Page 93 of Ink & Ambition

Alex pauses the movie as we both stare up at her.

“Excuse me?”

“My family,” she huffs, sitting in the chair by the TV. “They’re making us go to Vermont for Thanksgiving. My mom got an Airbnb for all of us.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Alex asks.

“I don’t want to go to Vermont. I want to go to South Carolina. I want to behomefor Thanksgiving. And it means I have to stay up there for my birthday, too.”

“Well, we’re definitely celebrating your birthday when we get back anyway. And if it makes you feel any better, I’m not going home either,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

“You’re not?” Alex turns, looking right at me.

Danika sighs. “This sucks,” she groans, heading back into her room and closing the door.

“Why aren’t you going home for Thanksgiving?”

I go to unpause the movie, but Alex holds the remote out of my grasp. “Just can’t swing the ticket this year. It’s not a big deal.”

“Sunshine, if you want to I can—”

I lift my hand to cover his mouth. “Don’t even think about finishing that sentence. I don’t need any money from you.”

Alex kisses the hand covering his mouth and then pulls it off gently. “Of course, I just wanted to help you if I could.”

“And I appreciate that, but Thanksgiving really isn’t a big deal to my family. I just saw my brother when he visited. I’ll see everyone else at Christmas.” I shrug, hopping off the couch to grab some water and a snack. Alex follows me into the kitchen.

“So, what are you going to do instead? Stay here alone?”

“Yeah. I’ve got so much work to catch up on. I’ve fallen way behind with the podcast and everything,” I reply, grabbing two water bottles and a family size bag of chips from the cabinet.

“You should come with me,” he says.

“Come with you where?”

“To Thanksgiving. At my house.”

I halt in my tracks. “Come to Thanksgiving dinner. At the Prescott house.”

Alex hesitates. “Um, yes? Yes, come. Please, come.”

“Are you asking or begging?”

Alex smiles. “I’m not above begging if that’ll get you to say yes.”

I narrow my eyes at him for a moment before moving around him and landing back on the couch. “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose…”

“Yes, I’m positive. In fact, the more I think about it, the more positive I feel. This would be a perfect time to introduce you to my family. I want you to meet my baby brother.” Alex kisses the top of my head before sitting down next to me on the couch. At the very least say you’ll think about it.”

“No,” I reply, popping a chip in my mouth.

Alex draws back a fraction of an inch. “No, you won’t think about it or no, you won’t come.”

“No, I don’t need to think about it. Clearly it’s important to you and I want to meet your family so yes, of course, I’d love to come.”

Alex lunges across the couch and plants his lips on mine. I can’t stop the giggle that bursts through my lips. It’s like I just told him his favorite basketball player was coming to teach him some pointers on free throw shooting.

Once he settles back on the other side of the couch, I still can’t get that grin off my face. I’m just lucky his face matches mine completely.

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