Page 91 of Falling for You

I frown at her. ‘I’m being serious.’

She keeps her eyes locked forward, but I notice her mouth purse. ‘Guys don’t really look at me that way.’

‘They definitely, definitely do,’ I scoff.

She shakes her head. ‘No, they don’t. And that’s okay, I’m not saying I’m ugly or anything, like, I’m fine. But I’m just a “filler girl”, you know?’ She catches my expression and laughs. ‘I’m fine with it, it’s something I came to terms with a long time ago. Really, I don’t care.’

‘I’ve never heard such rubbish,’ I reply. ‘What even is a “filler girl”?’

She shrugs. ‘Someone there to fill the gap until someone better comes along. It’s fine!’ she says again, laughing. ‘I don’t care. Like, it’s cool.’

‘It’s baloney is what it is!’ I say in my thickest New York accent, which makes her laugh loudly. ‘Where did you even get this from? It was a guy, wasn’t it? God, we’re the worst. What’s his name?’ I sit up and pretend to roll up mysleeves. ‘Give me his name so I can track him down and give him a piece of my mind.’

She pulls me back down onto the bed. ‘You are such a drama queen.’

‘And you are misinformed. There is no way you are anything less than first choice – any guy would be lucky to have you.’

She puts her hand on her face and groans, but she’s still laughing.

‘What about you, then? Have you been dating much since you’ve been in London?’

I shake my head. ‘Not unless you count hanging out with a fifty-something-year-old-man dating. Sorry,’ I hold up my hand, ‘I still can’t believe you think you’re a “filler girl”!’

‘Oh, I wish I’d never said anything,’ she says, grinning. ‘Come on, let’s talk about the universe again. Tell me how you think we were destined to meet or something.’

I raise my eyebrows. ‘Do you think that’s such a ridiculous idea?’

She pauses, and then rolls onto her side so she’s facing me, her arms tucked under her head. I copy her. For a moment, we just look at each other.

‘I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I keep running into you,’ she says softly.

She’s so close to me now that I can smell her. She smells like roses and carries the warm, comforting smell of the fire.

I move my head so I’m looking into her eyes.

‘Well, why else would I keep seeing you, if the universe didn’t want me to?’

She raises her eyebrows at me, but her lips are stretched into a smile. ‘Oh yeah?’

‘Yeah, I do think I was meant to meet you,’ I say, fully moving my body over now so that our noses are almost touching.

Her smile broadens. ‘Why’s that?’

I think about answering, giving her some poetic ramble about life and love and what I make of it all.

But I decide to kiss her instead.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Annie

Okay, so there were a few things I was expecting to happen this weekend. I was expecting a nice meal with my parents, a good night’s sleep in my childhood bedroom and an overall morale boost about life in general, and to leave with a Tupperware of cake under my arm.

I was not expecting to have sex with Nate.

I catch eyes with him and immediately laugh, as I have done every time he’s looked at me since we woke up this morning. It’s funny; as soon as he kissed me, it was like I couldn’t stop myself. It broke down a barrier I hadn’t even known was there. Last night, I ran my hands all over him, pressing his chest into mine and kissing him hungrily. His firm hands cupped my body, held my face and gripped onto me like he never wanted to let me go. It was different to anyone else I had been with; it felt like we were meant to be together.

I know. Someone pass the sick bucket. But it’s true.