Page 77 of Building Romance

A quiet descends upon us.

“Are you getting a new bubble kit?” Ava yells from the fire pit where she’s holding up a marshmallow.

Cam nearly chokes on her drink, and I pat her back.

“Nope. But I might need to get one,” Drew replies. Cam coughs some more and several other people laugh. Clearly there’s an inside joke here.

“What’s so funny?” I whisper in her ear.

“We use bubble blowing as a term for something else and Ava obviously doesn’t get it,” she whispers back.

I grin and nod my understanding as we both turn back toward Drew.

“Vito and I have been talking and we’re giving it another go. I’m heading over to Rome for a few weeks to see how it works out,” he says.

“Wait, what?” Cam says as she steps away from me and toward Drew.

“I just want to spend a month there and see. Maybe we still have a spark and maybe we don’t, you know?” he says.

She wraps her arms around his middle, and he hugs her back with one arm while his other holds his drink.

“I’m going to miss you,” she groans.

“I’ll miss you too, but we can video-chat every day. Heck, if you all need a break, you can come visit me,” he insists.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re doing it. I hope it goes well,” she replies, pulling away from him and leaning back against me. I wrap my arm around her middle.

“I’m sure we’ll find something to do while he’s gone,” I tease her. She elbows me.

But secretly, I’m excited for some alone time. Things have been so crazy that we’ve hardly had a break the last few weeks.

“Oh, and cheers to our new movie stars,” Drew adds as he motions to the two of us.

Cam blushes and bats her hand at him. “It’s just a little competition show.”

“Little!” Roxy says. “It’s all everyone is talking about. The media loves that you two ended up together. It’s so romantic!”

I groan and Cam laughs. “Who would have thought?” she says.

“Who would have thought,” I repeat.

“Cheers, beotches,” Drew says and we all clink glasses.

“Mr. Drew! That’s a bad word!” Ava yells.

“Thanks, Ava. I’ll remember that,” he replies as he drops a quarter in a jar on the bar that says, Ava’s Swear Jar.

“What does the money go toward?” I ask Cam.

Cam giggles. “Ava wants a commercial bubble blower for the rooftop.”

I press my lips together trying to fight my smile. “Oh,” I manage. I see Roxy leaning in to explain what bubble blowing means to my brothers whose lips both start twitching into a smile.

Cam doubles over with laughter, and pretty soon everyone around us is laughing too.

“What’s so funny?” Ava asks as she runs over to us with marshmallow all over her lips.

Drew is now in hysterics. “N-nothing,” he manages as he wipes tears from his eyes.