Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“Dad,” I groan. “I’m positive. It’s her. She’s new in town, new to school. Her name is Lena, and she has dark hair and big blue eyes, and she’s… her. She’s mine.”
“Then do right by her, Stanley. Never let a day go by that you don’t tell her what she means to you. Well, actually, start out slow. Show her you’re a man of your word. Be there for her and support her. I’m sure being new in town, this is all scary. Take your time, but be consistent. Show her what it means to be your magic.”
“I told her all of that.” I puff my chest out, proud that I got it right.
“Sounds to me like you’ve actually been listening when I thought you were letting my advice go in one ear and out the other.” He smirks.
“I’m always listening, but I admit I thought it was all just two old men talking, trying to pull a fast one on me.”
“I would never do that.”
“Yes, you would.” This time, I’m the one laughing. “But this magic you and Gramps keep talking about, I felt it. It’s real. You’re not crazy old men, after all,” I tease.
“When do we get to meet her?” he asks.
“You just told me to take it slow.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t get to spend time with her. Besides, I should get to meet my future daughter sooner rather than later.” He pauses, waiting for, I’m sure, a negative reaction from me.
He’s not going to get one.
I’m young—just turned eighteen a couple of weeks ago—but there is nothing about the thought of Lena being my wife that scares me.
The magic is definitely real.
CHAPTER
THREE
Lena
It’s been six months since I started my senior year. Six months since meeting Stanley Riggins. If you had asked me on that first day where I would be six months later, I never would have said in his arms, with the lights down low, in our school gymnasium for our senior prom.
Stanley picked me up in his dad’s truck. He was wearing his black tux, with a purple tie and cummerbund to match my dress. He had flowers for me, and the first words out of his mouth were “My girl is beautiful.” My mom smiled as tears welled in her eyes. She loves him, and his parents love me. At least I’m pretty sure they do. They treat me like family. The only thing missing is the official title.
Stanley asked me on that first day to give him a chance. To let him prove he’s a man of his word. He referred to me as his girlfriend, and I shut that title down immediately. I didn’t know him well enough for him to claim that label. He asked for exclusivity to give him a chance, and I granted him that.
In the last six months, he’s referred to me as his girl. Everyone in our school and our families assume we’re officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but he’s never mentioned it again since that very first day. I asked him to give me time, and he’s done that.
As he holds me tightly in his arms as Journey’s “Faithfully” blares through the speakers, I know in my heart that there is nothing more in this life I want than to be his. Tonight, after prom, we’re all going to his place. His parents are hosting. We’re camping out in the basement. It took his mom calling mine and assuring her we would be well supervised for my mom to agree. Not that she doesn’t trust me, or Stanley, for that matter. We’re both eighteen, so technically legal adults who will be graduating soon. It was more the principle of letting her daughter spend the night at a boy's house.
The song ends, and Stanley presses his lips to my forehead.
I tilt my head back to meet his eyes. “Want to get some fresh air?”
“Sure, baby.”
That’s something else. On day two, when I got to school, he was waiting for me in the parking lot. He said, "Good morning, baby.” I didn’t correct him, and now that’s what he calls me. He doesn’t care who’s around to hear him. I learned that when he called me baby in front of his parents and my mom. My face heated, but Stanley didn’t seem to mind the attention it gained him. He’s unapologetically who he is, and to me, he’s my safe place to land. This new school, my senior year, would have turned out a lot differently without him next to me.
With his arm around my waist, he pushes open the gym door, and we walk outside. The night air is cool but feels great against my heated skin. He pulls me into his arms, his front to my back, and presses his lips to my temple.
Tilting my head back against his shoulder, I stare up at the night sky. The stars look like millions of tiny diamonds against the inky blackness. “I’ve been thinking,” I say, breaking the silence.