Page 38 of My Favorite Girl

She said she wants space to clear her head. I’m respecting her wishes, but these have become the most painful five days of my life, waiting for her to reach out to me.

I can’t help but think I ruined everything with that one kiss. We had a dynamic and I changed it. But I couldn’t stop myself from kissing her. Ally looked so damn happy receiving the scholarship acceptance letter. It might be the happiest I’ve everseen her. I lost control and kissed her. A kiss I’ve waited four fucking years to have.

She grinded against me, so desperate to feel my dick between her legs. Ally would have let me fuck her right then and there, regardless that we weren’t home alone. How quickly it all turned to shit. I’ve never seen anyone pack their bags so fast, all to put distance between us. She couldn’t even look at me.

“Bro, what the hell is with you tonight?” Felix speaks over the music, taking a seat beside me on the couch in his living room. He has a Jack Daniel’s in one hand. With the other, he pulls a blond in a bikini onto his lap. “A better question would be what is with youeverynight? You’re not drinking or getting any pussy. You’re miserable every day.”

“Nothing is wrong. I’m just not in the mood.” I’d been out on the balcony with everyone a moment ago, the only one fully dressed and not sitting in the hot tub, but had enough when two people started having sex in the water.

“Girl problems?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

“She not into you or something?” Felix pushes. “Got a boyfriend?”

“It’s not about a girl. Dad is pissing me off more than normal.”

“Ah, makes sense now, why you’re acting so lovesick over our father.” He laughs. The girl takes his hand, guiding him to his bedroom. He calls back to me, “Seriously, have a drink. Fuck some pussy. Problem solved.”

There was a time when that solution would have worked. Now, I can’t bear the thought of being with anyone other than Ally.

Being at Felix’s place with the many girls that approach me is only making everything worse. I grab my keys and leave the apartment, getting into my car and driving around the city toclear my head. But the only clarity the drive gives me is that I need Ally by my side. She’s scared, but we can talk through her fears. We can keep what we have private and make this work between us. No one has found out about our feelings this far.

I drive to Ally’s uncle’s building—the hotel Ally used to live in before our parents got married—deciding I’m going to confess everything to her. I’ll tell her how much she means to me, that I adore her, fuckingloveher, and that I don’t care if we’re wrong together on paper.

When I enter the lobby, I call Ally’s phone, not surprised when she doesn’t answer. I approach the front desk, seeking out the receptionist. “I need to get a message to the penthouse. My… A family member is visiting?—”

“The residents of the penthouse are out of town on business,” a male receptionist tells me. “They left this morning.”

“Did they mention whether their niece was staying behind?”

“Ah, Ally. No, she departed this morning, too.”

I return to my car, driving home with the hopes of finding Ally there. The night is late. She wouldn’t be anywhere else.

It’s not long before I step through the front door, finding Dad alone on the couch, watching a news station.

“You’re home,” he says as I walk by him for my bedroom. “How was your time with Felix?”

“Fine. Not really in the mood for chitchat. I need to talk to Ally about something.”

“Ally?” The confusion in his voice is enough to stop me in my tracks. “Ally and Amabella left today.”

“Left? Where did they go?”

He scrunches his nose with even more confusion. “Paris. I thought you knew this.”

Paris?

My heart sinks and I have this awful feeling in my stomach. Ican’tbe hearing my father right. How could Ally be in Parisalready when the scholarship doesn’t start for another few months? Why is Amabella with her?

Ally hasn’t said goodbye to me. She hasn’t saidanythingat all.

My throat closes up. I work hard to swallow down the disbelief and sickness rising in me. “Oh, right. I did know. I got my dates mixed up. I haven’t been sober for the last five days. You know what it’s like when I get together with Felix.”

My father scowls. His judgment is the last thing I care about right now.

“You should call Ally,” he says, flicking through the TV channels. “I’m worried about her. She came home from Daxton’s with this frantic urge to get to Paris immediately. Amabella insisted she travel with Ally for the first week to help get her settled into her new home. I would have gone too but there are work meetings I can’t get out of.” He starts talking about Forever Families. I don’t hear a word of it. Nothing registers except when he says, “Ally said she left something for you on your bed.”

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