Page 22 of Wish Upon A Star

“Yeah. Even crazier than that.” He brushes his thumb over my lips yet again. “Yes, Jolene Park.”

“Yes?” I blink, shake my head. “I’m not following. Yes, Jolene Park…what?”

“Your TikTok. The question you asked.” He holds my gaze. “You said, Westley Britton, will you marry me. And I’m saying yes, Jolene Park, I will.”

I can’t help it. I laugh. Pull away, stand up, and walk several paces. Stop, trembling all over like a leaf, and hope my voice is loud enough to be heard. “If this is a prank or a joke, it’s not funny. And if it’s a publicity stunt, that’s even worse.”

I hear the swing creak as he stands up. Feel him behind me, then beside me. “It’s not any of that.”

“Then what is it, Wes? You can’t mean it. Not for real.”

“But yet…I do.”

I laugh, because that sounds like the harshest irony. “You, a man who could have any woman in the entire world—you are saying yes, you’ll marryme? A random girl who made a stupid video that was very literally and very honestly a desperate plea for attention because I’m sad and lonely. Me—a girl whose life expectancy is measured in days, Westley.Days. You’re seeing me on a good day. Tomorrow could be a bad day, where it hurts to be awake but I can’t sleep. Where all I can do is lay in bed and cry and wish it would just end because it hurts so freaking bad. And if the doctors are right, there will eventually—by which I mean sooner than later—be more bad days than good days. And then I’ll die. And there won’t be anything at all you can do. There won’t be anything you can do to make me feel better. You won’t be able to stop it. When it’s the worst, I usually just want to be alone in the dark.”

I turn and look at him. “You’ve known me for what? Twenty minutes?” I touch his face. “You’re sweet, Wes. Just being here at all has been…a dream come true. I got to meet you. But you’ve made it even better. You held my hand. You talked to me like a real person. And youkissedme. I can die a happy woman, and I mean that. I may die a virgin, but I’ll die knowing my first kiss was withyou.That’s more than I could ever have possibly dared imagine. And that’s enough.”

“Jo—”

I speak over him. “But you don’t want toactuallymarry me. You don’t have to. Marrying me would be an act of pity and I don’t want pity—not even from you.”

He isn’t put off. His smile is tender and sweet and fierce all at once. “But I do.”

“I’m out of time—by the time you start to get to know me, I’ll be gone.”

“Then we’d better not waste time, huh?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I’m operating purely on impulse.” He takes my hands and turns me to face him. “This isn’t pity. Something in you…calls to me, Jo.” He swallows hard. “Maybe we’ll only have day or weeks or months—all the more reason to spend that time together.”

“It makes no sense, Wes.”

“I know.”

“If the media gets ahold of this, I can’t even imagine what the headlines will be.” I shake my head and laugh.

“I don’t care.”

“It could ruin your career.”

“My career happened by accident. I never even wanted to be an actor, I wanted to be a musician, like an American Ed Sheeran. Write songs and play guitar. So, if my acting career is ruined because of this, then so be it. I know it’s right. And plus, to be perfectly honest, I could live the rest of my life comfortably on what I’ve already earned and have saved and invested. So…let it be ruined. I don’t need to act. I enjoy it, and I would love to keep making movies. But I could happily go back to making YouTube videos of cover songs. And with the following I have, I’d probably be able to make a go of music on my own. So I’m not worried. That’s the real, honest answer. I’m not worried about my career.”

I search his face. “You can’t be serious about this.”

“I am.”

“I don’t know what to do. It was…not a joke—but I just…I never expected you to actually respond, much less…this. I’m not prepared for this.”

I see no duplicity in him. Again, he’s an actor, so he could be duping me and I wouldn’t know it. But…it doesn’t feel that way. I want desperately to believe he means this. It’s just too good to be true and my heart wants it so bad and my mind is blaring a klaxon that something which sounds too good to be true usually is.

“I just don’t know how this can be real.”

“Say my name.”

“Westley Britton.”

He shakes his head. “That’s my Westley Britton to your Jolene Park. Myname. I’m not Westley Britton to you anymore. Or, I don’t want to be. I want to be Wes to your Jo.”