Page 85 of Wish Upon A Star

Dinner is loud and fun. We sit outside and talk and laugh well past sunset, until Grandma announces it’s well past her bedtime. She says this with a look at me, and a smirk. She’s probably seen the way Wes and I have been exchanging looks, and constantly finding ways to touch each other. I just can’t help it—I was sick for three days and then we spent the past three entertaining my family, which means we’ve had barely a moment alone. The past few days have been so full that by the time we got home—home! Our home!—we were both too tired to do anything but fall in bed together and sleep.

Which, in its own way, is just as intimate and heart-filling as anything else we could do. Cuddling with him. Falling asleep with my ear to his chest, his heartbeat lulling me to sleep. Spooning up behind him and holding his big hard body as our breathing synchs.

It’s all wonderful and beautiful.

Feeling like a family is amazing, too. The way he fits in with us, how easily he can talk to Mom and Dad, how natural it feels to sit on his lap while we talked.

But I’m antsy to be alone with him. To get my special date with him.

Wes walks Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Aunt Macy to the door, and at a significant look and wave from Bethany, I hang back with her.

“I feel like we’ve barely had a chance to talk,” she says, her voice low, as if this was a great secret.

I wince. “I know, Beth, I…I know.”

She drops her eyes. “I’m trying hard to not be jealous, but I guess I feel a little sore about being replaced as the most important person in your life.”

I take her hands, glance at the front door, at Mom and the others. Wes meets my eyes, and we have our first nonverbal conversation composed entirely of looks, wherein he asks if I need a minute with Beth and I express that I do.

“How far is the house you’re staying at from here?” I ask.

She shrugs. “We walked. Just a few doors down.”

“So, I could walk there and back?”

She nods. “Yeah, you’ll be fine, if you’re feeling up to it, I mean.”

I smile at her. “Yeah, I feel up to it.” I catch Mom’s eyes. “We’re going to walk and talk, okay? You guys go ahead.”

Wes pulls me into a side hug and kisses the top of my head as I pass him. “You good?”

I nod. “I’m good. I just need to talk to Bethany,” I murmur to him. “She’s been my best friend since we were little girls and she feels a little neglected, understandably.”

He huffs. “I never wanted to steal you from your family.”

“I know. You didn’t. I want to be alone with you. I just…she’s more than family. You know? Like, your parents you don’t choose. Your best friend? That’s a choice, and it’s important to cultivate that.”

He smiles at me as he touches my chin, tilting my head back for a brief but deep kiss. “Go. Cultivate it.”

Bethany precedes me outside and waits on the sidewalk, to give me a moment of privacy with Wes, watching this exchange with open curiosity.

When I join her, we hold hands, palms clasped—we’ve walked this way since we were old enough to walk, and it’s habit, now. I know she has things on her mind, so I hold my tongue and wait for her. We walk slowly, making the most of the short distance—I see Mom and the others ahead, already making the turn on the walkway to the front door of their rented house.

“What’s he like, really?” she asks.

“What you see is what you get, with Wes,” I answer. “How he is, how he’s been around you and Mom and everybody? That’s Wes.”

“So…he’s, like, legitimately that freaking amazing?”

I grin, biting my lower lip. “Yeah.”

“God, I’m jealous.” She cuts a look at me. “I mean that funny, not for real. I’m not actually jealous.”

I roll my eyes at her. “Bethy, come on. It’sme. You don’t have to qualify your jokes. I know what you’re thinking before you do.”

She nods. “I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be…this.” She gestures at me. “Like, I hope this doesn’t offend you, but I expected it to fizzle out. For him to turn out to be…different. Like, this was a publicity stunt, or just being nice to you for…for obvious reasons. But it seems like it’s genuinely something else. Something…more. Like, there’s real affection between you guys.” She looks at me, questioning even as she keeps talking. “I know you told me you guys have, like, fooled around. But is it…is it just fooling around for fun? Or…?”

I roll a shoulder. “You and Derek…” I say, suggestively referencing her short-lived relationship with a guy from her AP Chem class back in high school. “I’ve always felt like you guys maybe did stuff that you didn’t entirely share with me. Which, you know, I get, especially now.”