?”
She didn’t answer, just kept staring across the dance floor, leaning in so that her cheek rested against my chest.
I dipped my head so that my mouth was right next to her ear. “Olivia,” I said huskily.
She turned her head, tilting her chin up to meet my eyes. Her gorgeous green eyes that were so familiar to me harbored a timidness I’d never seen on her before.
“I didn’t want to go with any of them.”
My ears heard the words, my brain decoded them, and still, I couldn’t believe the implication. Did she … did she want to go with me?
My slack-jawed reaction seemed to give her confidence.
She moved her fingers up my neck and played with the hair at my nape.
Instantly, my whole body reacted. I felt every point of contact between our bodies and craved more.
I shifted my hands off her waist and around to her back, pulling her even closer. She fit perfectly against me.
“What about you?” she asked softly.
“Hmm?” I answered, like an idiot. With the feel of her fingers in my hair and her body against mine, my brain was mush.
“I never see you dating.”
I forced myself to focus on her words. “I date some.”
“Do you?” She smirked at me.
I shrugged, holding eye contact. “I guess I was waiting for the right girl,” I said meaningfully.
Her cheeks turned an irresistible shade of pink. She tilted her head. “Why did you have to wait?”
“I didn’t think she felt the same way.” I was sure she could feel my heart pounding.
“But now you do think so?”
I brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen across her forehead. I let my hand linger, running my fingertips lightly across her cheek. She shivered.
“Yeah,” I finally answered. “I do.” For the first time, I felt confident that even if Olivia’s feelings weren’t as deep as mine at this point, she was feeling something more than friendship for me. It was a starting point.
I smiled down at her as the song ended and a high-energy dance song started playing. Instead of letting her go right away, I pushed her out and spun her, finishing in a dip. She was laughing when I set her on her feet again, and I reluctantly let her leave my arms.
But she stayed close, and we danced together through the fast songs, laughing and shouting to hear each other over the music.
After a few songs, I felt guilty leaving Annie alone for so long, so I told Olivia I was going to sit down for a while.
“I’ll come too. I could use a break.”
We found Annie where we left her, but she wasn’t alone. She was talking to some guy. I couldn’t see his face.
I was about to join them when Olivia grabbed my arm.
“No, leave her. That’s Carlos. She wouldn’t want us to interrupt.”
I whipped my head toward Olivia. “Who the heck is Carlos?”
Olivia laughed. “A guy she’s interested in. He’s in art class with her.” She pulled my arm back toward the dance floor. “Let them talk.”
I allowed Olivia to tug me away, but I kept glancing back to check on my sister. She was laughing, and the guy—Carlos apparently—was smiling at her. Seemed innocent enough.
Olivia wrapped her hand around my chin and moved my head, so I faced her again. Without letting go, she said, “Hey, she’s fine. I promise. He’s a nice guy.” She smirked. “Focus on me.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice.
I floated through the rest of the weekend. Olivia definitely gave the impression that she wouldn’t hate the idea of pursuing something more than friendship with me.
The only question remaining was how Annie would feel about the whole thing.
I put off asking her through the weekend and most of the school week. In the meantime, I tried to play it cool with Olivia, but after how closely I held her at prom, it was like I couldn’t stay away.
I finally cornered my sister in the kitchen Friday after school as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.
“What would you think of me asking out Olivia?”
Annie scrunched up her face as she considered. “It would be kind of weird at first, but I like the idea of you two together.”
That settled it. I was going to tell Olivia how I felt, hopefully kiss her, and ask her to be my girlfriend.