My heart was racing again—not from fear, but from anticipation. I wanted this. Even though everything that my mom and Ashleigh had said was true. I was sure it was all going to go down in flames. That he was going to wake up and see who I really was, that I wasn’t good enough for him. Still, I wanted those lips on mine. I wanted to feel him again.
“Jen,” he whispered. He leaned forward so that our breaths mingled. Then he repeated the words that had started this whole thing. And he said them with a smirk on his perfect face. “Forgive me.”
His lips descended on mine. The barest brush against mine. A wave of heat flashed through my body. Everything crawled to a halt.
Then a head popped out of the back door. “Hey, y’all okay?”
We broke apart so quickly that I stumbled back against the brick wall. My face turned bright red.
Annie chuckled, holding her hands up. “Uh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You’re fine,” Julian said calmly with a laugh.
“I saw Ashleigh and wasn’t sure what happened. But I’ll just…”
Ashleigh. Right. Her name dropped water over my head. I’d been freaking the fuck out. How had Julian managed to soothe that sinking ship so fast?
Annie winked at me and then scurried back inside. Julian and I both started laughing as soon as she was gone.
“Caught red-handed,” he said, running a hand back through his hair.
“I guess so.”
“Are you ready to go back in?”
“Is Ashleigh still in there?”
He shook his head. “I made her and her minions leave.”
“Minions,” I said with a laugh.
“No, seriously. They follow her around like dogs.”
“That’s kind of sad.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Well, anyway, they left. That’s what I really came out to tell you.”
“Oh. Well, good.”
I waited for him to offer to pick up where we’d left off, but he didn’t. He’d been caught up in it, too. That we’d gotten lost in the moment. Now, the moment was gone.
But it was the first time I thought that maybe it wasn’t gone forever.
20
Jennifer
The doorbell rang, and I jumped, racing across my new place to answer the door. “I got it!”
Piper laughed from the couch. “All yours. Julian, I presume?”
“Uh…no.”
I was jittery with nerves and excitement as I pulled the door open to find Campbell Abbey standing there. He was in ripped black jeans, a plain white tee, and a studded leather jacket. He was effortlessly gorgeous and a legitimate rockstar. My body threatened to go into shock.
“Hey,” I squeaked.
He grinned that panty-melting smile. “Hey yourself.”
It wasn’t just that Campbell was gorgeous—because he was. It was that he was the lead singer of Cosmere. And I was a huge fan of their music. Their last album had gotten me through a real low point. I’d sat in my room and played it on repeat as I stared up at the ceiling, radiating with Campbell’s voice in my head. After all that, he was just here.
“Should I wait here?” he asked with a laugh.
“Oh, no.” I opened the door wider.
He must have been used to the starstruck reactions by now because he hadn’t even blinked at my slack jaw or how I went nonverbal.
I shook my head to clear the fangirl. “Come on in.”
Campbell entered our three-bedroom. “Nice place.”
“Thanks. It’s Piper’s.”
She waved from the couch. “Abbey.”
He nodded at her. “Yo.”
Then the back bedroom door opened, and Blaire stepped out of her room in a matching salmon workout set and a baseball cap slung low over her brow. She froze when she saw Campbell standing in the living room. Her entire body tensed up like she’d been electrocuted. She didn’t move. I wasn’t sure if she was breathing.
I didn’t even know if Blaire liked Cosmere. She hadn’t stuck around for the last concert in town, and she’d left early when Campbell played his solo show earlier this year. It surprised me that someone as social famous as Blaire would be a fangirl like me.
“Blaire,” Campbell said her name soft, like a prayer.
My gaze shifted to him, and then I realized I had been wrong.
I had been so wrong.
This wasn’t the same thing that I felt at all. There was something here. Blaire and Campbell had graduated the same year, but Blaire was adamant that, like me, she’d been a nobody. And even in high school, before Campbell’s fame, he’d been somebody.
Blaire’s jaw flexed, and then she turned on her heel and walked right back into her room. The door slammed shut.
Campbell winced at the noise. “I…didn’t realize you lived with Blaire.”
I wanted to ask. I had so many questions. But how the hell would I even begin?
“Uh, yeah…just moved in last weekend.”
“Are we…shooting here?” He suddenly sounded almost…anxious.
“No, I rented us studio space downtown by LHUCA.”
“Great. Let’s do that.” He waved at Piper again, whose brow was furrowed in confusion. “Nice seeing you again.”