Page 39 of Envy

“Because I told you that story a very long time ago. And you remembered. Thank you so much.”

Her eyes sparkle with happiness and fuck … it’s nice to know I put it there. She raises up on her toes and presses her soft lips to my cheek for a kiss.

Then, she tilts her head toward the sky and sighs contentedly. Oh yeah, I’m the king of the fucking world. And I’m not done yet.

“You’re welcome.” I run the tip of my finger down her nose and stop myself from tracing the outline of her top lip.

“As much as I want to stand here and hear you praise my trip planning skills, this California by way of Texas boy is not used to all this walking. Let’s go look for a taxi. We have to cross to the other side of the river for our next stop.”

She moves so she’s beside me, but her arms stay looped around my waist.

I sling my arm over her shoulder and start us walking again.

“I like walking, and the weather is gorgeous. Is it really far?” she cajoles.

“Hold on, let me see.” I pull out my phone and open my maps app and type in our destination.

She rises to her toes and tries to peek over my arm. “Ooh, where are we going?” she asks, and I lift my phone higher and out her line of sight. “Oh, you’re no fun,” she complains and drops back to walk normally.

“It’s a surprise,” I tease and she bumps me with her hip.

“Another one? I’m going to faint if you do one more amazing thing. I don’t even know what to do

with everything we’ve done today.”

“Enjoy it. I know your birthday isn’t for another couple of months, but once school starts, I knew finding time to do this would be impossible. So, I’m just glad we could do it now.” I read the directions and see the walk is less than fifteen minutes away.

“Yeah, me too. Especially because here, I don’t have to be eighteen to drink.” She nods enthusiastically.

“I don’t even know how you can stand the taste of alcohol.” I grimace.

“I don’t care about the taste, I like the way I feeeeel,” she coos.

“Well, just so long as you know the way you feeeeel won’t be so hot in the morning, knock yourself out. I’ll get us home safely.”

“Of course, you will. You’re my Grahamstar.” She gives me a squeeze around the waist.

“That name … Sunshine.”

“What? You know you love it!”

I do. But I’ll never stop giving her shit for it.

“This is fun. I wish we could see each other more often, you know?” she says. And it gives me the perfect segue into what I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to talk to her about.

“I’ve got one more year, and then I’m going to grad school.” I give her a sidelong glance. She’s looking straight ahead, but I can see the lifted corner of her mouth in profile.

“Are you going to stay at UCLA?” she asks, scuffing the toe of her sandals on the wide bricked pavement and shooting me a sidelong glance that gives me the confidence I need to get the rest of my words out.

“I was thinking … I could apply to schools in Las Vegas,” I say tentatively.

She skids to a stop and lets go of my waist. She whirls around to stand in front of me. Her eyes are wide with surprise, her mouth gaping open.

“Are you serious?” she shouts.

“Uh, yeah … why not? My grades are good. Extracurricular sucks because I work, but I think I have enough to get into the master’s in education programs at UNLV, I mean, if you—”

“Oh my God, Graham,” she screams and then launches herself at me. She wraps her limbs around me before I can even think to try and catch her.

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