Page 128 of Yes & I Love You (Say Everything 1)

He dropped another page.

The Guy Who Belongs in This City, on This Stage, with These People, and Who…

Another page dropped.

Has Totally Fallen in Love with You

The Girl Who Most Definitely, Without a Doubt Deserves All the Big Romantic Gestures

Tears brimmed in her eyes as the audience caught sight of the words and started cheering. The heckler called out, “He loves you, Miz Poppy!”

Hollyn choke-laughed on her tears and lowered her hand.

Jasper stepped forward, took her hands in his, and put his mouth next to her ear. “I love you, Miz Poppy. And Hollyn Darling. And every other version of yourself you might want to be in the future.”

The future.“Jasper.”

“Kiss him!” Andi shouted.

The crowd chimed in, cheering them on.

Jasper looked down at her, questions in his eyes, vulnerability there.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked, still reeling from all the things he’d said. He’d gotten the part. He was turning it down. He was staying. Helovedher.

“Never been surer of anything,” he said. “Sometimes when you get the dream, you realize it wasn’t what you were looking for at all. That you already had what you most wanted right where you were standing. You just weren’t looking hard enough.”

All the tension she’d built up being onstage relaxed, and a big smile took up residence without her permission. “This is the least funny improv scene ever.”

He grinned. “Let’s give them a show, Hollyn Darling.”

“Let’s.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and he dipped her back low, putting his lips to hers and kissing her with dramatic flair. It could’ve been the intro sequence to the Jasper Dearest and Hollyn Darling show they’d joked about that first night together.

The crowd exploded with cheers, and Jasper eased her back up, cupping her face and kissing her for real this time. The sound of the other people in the room faded into the background, and Hollyn forgot to be self-conscious or nervous or worried about what anyone else in that room thought. She no longer cared.

All that mattered was how she felt inside. That this was right. That this was real. That this was meant to be.

For the first time in her life, Hollyn didn’t have to pretend she was in a movie to escape. She didn’t have to imagine she was anyone else or anywhere else but right there in her own shoes. Happy. In Love. Brave.

She was finally the star in her own story.