Page 107 of Stargazer

Kitana barely gave me a second to walk through the door before she jumped up and bombarded me.

“Girl, you know the deal. Details. Now.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the living room where Billie and Celeste waited on the couch. Then she lowered to the floor, likely where she’d been previously sitting, bringing me down with her so we sat beside each other.

Billie gave me a warm look. “Sky’s here too, she’s just—”

“I’m making tea!” Skylar shouted from the kitchen. “Wait for me!”

“Wow, the whole gang is here,” I noted, still in a somewhat overwhelmed state.

“Sure are,” Cel chuckled.

A moment later, Sky entered from the kitchen, juggling a few mugs.

When she handed one to me, my expression immediately softened and I pouted in awe.

“You’re too good to me,” I proclaimed.

“If you can’t decide between the boys, you can always have me,” she replied with a wide, toothy grin as she threw herself on the couch next to Billie, almost spilling her own tea in the process. I laughed at her.

“Alright, everyone’s here and ready.” Kit’s observation was paired with wide eyes, eagerly egging me on like she always did when she was waiting for the goss.

Celeste sat forward on the couch, giving me a comforting yet encouraging look. “So, a decision has been made then?”

I released a long breath. “Yes.” Looking to Kit and then Billie I said, “I made the decision the night I spoke to you girls.”

“We didn’t want to push you when we’d finished our patrol, but we were wondering what happened. It’s been difficult not asking you about it, especially when you stayed over the other night after the scouting mission,” Billie admitted with an apologetic and guilty look. “We figured if you didn’t bring it up, you weren’t ready to talk about it, and we wanted to give you time to sort it out.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t confide in you all straight away. I wanted to talk to both of them first. In fact, I was hoping I’d get a chance to let River down easy when he got back before I told Griff—”

“SO YOU PICKED GRIFF?!”

Kitana rose excitedly, unable to contain herself and interrupting me before I could finish my sentence.

I hadn’t meant to let it slip like that, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the happiness oozing from her at the revelation.

I looked around the room. Sure enough, Cel, Billie and Sky were all looking at me with wide, surprised eyes. Although Cel’s expression was similar to Kit’s, in the sense that there was a smug, 'I knew it' vibe to the way she smirked at me. But equal happiness shone in all their eyes, including Sky’s—which was a huge relief.

“I did pick Griffin, yes.”

“I knew it!” Kit bounded on the spot. She looked at the other girls. “Didn’t I tell you?!”

Skylar chuckled, nothing but joy on her face. “You sure did. Although, I think we all had a feeling.”

“You did?” I questioned.

Cel was the one to answer. “Yeah, I think it was pretty obvious to all of us. Not that we couldn’t see that you loved Riv. But Griffin just seemed right for you. I know you enough to know that you were holding onto River and your history. You’re a softie and a sucker for love and happy endings. You desperately wanted that with Riv. But I have no doubt that Griffin will give you that, Vee.” She gave me a loving, sisterly smile which I returned, tears pricking my eyes once again.

Fuck, I was just a ball of waterworks at this point.

“Okay, so that explains you two being all flirty-sexy-training-partners in the garden at HQ yesterday! It was fully giving me Compound Venus and Griffin—the ones that couldn’t keep their hands off each other,” Kit mused, attempting to piece the timeline together.

“Hold on!” She exclaimed. “So did you tell him when you scouted the campsite? Because you were clearly trying to distract us with anything and everything possible when you got back. So that makes complete sense.”

I cringed. “Not exactly.”

Kit tilted her head, looking at me confused but clearly indicating I needed to expand, ASAP.

Simultaneously, Sky said, “Girl, what does that even mean?”

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