Page 105 of Wish You Were Mine
I smiled, biting my bottom lip. My fingers hovered for a second before I typed:
Me: What does the last name Archibald mean to you?
Why would he think it was synonymous with his fancy friends?
I kept my gaze on him as he read it. He didn’t smile this time, just stared at his screen a little longer, then looked out at the ice like he was thinking.
Finally, the typing bubble appeared.
Theo’s friend: First, I think of President Archibald and how I’d be in big trouble if he knew I even had your number in my phone.
Fair.
Theo’s friend: Then I think about how, from my conversations with Theo, it sounds like your family has always been involved in high society things. Your dad works for the university now, so I don’t know if he’s still tied to your grandpa’s company or what his inheritance looked like, but knowing how expensive gymnastics is at your level, I’m guessing your family does okay financially.
Theo’s friend: Also…Theo marrying a Vanderbilt, and the way Ky’s friends acted like you kissing a bartender was slumming it? I assume your parents probably hope you’ll eventually marry someone in a similar social class.
I read it once.
Then again.
Nothing in his words was necessarily judgmental…but I couldn’t quite tell how he felt about all of that.
Was he trying to figure out if I thought I was out of his league because of my family’s connections and everything that came with the Archibald name?
I knew a first-year college professor—especially one who moonlighted as a bartender—probably wasn’t exactly raking it in. But from what I’d seen so far, Owen was surrounded bysuccessful, wealthy friends. So he shouldn’t be unfamiliar with my family’s world.
Plus, didn’t he say he’d grown up pretty well off?
And it wasn’t likeIwas rich. My scholarship covered tuition, room, and board. I’d made a little money here and there when a few of my TikToks went viral, and I was hoping to use my future marketing degree to grow that side of things eventually.
But everything else? That still came from my parents.
Which meant, in a lot of ways, I still depended on them.
Very much like I had as a kid.
Me: Does it bother you that I’m an Archibald?
His reply came a moment later:
Theo’s friend: No. Of course not. I mean…aside from the part where your dad scares the crap out of me.
I laughed softly, then looked up—just in time to meet his gaze again across the rink.
And suddenly, the meaning behind his words hit me in a new way.
Ifhe was worried about my dad, then maybe…he cared.
Maybe this wasn’t just some one-sided fleeting crush. Maybe it meant something.
Maybe despite the obstacles in our way, he, too, was hoping for the possibility of more.
“Who are you texting?” Nora leaned toward me, clearly picking up on the fact that I’d been half-in, half-out of the game for the past ten minutes.
I quickly clicked the side button on my phone, locking the screen and hiding the thread labeledTheo’s Friend.
But Nora wasn’t an idiot. And shewassomeone I trusted.
