Page 41 of Got to be You

“No, no.” I fling my hands up in surrender. “I know I deserve it. I’ll take it.”

“Well, I’m ready now, so we can get out of here before she really starts in on you.”

Lilly slides her fingers into mine, sending sparkles of electricity running up my arm. I love the feel of her hand in mine. It feels more powerful than anything else that could possibly come my way. It reminds me what I’m fighting for, what I’ve always wanted, and what I need forevermore.

“So, how did things go today? With the college and your father? I’ve been worried about you all day.”

As we walk away from her workplace, I build myself up to tell her everything. “You know, it was awesome. Everything went exactly as planned. I’ve managed to sort things out with the college, but I’ll have to do a lot of it online because they don’t want my past fame to get in the way of the other students’ studies, but that suits me better, anyway. And my parents… well, everything went really well. I can’t even begin to express how happy I am about everything. It’s all been so incredible.”

“So, your father is proud of you? I knew he would be. That’s great news.”

I pull her close to me and smile to myself. As much good news as I’ve had today, the best part of it is being back with Lilly. She’s the light at the end of every single tunnel.

“I have something to show you. Do you mind if we take a detour to somewhere before going to your place?”

“Oh, sure,” she replies without hesitation. “Whatever you want. I’m easygoing, you know me.”

My heart pounds as we move. Anxiety starts to get to me… no, not anxiety, it’s more anticipation because I’m pretty sure that what comes next is only going to make her smile. I hope so, anyway.

“You see that building there at the end of the road?” I eventually point out. “The peach one?”

“The one that might as well be a mansion with its own zip code?” She laughs. “Sure, I can’t miss it.”

“That’s mine.” She swings around to stare at me like I’ve lost my mind, a look that I’m starting to get used to from her to be honest, and I chuckle at her. “Well, I want it to be ours, really, but I don’t want you to move in with me until you’re ready. Just know you’re always welcome, whenever you want to come in.” She’s silent, stunned. I feel compelled to continue. “It has a swimming pool. That was one of my main stipulations, that I have a swimming pool. I know it might be a little bit LA of me, but I’m used to a pool now. Although I didn’t get much chance to use my pool in LA because it was party hell.”

“As if you didn’t love it,” she says in bemusement. “I can imagine you in party hell.”

I can’t argue because the more that I argue, the more guilty I’ll seem, but I really didn’t love it. I only joined in with it for a little while. It really was hell to me. I absolutely hated it. But I did love the pool, I did want to use it more, and now I have one of my own. One that I can use just for me. Lilly and me, and any of our friends if we eventually decide on it. I’m sure that will come around one day, though.

“Are you going to show me inside, then?” She grips onto my hand tighter. “I can’t wait to see.”

I don’t know if she intends to move in with me right away, but that doesn’t matter. This is going to be our forever home, I’m sure of it. This will be where we spend the rest of our lives, in heaven, our own personal heaven together. The fact that Lilly is so thrilled to see the purchase that I made today just makes me so happy. I could skip over to the house because I’m so excited. This is the start of everything.

“So, these are the keys to the gates.” I shake them in her direction playfully. “Because we’re posh now, apparently, and we don’t want damn kids messing about in our lawn.” I open it, and she steps inside in awe. “And this is our garden. I don’t know much about gardening, so we may need to hire someone.” We walk through, past the awesome pool and into the house. “And this… the mansion, as you called it, is our home. I really do hope that you like it.”

“Are you kidding, Jax?” she squeals. “I love it!”

30

EPILOGUE

LILLY

One Year Later…

My leg jiggles up and down anxiously as I wait for the longest minute I’ve ever had to wait for in my life. I honestly didn’t know a minute could be so long. How does anyone do this? It’s so much.

I jump as I hear a noise. I panic that Jax might be back from work already, but he’s a music teacher at the local high school now. He never finishes early, that’s part of the job, but maybe today… today, when I need some time alone, he has come back early just to catch me in the act. The act of waiting in the bathroom for the longest damn fucking minute of my life. My God, will this test change already?

“Hello?” I cry out loudly. “Jax, is that you?” I pause but get nothing back. “Jax? Anyone?”

It’s no one. I’m alone, just being paranoid. The sound is probably my heart pounding in my ears as I wait for a sign that my life is about to either change forever… or not. I don’t know how I’llhandle it if it doesn’t change, actually. It’ll be too weird for words because we both want this.

“Come on,” I mutter anxiously at the white plastic stick. “Show me already. What’s happening?”

My cell phone rings in the other room, and simply because I can’t stand to watch this stupid stick any longer, I race into the kitchen, which is miles away because this is a freaking mansion, and grab my phone. It’s Anna, almost as if she knows that I’m in a giant life-changing situation here. Anna has always been around for all of it, so it makes sense that she’s here as well. My best friend.

“Hey, Anna,” I answer a little breathlessly. “What’s going on? How are you?”

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