Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
“Better than an amazing, sexy, confident boyfriend who loves him enough to have planned this whole proposal to be something really meaningful to both of you? Really? He’s very lucky, Gary. I see you guys around. I see the way you look at each other. I know that what you have is something really special. I could only hope that one day I could find someone who I care about half as much as you guys care about each other.”
“That’s really nice of you to say.”
“I’m not saying it to be nice. I’m saying it because it’s true. That’s why I don’t think you have anything to worry about, even if this doesn’t go over exactly like you had planned.”
He leans forward and picks my folded-up proposal speech off the floor. He hands it to me. “Tear it up,” he tells me.
“I have it memorized, obviously.”
“That’s not what it’s about,” he says. “It’s about what that means. Tear it up.”
I glare at him, confused, but then I do, and surprisingly, it makes me feel better.
“You’re still here. Your man is still here. Your sexy costume is right upstairs. And you have everything you need to say to him in your heart. What else could matter?”
“Something going according to plan.”
“If things went according to plan, would you even be with Travis?”
As he says the words, I realize just how right he is. Not at all. If things had gone according to plan, I’d be with my bastard ex, Peter, making the biggest mistake of my life and finding out years from now that he’d been a total asshole to me. If things had gone according to my plan, I would never have gotten involved in a stupid fake relationship with Travis from the get-go.
Frankie beams as though he knows he’s struck a chord.
“You look so cocky right now. Like Travis gets when he knows he’s right.”
“I look this way a lot…because I’m right a lot.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t know how Evan puts up with you,” I tease.
“I’m curious.…Since you confirmed that rumor about the fake relationship, are the other rumors true?”
“Any rumor you’ve probably heard about us is true.”
“Including that one about you guys having three-ways?”
“What? Is that a rumor?” I ask, wide-eyed and panicked.
Frankie laughs a hearty laugh. “No, I’m just shitting you.”
“You’re awful, Frankie.”
“Hey, it made you calm down a little bit, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, it did. Thank you for that.”
He smiles before glancing around the room. “Okay, now that you’re a little more relaxed, why don’t we try finding another way to get you out to your future fiancé?”
I inspect our situation once again. “You think we should try the door some more, or scream?”
“I don’t want to compete with what sounds like the Spice Girls, so why don’t I play around with the lock a little more, see if I can’t wiggle something loose.”
He hops up off the box and approaches the door.
I stand and stick the torn-up pieces of paper into my pocket. As I approach him from behind, I say, “Thank you, Frankie.”
He turns to me and winces. “What are you thanking me for?”
“For calming me down and listening to my crazy. Evan’s always said that he likes hanging with you because you’re so easy to talk to…and that you’re a good listener. I can see that.”
“Eh, well, I feel Travis is going to have his hands full with you from here on out, so someone else should take on some of your crazy this time around.”
I laugh again, enjoying how much the tension in me has eased because of his support and encouragement.
It’s a shame we haven’t hung out more.
7
Travis
With every second that passes, my heart beats faster and my chest gets tighter. Everyone is moving around me—laughing, drinking, singing, dancing, talking, but my gut is in knots.
Chill out, Trav. Chill the fuck out. It’ll be okay.
I make my way to the bathroom, throw some water on my face and lean over, hands on the sink. My eyes are a little bloodshot—not bad but I’m definitely not looking my best.
It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay, it’ll be okay, I tell myself again. There’s the truth in there, the part of me that knows I’m overreacting but…I don’t know what it is. Something just doesn’t feel right.
Gary isn’t right.
There’s no way he wouldn’t have been in touch with me this long. That’s just not how we work. Even without knowing about my proposal, he could tell how stressed out I’ve been. He knows how important this day is to me because it’s just as important for him. If he hasn’t touched base with me, there’s a reason he hasn’t…a reason he can’t.
I shove away from the sink and out of the bathroom.
My hearing gets more echo-y and my throat more parched as I work my way through the boat.