Page 81 of Counter Bet

“This is it, Em,” I whisper to myself and press submit on my college application. It’s done. It’s out there now.

I pick up my phone and collapse on my bed. I had such a great time at the beach today. I haven’t been able to stop smiling since I returned home.

I browse through the photos, debating if I should upload one to my Instagram. It makes me nervous. And not for the reasons you would think. It’s not because I worry about my reputation or something equally ridiculous, but because it feels significant, in a way, to make it so public.

I pick a photograph of all of us lying on our backs in the sand, head-to-head, and caption it‘New Beginnings.’

It feels good to put us out there for the world to see. I need them both to know that I’m not ashamed of them, and I’m not keeping them a secret. I’m done hiding. Whatever it is that we started, I want to see it through.

A notification pops up on my screen. Ben has posted a picture of me on his own social media, but it’s not a group photo like mine. It’s of me snoozing on the beach in the late afternoon sun, shortly before we decided to head back home. The caption simply reads‘Princess.’

I nearly jump out of my skin when my phone pings with a new text message.

Dallas: Good night, beautiful.

I type out a quick response. If this is what happiness feels like, I never want it to end.

---