Page 31 of Everything Has Changed
“You mean you don’t get on stage and belt out some Taylor Swift every weekend?”
She barks out a laugh, her head tossed back. “No, definitely not. That was a special show, one night only.” She thinks for a second. “Or until Piper guilts meinto it again.”
“Is she okay?”
The question has Gwen biting down on her lip, her eyes going sad. I want to take the words back so I don’t ruin her mood, but it’s a valid question after seeing her tonight.
“Honestly, I don’t know. Which sounds terrible as her best friend that is literally with her every single day, but I can’t get her to talk about it. It’s more than her attempt at making her art into a business. I can’t figure out what else it is, though. But I can see it in her eyes.” Gwen glances up to the sky while we slowly walk toward our building. “She seems lost these days, and it kills me not to be able to help her. I just don’t know how.”
I might not have been around any of them in recent years, but I could see exactly what Gwen is explaining in Piper’s eyes tonight.
She was lost. And I knew that feeling all too well, unfortunately.
“She will come to you when she’s ready.” The words feel lame coming out of my mouth, but it’s the best advice I can give her as someone on the other end of this.
Gwen nods. “Hopefully having something creative to focus on will help her.”
“It’s already helping me.”
I feel her eyes on me as we continue our walk toward home. The businesses around us have already shut down for the night, so the only glow lighting our way is the moon and some streetlights every few feet. No one else is out, leaving us with an uninterrupted soundtrack of the wildlife surrounding the town. An owl hoots in the night while the chirp of crickets sing around us.
The same comforting sounds I was enjoying when I unknowingly became a stalker listening in on Gwen and Piper’s conversation about me. The pang in my chest was an echo of what I felt when I pieced together their concerns that I would do anything but give this my all. I have been reminding myself that I had to give them the benefit ofthe doubt. It’s not like I have given them any reason to trust me seeing how they have only known me to not want to be part of this town. But that’s changed, however I can’t exactly tell them why. Instead I have to show them that I’m in this. I have to show her that I care.
It was the main reason I came out tonight. Well, one of the main reasons. The main one being right beside me now, her hair glowing like a halo beneath the moon.
“How so?”
“Don’t tell my mother this, I’ll deny it if you do.” She giggles as we share a grin. “It’s giving me a bit of purpose that feels like I’m doing good. I know that this will have a positive outcome, especially in your hands, so it’s nice to know that the effort will bring even more happiness to good people.”
“Does that mean you don’t feel like stepping into your father’s position is purposeful? Like it’s not something good?”
I arch a brow at her. “Do you moonlight as a therapist?”
She raises her hands in a shrug. “Sometimes. When I feel like a friend might need it.”
“Is that what we are? Friends?”
Her shoulder bumps with my arm as she looks up at me. Her ethereal green eyes twinkling. “We can be.”
I slow my steps to a stop as I realize we have made it to our stoop. Though I have no desire to go inside to my empty apartment especially knowing she is right on the other side of the wall.
She takes the first step and I feel a bit of sadness that our night is ending, until she turns her body toward me. We were walking so close that now I can see every freckle dotting the bridge of her nose. And, just like when we were slow dancing earlier, I crave to reach out and trace every single one.
Her lower lip is trapped between her teeth for a moment. Her eyes narrowed in deep thought before she speaks again. “Can I take you somewhere?”
My brows fly up to my hairline. “Now?”
“It’s just a quick walk that way.” Her finger points in the location I saw her coming from the other night. She doesn’t wait for my answer when she hops down to the sidewalk again, beckoning me with her hands as she walks backward.
My feet seem to have a mind of their own as I move toward her without the conscious thought to do so. And in that moment I realized I would follow Gwendolyn anywhere.
***
“Are you going to murder me out here?”
“Please,” she snorts a laugh. “I would have done it further in the woods and not a few feet off a well-known trail if that was the case.”
“The fact that you thought of that is not worrisome at all.”
