Page 10 of Infatuated as They Come
“I love it. I promise I do. Can I see it again? Please?”
I did as she asked, and maybe I was imagining it, but I could have sworn I saw her doe eyes light up as she looked down at the necklace. It had a round, crystal pendant with little silver stones bordering it. Holly knew the difference between cheap jewelry and the expensive stuff, but she danced her fingers slowly and carefully over the silver chain like she had never touched anything so delicate and precious, like it didn’t only cost a couple hundred dollars.
“It’s beautiful.” She smiled up at me brightly. “I love it.”
“You really like it?” I asked hesitantly.
“Iloveit.” She turned around, gathering her dark hair in one hand and exposing her neck. “Can you put it on for me?”
I did as she asked and then Holly twisted back my way, flicking all those thick waves of hair over her shoulder and fuck, she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen in my life.
“It’s so pretty.” Soft hands were on my face, her pouty lips up against mine as she gave me a slow kiss. “Thank you so much, Sawyer. I love it. I’m gonna keep it forever.”
“I can get you something else,” I offered again.
“But this is perfect, and you can’t do better than perfect, right?”
I took in her words, my head shaking slightly as I stared at her smiling face. “I guess not.”
She pecked my lips again, reaching down to grab my hand. “Thank you again. So, so much. Come back out and have more cake with me?”
Holly didn’t give me much of a chance to protest. I let her take me back into the busy dining room, my heart soaring at the fact that she really, truly seemed to like the necklace.
“Mom, look at what Sawyer got me,” Holly said, holding up the little pendant. “It’s so pretty, right?”
“It is.” Her mom gasped, tucking some of her dark hair behind her ears before she ran her fingers along the pendant. She definitely knew it was cheap too, but the smile she gave me had me convinced that she didn’t seem to care at all. Then she reached up and gave one of my cheeks a pinch. “Oh,you have such good taste.”
I heard a scoff next to me that I was certain was coming from Holly’s dad, but whatever he muttered under his breath wasn’t enough to stop me from staring at my girl and the pure pride that was on her face.
I wouldn’t let him take that away from me.
Chapter 3
Holly
My mom was a sentimental person through and through, right to the heart and soul. It had always been like that with her. She liked to hold things near and dear to her and I was almost certain that she passed that mentality down to me. First days and last days were especially hard on her, and it seemed like she lost a piece of her whenever those came up. It was why she was looking at me with big eyes as we sat at the breakfast table. Chin in hand, she shook her head slightly.
“Can you believe it?” She sighed, brown eyes batting my way. “Our third last ever breakfast together. And it’s almost over. Eat more pancakes.”
Reaching forward, she shoved a fork into one of the many pancakes sitting in front of us, hovering it over my plate. Mom had gone all out. Pancakes, syrup, cream, croissants, a large assortment of fresh fruit that would take us all morning to finish, and the threat of French toast if I was still feeling hungry.
“I’ve had enough.” I pulled my plate away from her, far too full for more food. “I’m still eating my third one. Thank you, though. And this isn’t our third last ever breakfast together. There will be more breakfasts in the future.”
“But this is your third last one before you go off to college. Before you go off to live in a totally different city. This time next week…” She lifted up her hands. “I can’t talk about it. I can’t.”
“You’re going to make me cry,” I said. “Right in front of my pancakes.”
“Right.” Nodding, she pressed a hand to her chest. “What are your plans for today? Are you going out?”
I nodded, cutting into my half-eaten pancake. “Sawyer’s taking me out today. I’m not sure where, it’s a surprise. I’ve been trying to get it out of him for weeks. And then we’re going to hang out at his place for a little while before he takes me out for dinner.”
“Ooh, sounds like a fun day,” Mom said.
“Aren’t you tired of that place?” my father grumbled, suddenly joining in on the conversation. Cold gaze stuck on the newspaper grasped in his hands, he avoided my eyes as he spoke. “All summer long you’ve been going down to that crummy little trailer park.”
“It’s notcrummy.” I raised an eyebrow up at him. “That’s his home. There’s nothing wrong with where he lives.”
“You know I don’t like it when you go down there. It’s dangerous.”
