Page 92 of From Me to You

“Yeah, you look good too,” I said awkwardly.

And then she turned to Jay and talked his ears off. He nodded here and there, but he was barely listening because he was playing with my fingers. These days, he had forgone his nervous guitar pick habit for fiddling with my fingers, moving them in funny positions, and touching and caressing them. I loved it when he did that. What I loved more was the expression on White’s face, like she was so annoyed that he never paid any attention to her. It made my heart happy.

Finally, she gave up and turned to Katy’s side and started chatting with her.

Evy: 1.

White: 0.

“Your nails are glittery pink,” Jay said in wonder as he held them up in the light.

“Yeah, I painted them today.” I smiled at him.

Jay kissed my cheek. “My girl loves pink. One day I am going to build a pink room filled with everything you like.”

“Oh, will it have pink unicorns? Pink dinosaurs? Pretty pink notebooks? And pink gel pens?” I asked with glee.

He laughed. “I don’t think there are pink dinosaurs, sweetheart.”

“Why not? Aren’t girls allowed to have pinkdinosaurs?” I scrunched up my nose as I joked. “I dream of pink dinosaurs all the time.”

He kissed my nose. “You are so adorable. We have been here for a couple of hours. Wanna get out?”

“That’s the best thing I have heard this entire night.” I giggled as we rushed out of the stuffy charity ball.

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The next few days passed by in a whirlwind, and I spent every moment I could with Jay except when he was at practice. At that time, I wrote. I wrote about everything and anything that inspired me, but most of all, I wrote about what inspired me the most. Him.

I still hadn’t told him my secret—I wanted it to be a big surprise. I wanted to see the look on his face when he realized that I was going to stay with him in L.A. and that I was going to turn down Yale. I told Aunty M that I was going with UCLA so I could be closer to Jay, and she was 100 percent supportive of my decision. She told me that sometimes following your heart would lead you to all the right places. I had a scholarship to both, so it didn’t matter, plus UCLA had a good creative writing program too, so turning down Yale didn’t bother me at all.

I knew Jay was going to protest because he knew that Yale was my dream. What he didn’t know was that dreams changed. And mine did the moment I met him. I may be naïve and young, but somehow, I made him my dream. Being with him felt like a dream. And I don’t ever want to wake up from that dream.

“You ready?” Jay smiled, leaning against the door.

“Yeah.” I put my pretty pink book in the drawer and stood from the bed.

I galloped to him with a grin on my face. We were going on a date.

“Woah,” Jay said as he caught me. “That’s a lot of pink.” He kissed my lips softly.

It was summer here in L.A. Even though I wasn’t a fan, I decided to embrace the hot weather and get dressed in a cute pink summer dress, and pink sneakers and tied up my hair with pink satin ribbons.

“Do you like it?” I whispered against his lips.

“I love it. Maybe we should go on the date later.” He suggestively wiggled his brows.

“Jay, it took me a long time to put together this dress all by myself. You know how hard it is for me to choose something to wear,” I chided.

Jay laughed, taking my hand as we headed out.

“Woah, it’s so hot!” I exclaimed as we got out of the car at the Santa Monica Pier. The sun was so high in the sky that it almost blinded me. The humid air was already creating a bead of sweat on my forehead.

Jay rolled his eyes. “It’s supposed to be hot, sweetheart. It is summer.”

“Smartass,” I said, sticking my tongue out to him.

The Pacific Ocean looked so beautiful that it almost sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. Jay and I decided to go on a little bike ride along the pier. Which mostly turned into a friendly competition that he most definitely won. I complained that it was because of his long legs, which he said had nothing to do with riding a bicycle.