Page 7 of Twenty Years Later

"Oh, man, I hate to do this, but I have to run. I'm actually on the reunion committee, and I'm supposed to check out the space right now and make sure everything looks okay for tonight."

"No problem."

We both stood up and started for the door. Once we tossed our trash out, he turned to me. "You're at the Marriott next door, right?"

"Yep."

"I'll pick you up in the lobby at six-thirty then. All right?"

"Sounds good." I nodded, gulping as I turned to go.This was really happening.

"Oh, and Jayda?"

I looked over my shoulder at him. "Yes?"

"I'm going to read your book today."

He winked at me and walked away, leaving me stunned. Alex Hernandez was going to read my book? About a teenage girl?

I didn't know what to make of that. Was he teasing me again? Or was he serious? After all these years, this guy still did things to me, and I had no idea how to feel.

Chapter Three

Jayda

Pacing inside the Marriott lobby, I looked at my phone again.

6:45 P.M.

My heart sunk even more. Was Alex Hernandez seriously standing me up?

I felt sick. Ialreadyfelt sick, but this... this made it unbearable. Cursing my high heels, I walked over to the bar and ordered a glass of wine. Something, anything, to take off the edge, I hoped.

As I sipped my drink and eyed the doors, I wondered, how long did a person wait? Thirty minutes? An hour? That seemed too long.

I decided on thirty minutes. That's how long I'd give him to show up.

As I waited, I thought of every teenage movie I'd ever seen where there's a cruel prank played on some poor nerdy girl who got all dressed up for the prom. I so felt like that girl right now.

No one had ever stood me up before, and I really couldn't believe he would do that. Something had to have happened, right?

6:50 P.M.

As the minutes ticked by, my mind spiraled into that dark, insecure place I'd inhabited in high school. It hadn't been torture like some kids, I knew. No one had really picked on me or bullied me.

But I'd had a weird relationship with my best friend where she always led the way, and I followed. And she hadn't been very nice about it. She had lorded it over me a ridiculous amount of times. Being an unconfident girl, I had let her, and that unique torment had made those years hell.

6:55 P.M.

Five more minutes and I was out of here. I took a shaky breath. In some ways, I was glad. I didn't really want to see my ex-best friend, Melanie, anyway. We had lost touch years ago, and I had no intention of rekindling that "friendship" anytime soon.

I stared at the door and watched a beautiful couple decked out in their finest as they headed out for the night. God, how I missed that. Not that Blake and I had been big out-on-the-town people. We were much more likely to cuddle up on the couch with popcorn and wine.

But I just missed having thatperson, that one person in the world I could always rely on to love me no matter what.

6:59 P.M.

That was it. I was done waiting. Maybe in high school, I'd have given him longer. But no way. I wasn't in high school anymore.

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