Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
His hands flew to his chest. “Oh, thank God.” He shook a finger at me. “You had me in the first half, not going to lie.”
“You know me, jokes on jokes.” When was someone going to hand me over my Emmy award?
“Yeah, well, shut up and eat before it gets cold.”
So I did exactly that. We ate all the food on the table, and I loved the fact that I felt comfortable enough to stuff my face in front of the boy who’d been there for me since day one. I never felt comfortable enough to do that around Carlton. Once last year, he mentioned how much bread I was eating at lunch, and it kind of stayed in my head a little too much. I was embarrassed by myself, and ever since then, I’ve watched my carb intake.
I couldn’t stop laughing at Aiden’s lame jokes during our meal. Every girl deserves a best friend like Aiden. The world would be a lot easier to live in if they had someone like him.
After dinner, Aiden brought us wet naps to clean our hands. Then he moved over to the record player and put on another song.
“All right, it’s time to get that first dance out of the way. So come on down and move your hips to Hailee’s favorite Disney song as she takes the dance floor for the first dance.” Aiden held his hand out toward me. “Can I have this first dance?” he asked.
I took his hand into mine, and he smiled as he walked us to the dance floor.
Just then, the song “Beauty and the Beast” came on, my favorite song from my favorite Disney movie.
I smiled a little. “I don’t know if this is what people are really doing at house parties, Aiden.”
“Are you kidding? This is exactly what was happening before I left earlier tonight.”
I gave him a broken smile. “Thank you.”
“Always.”
I lowered my head. “I’m still sad,” I confessed. Every now and again, Carlton would cross my mind, and I’d be filled with an extreme amount of embarrassment. But then, I’d shift my thoughts to Aiden, and things would seem a little bit better. “But I’m happy, too. I don’t know how I can be both things all at once.”
“I’m not surprised. Nothing about you has ever been simple, Hailee Jones.”
I smirked. “True.”
“You look beautiful, Hails.”
I felt my cheeks heat. I was convinced that more men like Aiden needed to exist. Men who called women beautiful in all their states of being.
I leaned in and rested my head against Aiden’s shoulder as we swayed back and forth to my favorite song. “Thanks for being you.”
After we danced the night away and drank way too much soda from the Red Solo cups, we lay down in the grass and looked up at the stars sprinkled across the sky. Aiden kept making corny jokes, and I kept laughing. We talked about everything, and the conversation always came easy. After a while, we stopped talking, and even our silence came easy. We listened to the music on the record player, and before I knew it, I was falling asleep with Aiden by my side.
“Cinderella,” a voice whispered, waking me from my sleep as I was lifted into the air.
“What’s going on?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes as I looked up to see my father carrying me in his arms.
“The clock struck midnight. Time for bed,” he said. I yawned and wrapped my arms around his neck. No matter my size, no matter my age, I was always going to be my father’s little girl.
Dad walked over to Aiden, who was still sleeping, and he lightly nudged him with his foot. “Hey, Prince Charming, bedtime,” Dad said, his voice much sterner than when he woke me up.
Aiden yawned and stretched out as he rubbed his eyes. “Okay, Karl.” He stood to his feet and looked in our direction with his sleep-drunk goofy grin. “Best. Party. Ever.”
I couldn’t help but agree.
“Night, Tom,” I said as I yawned and lay my head on Dad’s shoulder.
Aiden tousled his messy hair and then brushed his hand against the back of his neck. “Night, Jerry.”
Dad carried me the whole way to my bedroom, even when I told him he could’ve put me down because I was too big to be carried to bed by my dad. He lay me in bed and smiled as he kissed my forehead.
“I’m sorry about what happened earlier, Cinderella,” he said. “Sometimes people are stupid and make stupid choices, but that has nothing to do with you. Those people’s words do not get to define you. Only you do. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“And their actions have nothing to do with your self-worth, right? They don’t get to tell you that you’re good enough—you do that. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“And you are the most beautiful, smart, and powerful woman alive. Do you understand?”