Page 6 of Gracefully Yours

I shook my head. “Okay, if I haven’t met anyone by the time you turn thirty… we’ll get married. A marriage pact.” If we waited untilIwas thirty, he’d be nearing thirty-two. I really hoped neither one of us would still be single at thirty-two.

He cracked a grin, running his fingers through his dark hair. “Good.”

“Now, can we get back to the show? I like this part.”

Maybe it was because I didn’t want to linger on the thought of ustogether. Married.I just wanted our routine, our comfort. To sit far enough on the couch that we weren’t touching, just like always.

We didn’t cuddle. We didn’t hold hands. We were best friends, and that was enough.

Best friends who agreed to marry each other if they didn’t meet anyone else, but… who was counting?

I hit play.

Daniel

SOPHOMORE YEAR

“Angelina,”I called, huffing down the hallway with her box in my arms. “Did youreallyhave to pack so much stuff? It’s not like we can’t go home on the weekends.” I couldn’t help but tease her.

My younger sister had decided to go to the same college as me—not that I minded, because we’d always been close growing up, but I was serious. She had packed almost her entire freaking wardrobe—and we only lived about twenty-five minutes from campus.

“Shush,” Angelina said, brushing her long black hair behind her back. It was a trait we both had in common—hair so dark, it almost looked black. It was our Italian heritage on our mom’s side that we got it from, as well as our olive-skinned complexion, but she had gotten our dad’s blue eyes versus my brown ones.

I playfully rolled my eyes at her as I set my armful down in her dorm room.

“How much more is there?” She asked. It was still pretty sparse, but her new roommate had already started unpacking her stuff.

“Car’s almost empty.” I gave her roommate—Gabrielle, I tried to remind myself—a slight nod as she continued emptying a box, before we both headed back down for another load.

After we had finished emptying the car, I stood outside with the last load in my arms, staring up at Juniper Hall—the dorm my sister would live in for the year. I couldn’t believe how normal it felt that we’d be going to the same school together again. That anytime I wanted to hang out, I at least had my sister.

All over the quad were families, parents dropping their kids off at school, but Angelina only had me. Not that our parents were gone, or anything—but after their divorce, neither one of them could stand being in the same place, and now it was just us here.

I locked my car and adjusted the last box of stuff in my arms and headed back into the dorm to take the elevator up to the third floor. Of course, Angelina hadn’t waited for me, so I’d had to shuffle the box to press the up button, but I made it work.

When the elevator doors finally opened, I sawher.

Everything was hazy, and then she whirled around, retreating into a room in a blur of blonde and pink.

I blinked, and Angelina popped her head out of her door. “You coming with that?”

“Oh. Uh. Yes.” I followed her into her room and plopped the box on the floor, looking for a glimpse of the blonde girl again.

Why did I have such a desire to get another look at her? I’d barely even seen her face, so it was crazy that I was feeling this way. My freshman year girlfriend and I had broken up before summer started, but it wasn’t like I was longing for another relationship. I was fine with just having my few buddies, running track, and focusing on my engineering classes.

“I’ll get going now,” I said to Angelina, nodding briefly at Gabrielle, whose parents had left to get food. They’d brought their daughter all the way out here from Boston, and I was glad that at least someone seemed to have parents who cared about their whereabouts.

“Okay. See you later!” Angelina smiled at me before turning back to her mess of clothes she was attempting to fit in the tiny dorm closet.

“Have fun at Orientation, sis. Don’t get into any trouble.”

She made a little pouty face, like she always did when I called her that. That was the thing with spending all of your time with your sibling—you knew them inside and out. Even when she pretended to hate me around her friends in high school, we’d always been close. We’d go home, and after finishing our homework, we’d watch TV or play video games together.

I hated how she always beat me at Mario Kart.

“Daniel, I’m not twelve anymore. I can take care of myself, promise.”

Sure, I knew she could, but ever since our parents had divorced, I’d felt like I needed to look after her more. It was weird thinking she was an adult now, living on her own. That she wouldn’tneedme.

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