Page 118 of The Deal

I’m surprised by how calm I sound, how composed I’m staying when there’s a herd of excited butterflies thumping in my stomach and shouting hells yeah at top-volume. Jeez. I’m about to complicate my life by inviting a girlfriend into it, yet somehow I’m one hundred percent cool with that.

“Then okay.” Hannah smiles at me. “Let’s make it official.”

A dark cloud obscures some of my happiness. “What about Justin?”

“What about him?”

“You told him you’d go out with him,” I say through clenched teeth.

“Actually, I canceled the date before I came out here.”

The dumb butterflies inside me take flight again. “You did?”

She nods.

“So you’re not all hot for him anymore?”

Humor dances in her eyes. “I’m hot for you, Garrett. Only you.”

Just like that, my anxiety dissolves into a burst of pure joy that brings a grin to my lips. “Damn right you are.”

Rolling her eyes, she moves in and rubs her cold cheek against my chin. “Now can we please go inside? I’m freezing my butt off and I need my fluffer to warm me up.”

I narrow my eyes. “Excuse me?”

She blinks innocently. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I say fluffer?” Her smile lights up her whole face. “I meant boyfriend.”

Sweetest words I’ve ever heard in my life.

33

HANNAH

Life is good.

Life is wonderfully, amazingly, scarily good.

These past two weeks of dating Garrett have been a blur of laughter and cuddling and hot sex, intermingled with real life events like classes and studying, rehearsals and hockey games. Garrett and I forged a connection that caught me by surprise, but even though Allie continues to tease me about my sudden about-face when it comes to the guy, I don’t regret my decision to date him and see where things go. So far, it’s been working out great.

But see, here’s the thing about life. When it’s this good?

Something inevitably goes bad.

“I know this is an inconvenience,” says Fiona, my performing arts advisor. “But I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do except advise you to speak directly to Mary Jane and?—”

“No way,” I cut in, my stiff fingers curling around the arms of my chair. I stare at the pretty blond woman across the desk, and wonder how she can possibly describe this atom bomb of a disaster as an inconvenience.

And she wants me to talk to Mary Jane?

Fuck. That.

Because why the fuck would I talk to the stupid, brainwashed bitch who just ruined any chance I had of winning a scholarship?

I’m still reeling from what Fiona told me. Mary Jane and Cass dumped me. They actually got permission to kick me out of the duet so that Cass can sing it as a solo.

What the hell.

Yet in the back of my mind, I’m not even surprised. Garrett had warned me something like this could happen. I had worried about it myself. But never in a million years had I expected Cass to do this four weeks before the showcase.

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