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Gina plops face down on her bed in her mom’s Louisiana place. Her brown eyes, had they been open, would’ve shown her fatigue and her desire to rest and never get up until the end of Spring Break. It’s been a hell of a day, having just endured an exhausting three-hour plane ride in the morning, and though her mom taking her out for shopping the rest of the afternoon was fun, Gina’s just glad the day is over.
She is beginning to close her weary eyes when her phone buzzes and vibrates over and over in her pocket. It startles her, in her tired state of mind, and she reaches in her back pocket to pull out the device.
It’s a FaceTime call from EJ, and she smiles despite her exhaustion. Sitting up, she swipes the unlock screen, opening the video call.
“Hey, roomie.” Gina is surprised when Ashlyn’s face appears on her phone screen instead, and her heart deflates a little at the fact that it isn’t the boy she’s expecting.
“Hey, Ash,” she greets the other girl nonetheless, and because she cannot help it she asks, “Where’s EJ?”
“In the shower,” Ashlyn answers, and at her unspoken question, she adds, “I’m using his phone because mine died after talking to Big Red. I hope you don’t mind me calling. We haven’t really been able to talk the entire day.”
“Oh, of course I don’t mind,” she says, despite being ready to drop. They slip into easy conversation after that, chatting about everything and nothing at the same time, when Ashlyn’s eagle eyes spot something in the other girl’s background.
“Hey, is that EJ’s Duke sweatshirt?” Gina looks behind her and spots the aforementioned article of clothing on her bedside table. Her heart picks up speed all of a sudden, and she finds herself wide-awake.
“Not anymore,” she replies, grabbing the sweater from the table and showing the other girl her alterations to EJ’s family heirloom. “Speaking of this sweatshirt, I have something to tell you…” a beat and then, “that I wasn’t gonna tell you—"
“Wait, why weren’t you going to tell me?” Ashlyn gasps and places a hand on her chest, taking mock offense.
“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing for me.” She chuckles lightly as she remembers what happened with her mom earlier.
“Okay… What’s up?”
“When I came home, my mom saw me wearing this.” The sweatshirt returns to its natural place, her body, as she slips the garment over her head easily. “And now she thinks EJ and I are dating.”
Ashlyn doesn’t seem surprised. “And you’re embarrassed about it?”
“Oh, no. That will never be a reason to be embarrassed about,” Gina says, playing with the hem of the sweater absentmindedly. “The thing is, I kinda didn’t tell her we weren’t.”
“You didn’t correct her?”
“No. I, um, didn’t want to,” she admits.
“Yeah?”
“Come to think of it, my mom isn’t the only one who thinks so.” Gina muses, and it takes her a few seconds to realize she has said that last part out aloud, forgetting to keep them in the privacy of her head. But it doesn’t stop there. “Carlos and Seb were teasing me about it the other day, too, and I think I know why.”
Ashlyn simply stares at her with a perfectly arched brow, a knowing grin playing on her lips as she leans closer to the screen. “Miss Porter, are you finally admitting that you like my cousin?”
“I…You think so, too?” Gina knows how to internalize her panic, but it’s hard right now with the way it’s suddenly making a home in her heart and throwing a housewarming party. “Oh god, you know. Am I so pathetically obvious that everyone—”
A sudden movement from behind Ashlyn’s head makes her stop in her tracks, and Gina is completely mortified when she sees none other than the object of her affections casually waving a hand in the background. It doesn’t help that he’s only in his shorts, hair damp and mussed after having just come out of the shower, and she can clearly see his abs even in the low light of Ashlyn’s living room.
This is a scene pulled from Gina’s nightmares.
“Oh, my god.”
How much did he hear? And where the hell is his shirt?
Gina thinks she might burn a hole in the blanket beneath her because she is suddenly on fire, hot and red from embarrassment. She clutches her phone to her chest, forgetting about the call with Ashlyn and shutting it off before plopping herself down into bed once more.
What the hell has just happened?
Inhaling deeply, she tries to calm the frenzy of nerves in her stomach, shutting her eyes for a few moments to compose herself. Sinking further down into the bed, she reaches for her lampshade and shuts the light off, but sleep comes much, much later.
What are the odds, really?
Of course, after only having been avoiding talking to him for the past couple of days, it’s only natural that EJ is the first one she sees when she goes back to Ashlyn’s place a week later. What did she think would happen, anyway? Sure, she has made sure he doesn’t show up in the airport again, insisting that she’ll Uber home this time and texting Ashlyn about it a hundred times. But EJ is over at their place all the time, so she’s bound to see him sooner or later.
He is watching TV in the living room when she enters, and when his mesmerizing pair of eyes catches hers, she almost forgets to breathe. EJ is smiling at her so brightly, and Gina’s heart stutters a little when their fingers touch when he crosses the room from the couch to the door to take her bags from her. “You look like a fish out of water,” he says, and he sounds endeared.
“Are you okay, G?” he asks, peering down at her when she does nothing but stand in silence. “Have you eaten? Want me to order food?”
Gina almost trips on her own feet in her haste to get away from the door. “Ah, no, Eej, you don’t have to do that – I think Ashlyn’s calling me.”
Ashlyn isn’t calling her. Ashlyn isn’t even home.
They end up walking to a nearby restaurant to grab lunch when she realizes she really hasn’t eaten yet, and it’s kind of awkward, she thinks, since the only thing she can concentrate on when they arrive is trying to finish her meal. That, and avoiding his gaze, as she feels his hazel eyes fixing themselves on her face. She tries to look at anywhere but him—the table, the floor, his plate of fries, the strange spot on his collarbone…
She doesn’t look up, not when she knows she’s going to be met with the most handsome face she’s ever laid her eyes on.
“So…” She all but jumps at the sound of his smooth voice, and when she looks up at him at last, the smirk on his face almost makes her heart stop.
“Your mom thinks you and I are together, huh?”
Oh, dear god.
Her furious blush is quickly hidden when Gina buries her face in her hands. She really wants to crawl under a rock and die now.
“Hey,” EJ sounds a bit panicked now. “It’s okay. Hey. Are you okay?”
She removes her face from her hands, nodding slowly, still avoiding his eyes. She takes a deep breath, in and out, and takes several sips of her lemonade to calm herself.
“No, it’s just…” she begins when she finally regains a semblance of composure. “Can we pretend it never happened?”
“No.” His voice is now dangerously low, and Gina thinks she should run for her life again, except her heart is already doing that for her, pumping so hard and fast like it’s running a marathon. “No, we can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m glad you said it.” All of a sudden, she feels a warm hand cover hers, and her cheeks flush instantly at the contact. EJ’s hand is pleasantly and surprisingly soft, Gina decides, and when she looks up at him again, the look he’s giving her makes her breath catch in her throat.
“Really?” Gina squirms in her seat when his thumb rubs small circles on her skin, and she notes EJ’s own cheeks are now pink, too.
“Yeah…” he murmurs, his low voice sending tendrils of warmth through her. “You know, because I have a pretty huge crush myself—”
“You… what?”
“You can’t be that surprised, G.” he says, suddenly looking a bit tense himself. “Do you think I’m like this to every girl I know?” He doesn’t elaborate what this means, but Gina thinks she knows. “And then lately I find myself getting a little nervous when I’m around you. I want to tell you how I feel, but then my mind goes completely blank and I want to evaporate.”
“I don’t want you to evaporate.” Gina says, and she can’t stop the stupid smile from taking over her face or the blush creeping up her cheeks. “This has been quite a lunch, huh?”
“If you think lunch has been good, wait until dinner.” EJ removes his hand from hers, and Gina frowns at the loss of contact.
“Why?” she asks, busying herself with a forkful of her pasta. “What’s up with dinner?”
“We’re going on our first official date.” She looks up at him, watching him as he watches her face carefully. “Is that okay?”
“Sounds good,” she quips, and she can’t help but giggle at the cheesiness and how it’s exactly what she has always wanted. He smiles back at her with a smirk of his own, and oh, how in the world can this boy make her feel so crazy? “What do you have in mind?”
By opening night, they have gone on three more dates, but mostly in secret as they decide they want more time to see how things go and enjoy things by themselves. Gina feels her heart swell ten times its size as she watches EJ perform from the wings, utterly proud of the boy who, not too long ago, has been nothing but a close friend.
Her eyes immediately search for him as she makes her way to the back of the stage after their curtain call, but looking through the swarm of bodies, she sees everyone except him. She releases a dejected sigh, when someone taps her shoulder and she turns around, finally locating the person she’s looking for.
“Hey,” EJ says, a little breathless. He’s standing about a foot away, looking awkwardly cute in his costume, and Gina feels her heart stutter. “You were great out there.”
“You, too.”
“Come on, let’s go somewhere a little more private.”
He pulls her into a secluded area in the backstage and what comes next makes her heart dip down quick into her stomach. He pulls her against him, before wrapping his arms around her tightly. She places her hand in his chest to steady herself at the sudden movement, and his heartbeat is so strong she can feel it thudding against her palm – lubb dub, lubb dub.
“Gina,” he whispers. A muffled purr is her reply as she closes her eyes. “I really like you,” he says.
They stay in that position for a couple of beats, before Gina opens her clouded eyes to stare back at him. “I really like you, too.”
And one moment, she’s staring into his eyes; the next, he’s cupping her face in his hands. Her eyes widen at his unspoken request and she nods her assent. Bit by bit, as if in slow motion, he lowers his head so their noses touch, and their lips are so close she can feel his breath mingle with hers. She feels warmth spread through her, reaching all the way to her toes and making her shiver in anticipation.
As he presses his lips against hers, she closes her eyes, relishing the moment.
The kiss isn’t rough or smooth, but somewhere in between, a flutter like a butterfly’s wings against her lips. Her hand finds movement, running through the side of his arms, ending back in his chest as she grips the fabric of his shirt for balance, because somehow his kiss has made all her joints malfunction.
Over the next week, Gina notices something weird about Ashlyn. The knowing looks she’s giving her have become more frequent and obvious, and it makes Gina a bit nervous that she’s figured out something’s going on between her and EJ. In the end though, every single one of their friends finds out indirectly because Gina is annoyed at EJ for distracting her when they’re supposed to fix some of the props from their musical, and Gina squeaks a little too loudly that EJ is a horrible boyfriend when she thinks no one’s nearby.
They are having dinner at Salt Lake Slices when Carlos acts as the group’s representative and asks, “Is there anything you guys want to tell us?”
The question is asked at the perfect time because Gina is in the middle of whispering something in EJ’s ear. She jumps in her seat at her friend’s question and EJ nearly chokes on his iced tea.
“What do you mean?” Gina asks, trying to remain collected as she pats EJ on the back.
“I’m talking about the two of you,” Carlos clarifies. “Is something going on?”
Gina opens her mouth, unable to find the words to say, and she looks to her companion for help. EJ nods at her, grabbing her hand under the table. “We’re dating.”
“For how long?” Seb asks, getting to the point.
Gina’s still incapable of speech somehow, so it’s EJ who answers again, “A little less than a month.” He squeezes her hand a little, giving her a soft smile of encouragement. “Sorry we didn’t tell you guys sooner. We wanted to see how things went for us before announcing it.”
“And how are things?” Ricky speaks up all of a sudden, picking up his glass of water and taking a sip. He watches them, face impassive, no judgment in his eyes.
“Things are great.” EJ places his hand around Gina’s shoulder, playing with the ends of her hair.
“We’re happy,” Gina says, looking Ricky in the eye, and her smile is warm and content.
By Monday Gina falls into a scream when her locker bursts open the moment she unlocks it. The door comes flying and out spills packs upon packs of granola bars, pooling around her feet. The students walking past her stop and stare and Gina doesn’t really mind the attention, especially when she reads the words ‘go to prom with me?’ painted in blue on the back of her locker door.
And as the night of the prom comes, EJ grabs Gina’s hand and escorts her to the dance floor to spin her around and dance with her. The theme is “Under the Stars”, and there is black taffeta canopied from the ceiling, covered with tiny lights. Gina buries her head in EJ’s shoulder, while EJ rests his cheek against her hair. It’s calm and warm, and they’re both indescribably happy, like this.
End.