Page 58 of So Wrong It's Right

I get pushed into the yard and everyone crowds around me. “Okay, this is weird. Somebody needs to tell me—” My heart catches when I see Christopher.

He leaves the porch and walks toward me wearing a suit and holding a bouquet of...glitter pens? I still don’t know what is going on, but I wish someone had at least clued me in enough to make sure I didn’t have food in my teeth before I got here.

He’s gorgeous. I don’t know how I ever thought he was awkward. He’s still wearing those huge glasses, but behind them, his eyes are trained on me. The air feels charged, a moment dragging impossibly long between us. Like static buzzing and zapping. I can’t look away from his eyes, even though I know I’ve been staring into them too long. It’s like falling. Or maybe flying.

I’m in love. Dagger through the heart love. Why? Why now? Why him? What is going on? He stops in front of me, a look of determination on his stupid, perfect face. How does he look so damn good?

I want. Goddess, do I want. I’ve never let myselflongfor anything as much as I long for him. And I’ve longed for stuff before pretty hardcore.

I want him. All of him. I want the taste of him on my lips. The slide of his skin under my hands.

But it wouldn’t be enough.

I want his smiles. The light in his eyes. His laughter and his pain and all the things I’m not entitled to. Because I made him up. He was never mine.

“What are you doing here?” My voice is raw, like I’m swallowing jagged tears. I know better than to hope. “What is happening?”

He takes a deep breath. “My life is incredibly boring. I mean like really, really boring.”

I look around, wondering if anyone else is as lost as I am. They are all smiling.

Hope is a terrible thing. The way it clings like sap. You can wash it off, but a bit always remains, reminding you it’s there.

“Or it was boring until I met you. And then it was boring again when you were gone.”

“I don’t understand. Christopher, what is going on?”Please put me out of my misery. Please finish this.

Please love me.

“Knowing you has fundamentally changed something inside me. A seismic shift. The ground beneath my feet has liquified.”

“Um, okay.”

“I’m having a hard time finding the right words.” He blows out a breath and I remember what his hot breath felt like on my skin. “I like the way the shifting ground feels. I really, really like it...and you.”

Hope shoots up like a sprig of grass fighting to live in the crack of the sidewalk. “You like me?” I look around at everyone assembled. “Is that why we’re all here? Because you like me?”

“No. I’m making a mess of this. Sorry. So, the people on the porch are my parents and my grandparents.”

My breath catches in my throat and they all four wave to me.

“They are here because I want to include my family and yours because they’re important to us.I’mhere because you stole my heart the first time I saw you.” I can see the pulse in his neck jumping and a fine sheen of sweat on his temples. He’s nervous. About me. “I’ve never known another person who could irritate me more.” Right, okay. That’s legit. “You make me crazy. I want to throttle you as much as I want to kiss you senseless.” He inhales deeply, and I notice his hands are shaking. “I’m completely and wholly in love with you. That is why we are all here.” He holds up his free hand. “No, wait. Don’t say anything. I need you to listen to all of it. Here,” he thrusts the pens at me, “take these.”

I don’t think I’m breathing anymore.

“Christopher...”

“I bought this house.”

The Easter egg Victorian? “You hate this house.”

He shakes his head. “No, I hate the way it scared me. The way it challenged me to think differently. That it invited chaos and needed to be filled with children and pets and love and hope. This house is like your heart. And I didn’t think I was the kind of man who could fill your heart with children and pets and love and hope. But I am.”

I look around again at the public spectacle he’s created for himself. Not unlike his failed proposal. Where did he find the courage to put himself out there again? All for me?

“It occurs to me that I never asked you to be my girlfriend. We just sort of...accidentally started dating.”

“Accidentally...” I look around at the crowd, wondering if I should come clean with them all at some point. Perry shakes her head, reading my thoughts.

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