Page 48 of The Boyfriend Boycott
“What are we talking about?” Spencer says, leaning her weight into me.Winnie excuses herself with a knowing glance, and I turn to face Spencer once she’s walked away.
“Just how incredible you are,” I say, Winnie’s words offering me a bit of courage to say what’s on my mind. I’m even more motivated now to be candid and truthful, and to say how I feel about Spencer in plain language so that there is no more questioning what she means to me. To start saying the things I’ve been feeling for Spencer since she arrived. Longer. Since I saw her for the very first time. “And how well you fit in here, how quickly you’ve made yourself at home here.”
“You’ve made it easy to fall in love with Heartwood.” She smiles as she looks up at me, and I wonder if she could be falling in love with me, too. The way I’ve fallen for her. Looking into her eyes now, an endless sea of green, I realize that I have. Whatever happens, I have to figure out how to keep her. Her eyes roam over my face, and I pray for time to slow down, wanting to bask in her gaze forever. “You changed the name of the bar.”
“I thought about it a lot, what you said.” I consider my next words. “You made a good point.”
“I did what now?” Spencer brings her hand up to her ear and cups it, a cheeky smirk lifting her lips.
“I said you had a point. Several, actually.”
“It sounds like you’re admitting I was right, Landry,” she says, crossing her arms over her puffed-out chest in a show of vindication.
“Fine. Yes. You were right. You’ve been right about all of it,” I say, letting my eyes roll playfully.
“Okay, so keep that in mind for this next part …” Spencer grabs me by the shoulders, her small hands unable to wrap around my biceps, and she turns me toward a microphone set up in the corner. It’s beckoning me in a way that makes my palms sweat. “It’s time to make your speech.”
I whirl back around to her, aplease forgive melook on her gorgeous, freckled face.
“Speech?” I stammer. “Spencer, I am not a public speaker.”
“Sure you are. You talk to people at the bar all day. You’re a charmer. Just go be a charmer up there.” She’s dragging me across the bar now, and I feel bile rising in my throat.
“I can talk to people, sure. One on one. Small groups.”
“What about trivia night?”
“That’s different. I have questions prepared. I have nothing prepared.”
“Then it’s a good thing I do.” She shoves a folded piece of paper towards me, and I unfold it, realizing that she has, in fact, written me an entire speech. I just have to say it. Now I don’t have an excuse.
I approach the microphone and give it a couple of taps to make sure it’s on. It is, and I feel about a hundred pairs of eyes on me, waiting for what I have to say. This is it, my moment. The moment that is meant to garner support for me and my cause, to change people’s perception of me. My palms are sweating. The paper in my hand crinkles, the sound amplifies across the bar.
“Good evening, everyone,” I start, scanning the page. The microphone screeches slightly before I start speaking again. “Thank you all for coming and participating in the First Annual Cocktail Contest.”
First annual? I shake my head slightly. I guess this will be a yearly occasion. My eyes find Spencer in the crowd, she’s beaming from ear to ear, her hands clasped in front of her. Since I have no willpower where Spencer is concerned, I keep going.
“The turnout is incredible, and you all put so much time and effort into the cocktails. As you all know, the purpose of this event is two-fold. First and foremost, to highlight all the amazing small businesses that make Heartwood what it is. You are the beating heart of this town. Second, as you are all aware,the winner of the cocktail contest, that is, whoever sells the most cocktails tonight will have their drink featured on the regular menu at the Whi—at Jack’s,” I correct. “Proceeds of tonight, and drink sales for the rest of the year, will go towards supporting up-and-coming entrepreneurs.”
A few people clap at this announcement, and I continue, still unsure of how Spencer has planned on achieving this.
“This support will come in the form of a bursary available to graduating students of Heartwood High, to support them through business school or as a start-up fund for their business idea. Later this week—” I pause as I quickly scan the page ahead and realization dawns on me of what Spencer has planned, the commitment she’s made on my behalf. I can only keep reading now, so I continue, “I will be at the Heartwood High career fair, where the first student to be awarded this bursary will be announced based on nominations from their teachers.”
The bar erupts into applause and hollers, and I look up from the paper, an incontrollable smile taking over my face. I’m starting to get a glimpse of Spencer’s master plan now, and hope blooms inside my chest. This might just work. A flash blinds me momentarily, and I realize it came from Spencer’s camera. She’s beaming with pride, in herself, in me.
I thank everyone one last time and click off the microphone before weaving back through the crowd to find Spencer. I’m about to scoop her up into my arms, twirl her around, and give her a kiss, because I no longer give a fuck about showing my affection for her publicly, but she’s launched into an excited rant before I get the chance.
“Oh my God, Grady, that was amazing!” she cries when I reach her. “I can’t believe that worked! I mean, I can. I put a lot of thought into that speech, and your delivery killed it.” She’s talking about a mile a minute and all I can do is just listen to her with a big, dumb smile plastered on my face. “Wait until Isend Mile High the footage of that. I might just be the best damn publicist they will ever see.”
Whatever this newfound wave of confidence is in Spencer, I’m eating up every bit of it. Finally, she recognizes how talented she is, how amazing she is. Though, something she’s said also causes me to pause. This is still about her end goal, not about me or Heartwood, but about how it’s going to get her to where she needs to be.
Spencer has managed to get her way again. She does what needs to be done in order to come out on top. Her entire life, she’s fought for everything she has. Despite the encouragement Winnie gave me earlier, I suddenly feel inadequate for Spencer. A feeling of dread washes over me at the thought that if leaving is what she really wants, then it isn’t going to matter what I say or do. I can be as candid and as transparent as I want, and still, this relationship has been and always will be on Spencer’s terms.
CHAPTER 20
SPENCER
Grady has been stuckto my side ever since he made his speech. I decided to keep the scholarship a secret. Mainly because I wanted Grady to be surprised, but also because I already promised the board of education five thousand dollars for a student this year, and if we didn’t make that tonight, the rest would be coming out of Grady’s pocket. I figured it was a small price to pay to show the town just how much Grady values them. Not only the town, but the future generations in Heartwood.
