Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
When we get to Luigi’s, I leave my graduation gown and bouquet in the car. My dad checks us in at the hostess booth, and we’re led to a large table in a semi-private area of the restaurant.
“Can we get tiramisu?” Hunter asks as we slide into the chairs at one side of the table.
Mom chuckles. “We have to eat dinner first.”
“But if Avery wants to we definitely will,” my dad adds. He looks at me with raised eyebrows in question, and I can feel Hunter’s gaze boring into the side of my head.
“Yeah, sure,” I mumble. The fact that we’re here to celebrate my graduation is the least important thing on my mind right now.
Footsteps approach from the hall—the Taylors breeze into the room, all smiles and chatter. The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling cast a spotlight on them as they approach. My skin prickles.
Jake quickly slides into the seat next to me, causing Jenna to smack his shoulder. “I was going to sit there!”
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor ignore their children's antics and settle themselves across the table near my parents—probably picking up where they left off. The ringing in my ears hasn’t stopped, and I haven’t been following a single word anyone has said.
The numbers on Jake's hoodie run through my mind on a loop.
Jenna gives Jake’s shoulder one more playful whack before taking a seat across from me instead. “I’m starving,” she states dramatically. She grabs a garlic stick from the table a waitress dropped off. “Who knew graduating high school makes you so hungry?”
“I think that’s just you,” Jake says.
She rips off a tiny piece and chucks it at him. “I bet Avery’s hungry. She’s always hungry. Right, Aves?”
She looks at me expectantly, but my mind is…
blank. The mental number ticker is still spiraling, and Jake’s presence next to me feels overwhelming—his knee shifts under the table, his hoodie brushes my arm when he reaches for his water.
The live-wire sensation in my body snaps tighter, like his mere existence is too much.
Hunter pipes up from the opposite side of me. “I’m starving!”
Jenna smiles at him and nudges the garlic stick basket in his direction. Then my dad distracts her by asking about her college plans.
No one is paying attention to us, so I edge closer to Jake and hiss, “What is going on?!”
Jake leans across me to grab two garlic sticks and puts one on the little plate in front of me. My hand rises instinctively to grab it, but the garlic smell, which I usually love, turns my stomach. I grab my water instead and try to focus on letting the cool water soothe my nerves. It does nothing.
“What do you mean?” he asks casually, then he nudges my plate closer to me. “Maybe you’re hungry after all.”
He thinks I can eat right now? Ridiculous.
“Why are you wearing that hoodie?”
He glances down at it. “Do you like it?”
I suppress another growl and turn fully towards him in my seat. “Jake!”
“Yes, Avery?”
“Answer the question!”
“What question?” Jenna asks. Her conversation with my dad must have wound down and her attention wandered back to Jake and me. Unfortunately.
I push back my chair and stand—the action is so abrupt the chair scrapes loudly across the wooden floor and my glass of water topples over. All conversation comes to a screeching halt as everyone looks at me in bewilderment.
“I, uh—,” I mumble.
The weight of everyone’s gaze overwhelms me, and I scramble to come up with a plan. There’s only one thing in the plan: I need to be alone with Jake so I can get the answers to the questions burning me up inside.
“—I, uh, left something in the car and I need to get it.”
The group at the table is still staring at me, breadsticks and cups poised mid-air.
“Ok, sweetie,” my dad says slowly, like I’m a cornered cat hissing at everyone. Which… I basically am.
“Jake, can you come with me, please?” I add.
“O.m.g. It’s happening,” Jenna whispers loudly. I cast her a look, and she wiggles her eyebrows meaningfully. Ignoring her stage-worthy performance, I walk briskly for the exit. The sounds of Jake pushing back his chair and following me cause another jolt of electricity.
Instead of heading for the car, I pivot around the corner of the restaurant towards an area with trees and a bench. The energy inside me simmers so close to the surface, it feels like it could explode. I sit, then immediately pop back up and start pacing.
Jake stands next to the bench, watching.
“Why are you wearing that hoodie?” I ask, still moving.
“Avery.”
“Is this all a joke?” Another turn and pivot.
“Avery.”
“This doesn’t make any sense—”
Warm hands gently grab my biceps, catching me. I swallow the lump in my throat and look up. His brilliant blue eyes glitter in the light of the setting sun, his sandy hair flutters lightly in the breeze. For the first time, I notice there’s a ring of gold around his pupils, like hidden treasure.
“Did you know you have gold in your eyes?” I ask.
“Avery.” His hand comes up and moves a lock of hair behind my ear, sending a shiver through me. Some of the uncontrollable energy that I’d been running on the past hour sputters out immediately. “I’m wearing this hoodie for you. So you know who I am.”
I bite my lip. “You’re… you’re—”
I stomp my foot and take a deep breath. Jake’s thumbs rub light circles on my arms—keeping me tethered to the earth so I don’t float away.
“You’re Mr. Pi?” I finally get out. My voice cracks.
His thumbs continue their soothing circles. “Yes.”
My face screws up with emotions. I… can’t wrap my head around this. There’s a part of me, deep down, that thought—maybe—it was Jake. But for it to be true?
My mind flips through the history of all my conversations with Mr. Pi: from mundane daily check-ins, to fun chitchat about snacks, to him supporting me through my total breakdown earlier in the year.
Then I tie that with the fact that he’s also Jake. Jake, who I’ve known since we were little, played with me and Jenna, braided my hair after swim class. The guy who helped me with calculus, pushed me to confront the Braden mystery, and supported me through the Great Doodle Debacle. Ugh!
Jake’s seen my warts and flaws from every angle this year. And yet… he’s still here, looking me right in the eyes and gently holding me together with his capable hands, like he has been for months. He's been there for me, and he still is. He wants to be here with me. For me.
But how did he—?
“How did you know it was me?”
His face turns a little bashful. “I didn’t, at first. Honestly, I was hoping we’d be connected. I knew we should be.”
I pop an eyebrow at him.
“And I was right,” he continues, “since we were matched. I tested every connection the same way I'd tease you—and you're the only one who responded like Avery.”
“Wait, how many connections did you get exactly?”
Jake’s grin grows, making a dimple pop. “Are you jealous?”
“I’m examining the evidence. Maybe it was just luck you knew it was me.”
He shakes his head. “I knew it was you as soon as you started arguing about snacks like you were a lawyer defending them in a court of law.”
The evening air has cooled, and somewhere behind us the restaurant hums with muffled voices. He smiles softly. “Then the whole lactation conversation sealed the deal. There’s no way anyone else would have come up with that argument. Also… I watched you type it out from behind you in calculus.”
“Jake!”
“No regrets,” he says with a casual shrug.
“I’ve been waiting for you for so long, Avery Marie James.
” His hand glides from my arm to my cheek, his thumb brushing lightly along my skin like he’s memorizing me.
His eyes lock on mine, and I can’t look away even if I wanted to.
The hum of the restaurant fades away completely. “So long,” he murmurs again.
His eyes drop to my lips and his other hand comes up to cup my other cheek. He tilts my head back gently, moving slowly and reverently. My stomach swoops.
He’s going to kiss me.
If someone had told me last year I’d kiss Jake Taylor, I would have never believed it. But here I am, hands already grabbing his pi hoodie on their own. My feet shuffle closer.
Jake pauses, giving me the time to stop him if I want to.
I don’t.
I want Jake Taylor to kiss me.
He must see something in me shift, something he’s been waiting for. Whatever it is, he knows—I’m ready.
He leans his forehead against mine. My eyes close.
“Avery,” he murmurs. Then his soft lips meet mine.
It’s tender at first, careful, like he’s asking the silent question one more time without words. Like he’s not sure I’ll stay.
A little groan escapes him, and he pulls back just enough to whisper against my lips. “Be mine.”
My hands slip up around his neck to tug his lips back to mine, meeting his caresses with some of my own. When I open my mouth, he groans again, this time louder. His hands dive into my hair, holding me more firmly.
Our tongues meet, igniting me. Every bit of resistance falls away, and I push closer into his warmth. All year I tried to keep myself anchored to the wrong things, and now I'm flying straight into the stratosphere. With him.
Jake pulls back and my eyes flutter open. “Is that a yes?”
His fingers massage my skull, still twined in my hair. Between his fingers and the kiss, my brain struggles to stop misfiring. “Huh?”
His dimples mesmerize me. “Will you be mine?”
Mine? My consciousness fires back online. Jake's eyes are tender, his fingers still working their magic. When I’m with Jake, I feel like a princess.
“Yes.”
Jake’s face explodes into a blinding grin. “Wow,” he breathes. Then he crushes me to him in a tight hug. “I’ve waited so long for this.”
I close my eyes and rest my head against his solid chest, relaxing in his embrace. He’s big and warm and safe. Now that I’m here, I could live here forever.
Both of us break apart at the buzzing in our pockets. We slide our phones out while smiling shyly at each other.
It’s a text from Jenna to both of us.
Jenna: Everyone is wondering if you guys got abducted.
“Oh,” I say, a blush spreading. “I guess we have been out here for a while. We should go back in.”
Jake puts his phone back in his pocket, then slings an arm around my shoulders to lead me back towards the restaurant doors. Just then another text arrives from Jenna.
Jenna: Stop smooching or else I’ll start eating your food.
Jenna: Oh yeah, I ordered for you both by the way.
My head whips toward the windows, half expecting to see Jenna looming behind the glass, but I’m pretty sure our table inside the restaurant wouldn’t have a view of us by the bench. Jake seems completely unbothered, his fingers around my shoulder loop a strand of my hair.
“Unbelievable,” I mutter as I furiously text back. Jake chuckles, but I divert all my attention to my screen, trusting Jake to steer me in the right direction.
Me: That joke was old yesterday, Jenna. Time for some new material.
Jenna: That I’d eat your food?
Me: Obviously not! The other thing.
Jenna: *kissy face emoji*? Is it old? Or…
Jenna: Is it just getting started…?
A blast of A/C hits as we enter the restaurant, pebbling my skin. My fingers still fly over my screen; Jake weaves us between tables. I hit send as we arrive back at our party.
“There you are!” my mom calls cheerfully. “I was worried your food would get cold. Did you get what you needed from the car?”
My mind blanks for a second. I totally forgot I was ‘getting’ something from the car! What would I even need?
Jake jumps in as he pulls out my chair for me. “Thanks for ordering our food. That was very thoughtful.”
“You’re welcome,” Jenna says with a Cheshire grin.
Silverware clatters as everyone tucks into their food, conversation rising around us like nothing happened.
No one seems to notice that my entire world just shifted.
My emotions settle slowly—not because it doesn't matter, but because it's too big to process at a restaurant table with our parents three feet away.
Everyone except Jenna, that is. Who, I'm now realizing, has apparently been running a long con as her brother's wingwoman.
I look down at my plate. The chicken parmesan smell hits me and the hunger I'd been white-knuckling through roars back to life. Before I take a bite, I wave my phone at Jenna with my eyebrows raised. She catches my meaning immediately and fires back a response.
Me: Why do I get the feeling you’ve known about this for a while?
Jenna: Known Jake’s in love with you? Avery, everyone has known that forever.
Jenna: I was a little weirded out at first, but why wouldn’t I want my best friend to be my sister too?
I shoot Jenna an exasperated look. First of all, everyone has not known forever—that's a wild exaggeration and I reserve the right to dispute it.
Second, we kissed approximately twelve minutes ago and she's already planning our wedding.
She widens her eyes and shrugs like she's simply reporting facts that exist independently of her opinions.
My phone buzzes again and I glance down in confusion—Jenna's eyes are still locked on mine, so she definitely wasn't the one typing.
Jake: Jenna helped me find the hoodie. A good pi hoodie is surprisingly hard to find.
I gasp. Jenna and I were texting in the group text she’d started earlier! For what feels like the millionth time today, a blush explodes on my skin. Jake saw the texts about kissing! Ugh.
A quick glance at Jenna reveals she’s been sucked into a conversation with her parents. With a deep breath, I pull my napkin into my lap with slightly shaky hands. Again. This day has been one long rollercoaster.
Jake’s hand lightly massages the back of my neck, then he pulls it away to grab his phone and tap out something. My phone buzzes again. Reluctantly, I pick it up and am relieved to see the message from Jake is in our private chat, not the one with Jenna.
Jake: For the record, I’m a big fan of *kissy face emoji* with you.
My lips twist in amusement and I glance at him. The dimple I love so much shines at me.
Jake: Don’t be mad at Jenna. I asked her not to tell you.
Jenna laughs at something her mom says and my heart warms. I know she loves me and what Jake said makes sense. Besides, even though this year has ended in a different way than I could have imagined, I’m happy.
Me: Can I tell you a secret?
Jake: You can tell me anything.
Me: I wanted it to be you. So badly.
The sound of our families fades away. Our eyes connect. Jake’s hand slips into my lap, interlacing his fingers with mine, a grip that's firm and sure, yet still gentle. Our future path is unclear, but if I've learned one thing this year—that’s ok.
Jake lifts our hands and plants one sweet kiss on the back of my hand.