Page 37 of Cinderella Screwed Me Over
“It has been nice to have someone in my same class—not to mention getting a little girl time in.” I set down the bucket of grain. “Stephanie and I aren’t doing anything tonight, though. What’s everyone doing later?”
Gil sighed. “I don’t think you get it.Imiss you.”
I looked up, meeting his gaze. “Wait, are you saying…?” I wasn’t sure I could finish. Not without making a fool of myself.
Instead of answering with words, Gil stepped forward and kissed me, a soft kiss that caused my pulse to skitter. “I like you, Darby,” he said when his lips left mine. “I’ve liked you for a long time. I kept waiting to make my move, thinking I’d say something next time we were alone. But then I waited too long and you stopped hanging out with us. Anyway, think about it. If you just want to be friends, I hope things won’t be awkward between us.”
I finally got past being stunned and really saw Gil for the first time. With his curly, black hair and big brown eyes, he was definitely cute. Then I thought about the way he always checked on me when we were out as a group—how he’d been there to pick me up the night I watched Sherman cheat on me. I’d never thought of any of my brothers’ friends as possible boyfriends, simply because we’d been close for so long. I thought that to them, I was just an annoying girl.
“Do it again,” I whispered.
“What part?” Gil asked.
My heart was pounding so hard I could feel every thump. “The kissing part.”
He grinned, then pulled me into his arms and kissed me again, one kiss after another, until they merged together and made the world spin.
The rest of the guys weren’t sure what to think about Gil and me as a couple. It took them a little while to adjust, but before too long, they all got used to the idea. Steph and Drew started dating, too—though they only lasted a month. Things were tense between them for a couple weeks, but then they got over it. They had to. That’s the curse and blessing of small-town dating.
On warmer days, Gil and I would go to the pond to relax or swim. One day he got out his pocketknife and carved our initials in the tree. He told me he loved me, and I returned the sentiment. About a month later, under the shade of that same tree, Gil and I lost our virginity together. He was thoughtful and careful and checked on me afterward. I’d been a little scared it would change everything. It did in a lot of ways, but not in the way I’d worried. Things between us couldn’t have been better.
Then he graduated high school and our relationship suddenly had an expiration date—he was going to college in California, and we agreed that the long-distance thing would be too hard.
We spent the entire summer together, soaking in every spare minute we could. The night before he left for California, we went to our usual spot near the pond and said our good-byes. I did my best not to cry, but I shed a few tears. Okay, alotof tears.
When the sun dipped low in the sky, all but disappearing, Gil stood and extended his hand to me. “You ready to go back?”
I shook my head. “I’m going to stay here.”
“I’ve got to go. My parents are waiting.” He bent down and kissed me. The kiss was filled with love and sorrow, an accumulation of an almost yearlong relationship and more than three years of friendship. It left me hollow and full, all at the same time. “Good-bye, Darby. I love you.”
I didn’t bother holding back the tears anymore. “Love you, too.”
I thought it was the end of the world, and for a while, it was.
When Gil came home for Christmas break, he and I spent three blissful weeks together, everything the way it was before he’d left for college. I was sure that we were destined to be together. Waiting until summer wouldn’t be easy, but when he came back for summer vacation, we’d be able to pick up where we left off.
But Gil got a job out in California. Steph and I had talked about going to school in Denver. I’d applied to the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and she was planning on going to Metropolitan State. I’d also applied to a school out in California in case Gil and I got serious over the summer. Without him coming home, though, things just fizzled out. It was over. I needed to move on.
So I did.
Then Devin and Anne got married and I saw Gil again. He looked great, asked me to dance, and as we spun around the floor, I felt seventeen all over again. Things with us were always so comfortable. Easy.
Then the whole thing with Ralph and me happened. Everyone loves the story about me slapping him and telling him off; my favorite part of the night happened a couple of minutes after that.
I’d just shoved the money in Ralph’s hand and watched him get into the elevator when I heard someone say, “You have really bad taste in guys.”
I whipped around, ready to let whoever it was have it. Gil was smiling at me. “Yeah, I do,” I said. “I can think of only one exception.”
Gil pointed to himself, a hopeful look on his face.
I shook my head. “No. It was…” I grinned and gave him a playful shove. “Yes, you. Honestly, you’re about the only guy I’ve dated who hasn’t been a total jackhole. Although, for the record, that guy wasn’t my choice. He was a setup. A very bad setup.”
Drew walked up to me and threw his hand in the air. “That. Was. Awesome!”
I gave him his high five. That’s when I noticed all the people looking at me. “Wow, everyone’s still staring. It’s like they’ve never seen a guy get slapped at a wedding before.”
“Oh, there’s the guy with the camcorder,” Drew said, pointing to the videographer. “I’m going to go see if he got it.” He took off across the floor.
