Page 2 of Always Been Yours

She’s a little more snuggled into my side than what’s necessary for us to all fit, just like every year.

Vivi lacing our pinkies together under the sheet is new though. I could feel my face heat up for at least five minutes after. Hudson gave me a weird look, but no one said anything.

The small contact makes me want to pretend that everything is fine between us, but I know it’s not. Every time I look at her, I catch her hazel eyes darting away. Every. Single. Time. She doesn’t look like she has been crying but the green in her irises are brighter than they usually are, so she’s definitely upset. She’s been quieter today than she was earlier in the week. Her laughs have been harder to pull out of her, and she didn’t even fight Asher for the last bag of kettle corn. I know her siblings won’t think much about it, with her tendency to fold into herself sometimes, but she usually leaves a space for just me.

Today, it feels like there is a small corner for everyone except me.

When the ending credits finally start rolling across the screen, I look around to make sure everyone else is crashed out before I gently tug on Vivi’s pinky until her eyes flutter open. She starts to say something when I bring my other hand to her mouth. Her brows pull together, but she nods. I stand up and pull her out of the mess of blankets. With our pinkies hooked back together, I guide her to her bedroom and through the window that leads to our favorite spot on her roof.

I sit close enough for our knees to touch and set our linked fingers in my lap.

I don’t know if we sit up there for a few minutes or a few hours, but no amount of time ever feels long enough when I’m alone withher.

We don’t talk a lot while we sit under the stars, but I can see the tension slowly leaving her body. It turns into overthinking, the evidence written all over her face. Her brows are still knitted together, but instead of exasperation, her eyes are wide like she’s trying to visualize every single thought that’s fighting, all at once, to make themselves known to her.

“Hey.” I bump our shoulders together. “Vivi,” I say when she still won’t look at me. “Do you want to talk about it?” I know better than to open a conversation with Vivi that doesn’t allow her an escape route.

She looks up at me with an expression I’ve never seen on her face before. The freckles along her cheeks and nose are bunched up together, like when she’s confused, but the way she’s looking up at me through her lashes is both angry and scared.

“Am I your best friend?”

This feels like a trick. “You know you’re my best friend. You do know that, right?” I don’t know what I could have done to make her think otherwise, but I would pluck every star out of the sky right now, if that was what she needed to realize that she has always been the most important person in my life.

“Is that all that I am?” She sounds sad now.

“What do you mean?” I don’t know what else I can give her, but I can try. All I know is that I want to kiss her. Just like I did when I took her to the beach and surprised her with a picnic for her birthday last May. I know that I’ve wanted to make Vivi my whole world since last winter when she got caught sneaking into my room. She fell out of my window, cutting her jaw when she landed on her face, and looked up at me with eyes full of tears, before running to the gate leading to her backyard.

I decide to lean in before I know what’s going on.She starts to say something to dismiss the conversation and turn her head away from me, but I can’t stop myself in time. Our noses bump together, hard, and my lips catch the side of her mouth as she’s letting out a softfuck.

I stare at her for a second before turning away. If she could see the color rushing to my entire upper body, I’m sure she would say it’s the deepest red to ever grace my cheeks. I’m already thinking of a thousand ways to apologize and beg her to pretend like I didn’t just try to drastically change our friendship when I hear her quiet giggle.

When I turn back toward her, she’s grinning so wide and lets out one of her high-pitched cackles. My favorite of her laughs and the one that I’ve only ever heard come out of her because I brought it to life. After a few seconds of staring at her, embarrassed and infatuated, I start to laugh too. My face is still hot when we calm down and she turns toward me.

“Grady, will you try again?”

I slowly turn before leaning toward her. This time I come to a stop a few inches away, just long enough to let her see the smile in my eyes, and softly press our lips together.

Chapter One

Vivi

“My dad says you hate him.”

The small voice startles me so much I drop the stapler in my hand. “Holy f—“I start to say as I turn around but stop when I see two girls standing in my classroom. “Holyfunk.You scared me.“ I let out a quiet confused laugh, looking around awkwardly. “I can assure you that I don’t hate him, but who is your dad?”

As I bend down to grab the stapler the older girl speaks, “Grady Miller.” It slips out of my hand again. I don’t bother to pick it up before standing and looking at the two girls who wandered into my classroom.

Now that I’m actually lookingat them, it makes sense. So much so that I don’t know how I didn’t immediately realize. His parents mentioned a few months ago that he would be moving back but that was the last I heard. It has been about eight years since I last saw him and if I’m remembering correctly, it wasn’t too long after that that his oldest daughter was born.

Even though I’ve spent the last few years trying to forget his stupid boyish grin, unfortunately, I haven’t. And the curious little humans standing in front me are his clones with all Grady’s featuresplastered on their adorable faces. Both girls have his perfect milk chocolate brown hair with loose curls and brown eyes that shine golden when the light hits them just right. The biggest difference I notice is that their complexion is fair, when Grady had always had a natural tan that glowed under the sunset.

Sometimes I wondered if he still did.

Not that it matters.

Not like I’ve tried Googling him… recently.

Not like there isanythingabout that man on the internet since he was in college and still playing baseball.

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