“You stopped and told me to look up. Then, you started singing one of your Disney songs and, sure enough, birds tweeted back their own melody. I remember you looking at me with tears in your eyes and the biggest smile. Do you remember what you told me?”
He looked at her. Just like that day, tears brimmed her eyes. She whispered, “I really am a princess.”
He nodded and continued, “From then on, all I wanted to do was make you smile and feel like a princess.
“You’ve always been a planner. You plan everything from your meals to your outfits to your daily schedule. What you don’t know is I plan too. I didn’t know what I was doing from one day to the next. It took me way too long to decide on what I wanted to do after high school. But I’ve known since we were five years old—when you dragged me out to sing to the birds—that I never wanted you out of my life. As we got older, I knew that no matter what else happened, we would always be together.”
He stopped talking and nodded toward the beach. Her mouth dropped open. There weren’t fireworks. Like in the movie, she jumped and moved to look over the side of the boat. It rocked beneath her, and Gavin let out a deep laugh. From one end of the beach to the other, people held glowing paper lanterns. While she was distracted, he reached under the seat to pull out their own and some matches.
Shades of pink and purple filled their vision as their friends and family released lanterns into the sky. Timed perfectly, the next song on the soundtrack started. Lila turned back to Gavin, biting her lip.
Two lit lanterns hovered in each of his hands. She sat back down across from him and took one. Together, they let go, and as they watched them soar higher and higher, Gavin reached out to Lila. He pulled her to him, turning her so she sat with her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her as she sang along softly.
22
Saturday
The crowd thinned as the hours passed. Mrs. Miller closed up the Scoop, and eventually, she and Lila’s parents went home. Lila sat near the dying bonfire between Gavin’s legs, leaning back against him. With his arms around her and her friends beside them, she didn’t know when she’d ever felt so at peace.
Beth Ann and Dylan sat side by side on Lila’s right with Kaley on her left. A few others from their class lingered by the fire, mostly the graduated baseball players. Lila tilted her head to the side just enough to watch her best friend talking quietly with Dylan. Both wore undeniable smiles as they leaned in close.
Gavin shifted behind Lila, tightening his hold around her. “We should get going.”
“Yeah, there’s about twenty minutes before the beach curfew hits, and the police are prompt with their patrols,” Dylan said.
“Of course, you know that,” Beth Ann teased as she got to her feet.
Dylan’s eyes dimmed for a brief second, showing the hurt before a smile lit his face. He was known for causing trouble—everyone always joked about it—but Lila wondered if maybe it bothered him more than he let on. Or maybe it just upset him that Beth Ann thought of him the same way.
“Well, I’m sure he’s seen them plenty from sticking around with Gavin while Mrs. Miller closed the Scoop down at night,” Lila couldn’t help but say. Dylan shot her a barely perceptible, grateful nod.
Gavin kissed the back of her head. “Come on, babe.” He stood and pulled her to her feet, then he helped Dylan pour one of the coolers full of melted ice on the fire.
“How are you feeling?” Kaley asked, moving to stand closer to Lila as the others packed up the remaining coolers, blankets, and snacks and dragged it all up to their cars.
Lila picked up the blanket she and Gavin sat on and walked with Kaley and Beth Ann to the parking lot. “I’m good. I have a little bit of a headache, but it’s not too bad.”
Beth Ann’s mouth tugged down. “How did I not know something was wrong all this time?”
Guilt coursed through Lila. She didn’t want her best friend to feel bad for not putting two and two together. Lila took her hand. “Because I didn’t want you to.”
When the beach cleared, then the parking lot, just the five of them remained. Lila looked up to the stars, watching as they twinkled high above. Despite the bright full moon, the clear sky gave them a breathtaking view.
“Are you coming with us, Kaley?” Gavin asked.
Lila looked back and forth between them in confusion. When Kaley nodded, Lila asked, “Wait, where are we going?”
Dylan grinned. “The party isn’t quite over yet, Princess.”
They climbed into the remaining vehicles. With the windows down and the music up, Lila leaned against Beth Ann, laughing in the back of Gavin’s car. When they pulled down the familiar dirt road, she met his eyes in the rearview mirror.
They parked in his driveaway, with Dylan and Kaley stopping behind them in their own cars. The engines cut, and Gavin took Lila’s hand as they all walked between the houses to the wide, mutual backyard. Lila gasped as she took in the twinkle lights and blow-up mattresses around the firepit, each covered in a pile of blankets and pillows. The fire grew tall, as if someone recently added fresh wood.
“How?” Lila asked.
Gavin nodded toward her house, where she could see her parents’ bedroom light still on. She smiled and followed him to the cozy area. The mattresses sat just far enough away from the fire to not be
