Page 31 of Keeper of Hearts
"Um…" She looks everywhere but right at me, which is confirmation enough.
Shit. That's what he meant that day when he asked if she ever told me about him. I thought he was asking if she'd ever told me they were friends. Clearly fucking not.
"How long have you known?"
"Since sophomore year," Troian says. "I promised not to tell anyone."
"I wanted to punch him in the face after you asked him to Prom."
"Gage!"
"What? He was hugging you. You were laughing." I mutter a curse. "I was jealous as hell, butterfly."
"Get over it. You're my date tonight."
"Fuck, yeah, I am."
Troian buries her face in my shoulder, her body shaking. My irritation with Corey vanishes when I hear her laughter. I swear, there's no better sound in the world than her giggles. It's the sweetest little sound. She could probably topple empires with that laugh if she wanted to do it. Lucky for me, world domination has never interested her much.
"I missed that sound so much when you were mad at me," I whisper, resting my head atop hers. The last two weeks have felt a little like magic, but I still keep thinking about how close I came to losing everything that mattered. It's impossiblenotto think about it.
"I missed you," she whispers back, sobering. "Even when you were here this year, you felt so damn far away sometimes."
"I'm sorry, butterfly." I pull back and then tip her face up so she's looking at me. "I'm such an asshole."
"It's not your fault," she says, instantly letting me off the hook.
"It is," I disagree, wrapping one of her curls around my finger. It's as soft as the rest of her. She has most of it pulled up in an intricate updo, but a few curls frame her beautiful face. "I should have been paying more attention to a lot of things. I promise I will be from now on."
"You know it's not your fault Victoria hates me, right?" she asks as we sway back and forth on the dance floor. I don't even know what song is playing or if we should be slow dancing. She's in my arms. That's all I need to know.
"Victoria is a word I won't say because it'll upset you."
"She's a bitch," Troian says, giving me a tiny smile. "But you're not the reason she doesn't like me. Remember my first week at school?"
"I remember everything about you," I say, completely serious. She might not have noticed, but I've always been too busy looking at her to care about anything else.
She's so damn perfect. No one else could ever possibly compete.
It seems like people are finally getting the hint. No one has bothered her once in the last two weeks. Victoria and her little posse avoid her at all costs. And with them no longer talking about her, everyone else has stopped too. They're finally seeing her the way she deserves to be seen: as the magical little goddess she is.
Frankly, I can't fucking wait until we graduate and never have to see any of them ever again. They don't deserve to breathe the same air as her. She's already agreed to spend the summer in Los Angeles with me while I'm filming. We'll be living together for ten whole weeks. I can't fucking wait.
"I ran into Victoria at the mall," she says. "I guess she thought she was dating this college guy, but he was dating someone else. She confronted him and made a big scene. He told her that they were never dating, and he only took her to some party because he felt sorry for her."
"Ouch."
"She was so humiliated," Troian says. "I saw the whole thing, and she's hated me ever since."
"You feel sorry for her."
"I used to," she says, running her hand through the hair at the nape of my neck, slowly driving me crazy. "Now, I just feel sorry for everyone around her. She chose to be the way she is. That's sad."
"It is sad," I say, nuzzling my face into her neck. Even after everything she's put Troian through, my girl never told a soul what happened. She could have humiliated Victoria, but she chose not to, because that's the kind of person she is. I didn't think it was possible to love her anymore, but I fall a little harder. "For her. We'll be out of here soon and never have to deal with her again."
"Don't remind me," she says, her voice soft. "We might not be at the same school next year."
"Hey." I tip her chin up until those pretty green eyes are locked on mine. "We have ten whole weeks together in Los Angeles soon. And it doesn't matter if we're at the same college or not, butterfly. I'll still love you. I'll visit every damn weekend and FaceTime you so much, you'll get sick of me."
