Page 56 of Dream On, Ramona Riley

She looked away. Her chest felt full, swollen with emotions and questions and the desire to tell Ramona about her own childhood, her own mother, her own dreams and worries and wounds.

But more than anything, Dylan wanted to kiss her, convince her she was memorable. “Ramona, I—”

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her, and when she pulled it out and saw the time, panic took over every other emotion.

“Shit, I’m late,” she said, catapulting to her feet. She had a text from Gia, the wordfucktaking up most of the sentence.

“Go,” Ramona said. She stayed sitting, smiled up at Dylan. “Good luck.”

Dylan paused, opened her mouth to say something, but her words and feelings tangled together, a mess of emotions and memories.

And suddenly, she knew exactly how Eloise Tucker was feeling, sitting in that gazebo with a girl she’d kissed and loved a lifetime ago.

She smiled. “Will you come with me?” she asked, and Ramona’s brows lifted.

“Come with you?” she asked.

Dylan nodded. “I think you just might be my inspiration, Ramona Riley.” She held out her hand, and Ramona took it, lettingDylan help her to her feet. Their chests brushed as she stood, breath mingling together.

Ramona laughed, her lashes brushing her freckled cheeks.

God, she was pretty.

And Dylan…well, Dylan had to admit it now.

For the second time in her life, eighteen years apart, she had a crush on Ramona Riley.

Chapter

Fourteen

Ramona watched Dylanwith Blair—or rather, Eloise with Mallory—from right outside the gazebo with a studio pass hanging around her neck. And when Dylan said, “I don’t know how this will work,” she said it with emotion and shyness, and Gia didn’t yell cut, an event that seemed to momentarily shock both Blair and Dylan alike.

“What do you mean?” Blair finally asked as Mallory. “Of course it will.”

“I just…” Dylan took a deep breath, looked down at her lap, and picked at her nails. “I don’t think I’m your family’s type of people.”

“Exactly.” Blair nudged Dylan’s shoulder. “You’re sweet and unassuming and impossible to criticize.”

Dylan laughed. “Impossible to criticize? Mallory, I live in a one-bedroom apartment over a hardware store. Your parents own three houses.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Blair said. “Plus, we can, I don’t know. Dress you up. It’s just for show. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.”

Here, Dylan frowned, opened her mouth, then closed it, the hurt on her face as Eloise apparent for a split second before she covered it with a smile.

“Right,” she said. “Right, of course.”

The scene went on, Mallory excited about how to make Eloise over for the fancy boat party, and Eloise putting on a good face, clearly telling herself that all this was fine. Ramona found herself sucked into the scene, transfixed by how Eloise and Mallory would eventually have to be real with each other, be themselves. Blair was a perfect Mallory, but Dylan…

Dylan was magic.

Granted, Ramona was probably a little biased, knowing how much Dylan struggled with the role and how badly she wanted to do well, but still.

She wasgood.

And when the scene ended and Gia shouted, “Thank fuck,” and the crew laughed and clapped, Dylan’s eyes found Ramona. A smile took over her face, like a sunrise over shadowed mountains. Ramona couldn’t help but smile too, offer her a double thumbs-up. Dylan grinned even broader, then jogged down the gazebo steps, stopping just short of running into Ramona, as though her original plan had been to hug her.

Ramona’s breath caught. She took a step back.