Page 59 of To Love or to Lose
Goddamn, she can walk in heels.I think as I jog past people to catch up to her.
When I finally reach her again, she’s at the bottom of the staircase, and I grip the back of her arm to grab her attention.
Genevieve turns, noticing me and jerking her arm out of my grasp. “What now?”
“You forgot this.” I hold her pencil case out to her.
She looks conflicted, shaking her head once as if she’s trying to understand how she could have forgotten it. She still hasn’t taken it back from me when someone bumps into her.
I quickly grab her shoulder to keep her from getting pushed down the stairs.
Genevieve’s eyes are still foggy when she finally takes the pencil case from my hand. She blinks hard, and then says, “Thanks.”
I’m unsure if she’s thanking me for her pencil case, saving her from falling, or both.I force a passing smile on my face anyway, “You’re welcome.”
Then, she heads down the stairs while I stand at the top of them, still not understanding how that just transpired.
Genevieve and I have finally made an agreement, and that feels like an accomplishment in itself.
Chapter Sixteen
160 days until graduation
“I’ve never seen someone freak out so much over a birthday party,” I tell Logan as I walk down the stairs, stopping halfway down. He’s standing in the foyer, trying to decide between pink or blue balloons.
“This is my best friend’s eighteenth birthday; it needs to be special,” he grumbles, continuing to hold up each balloon one at a time, examining which one looks better.
“I really don’t think that balloons are the biggest factor of party enjoyment.”
Logan ignores my statement, instead holding up both colored balloons. “Pink or blue?” He asks, then adds. “Or both?”
I grimace. “Both would look like a gender reveal, so unless you want to suggest you think she’s pregnant, I would stick with one.”
Logan nods, making the same face I did, probably at the idea of Winnifred being pregnant.
I sigh at the look of anguish on Logan’s face. And this is just from having to pick out balloons. “You want my actual advice?”
His eyes light up with relief. “Please.”
“If you want to do blue, then do silver too and turn it into a winter wonderland theme. But in all honesty, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Winnifrednotwearing pink, so I would do pink with gold.”
The pieces seem to come together in Logan’s mind, like he can see a vision for what Winnifred’s party looks like.
“Could you go get gold balloons?” He pulls his wallet out of his back pocket. “Maybe like five hundred of them?”
“You wantfive hundredgold balloons?” He cannot be serious.
“Not enough?”
“Logan, you are taking this birthday party planning thing a little too far,” I say calmly, making my way down the rest of the stairs. “What else do you have to do today?”
“The decorator is coming at three, and the caterer is coming at four. I’m quite sure Genevieve and Eloise are getting here between four and five to help with the rest. Then, they’re leaving to bring her over here at seven.”
It’s currently ten a.m.
Last night, Logan informed me Winnifred’s birthday party will not be a ton of random people from our school coming over to drink and have a fun time.
He said that Winnifred would hate that, so he opted for a more classy-casual setting—as he described it.
