Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 15525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 78(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 78(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 52(@300wpm)
"Stop, stop, I'm going to get lipstick everywhere!"
My friends release me, laughing. Lauren rolls her eyes. "Please, Bree. You're perfect. I can't wait to get to the bar and show you off."
A shiver runs down my spine. "I don't need to be shown off, I just want to celebrate with you three."
Lauren cocks a brow and Gemma lets out a laugh before sharing a look with Marlena.
I hook my arm through Lauren's, my pulse coming quicker.
“Where are we going anyway?” I question and their answer is easy. The breeze moves through my hair on the way to Lauren’s SUV. She’s always DD. As the seatbelt clicks into place,I feel practically giddy. Maybe there's just something in the air. I'm excited about the promotion, of course, but I worked hard for it. As shocked as I was to get the title of Head Editor, it also seems to fit.
Who knows? Maybe it's tonight that's special. Maybe tonight is the night that I'm finally the person I’ve been working towards being, with nothing from the past holding me back. What is it that people say? It's the first day of the rest of my life.
The bar is lit up from the inside, practically beckoning us to the door. For a minute, as we get closer, it almost feels like high school again. The nights we went to football games and ate pizza at the little restaurant downtown were like magic. We felt like the world was just opening up for us, like anything could happen. Like anyone could walk through the door.
Though at the time, it wasn't just anyone I thought about.
It was someone very specific.
And tonight reminds me of him, even though it's a night out with the girls, and he moved across the country a long time ago.
I try to shake off the memories, and Lauren pulls me closer to her. "Cold?"
"Excited!"
She laughs. "Yeah, I bet! It's been way too long since we went out. Now that you're head editor, you'll have more time for us, right?"
"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around."
"No, no!" Gemma says. "You're the boss. You get to set your own schedule. That means you have to let us steal you away for wine down Wednesdays again."
"She's right," Marlena agrees. "You have to. Or else one day you'll turn around and realize you missed everything."
"Shh," scolds Lauren. "Bree's been here for everything. All the important stuff. Nothing else matters."
I make a silent promise to myself that I will spend more time with my friends. More responsibility at work doesn't mean I can let friendships fall by the wayside. I'm not willing to let any of them get away, not after–
Gemma pulls the front door of the bar open. Noise pours out onto the sidewalk. People talk over one another, music plays, and glasses clink.
"Drinks!" Lauren says over the noise, and pulls me with her toward the bar. A couple attached to each other at the lips veers into our path, and Lauren shoos them out of the way. The man's taller, and the woman has her hands in his shirt, and the way they're kissing is so intense that I don't see him at first.
But then my heart stops and my entire body freezes.
Bennet Thompson.
He stands behind the bar, tall and handsome just like he was in high school, his hands moving confidently on a glass and bottles while he mixes a drink. My heart does a loop in my chest and straight up to my throat. I've thought about Bennet Thompson at least a few times a week since I graduated.
That's what happens when you have a crush on somebody. A crush is different from other kinds of love. It hides in your heart and pops up when you least expect it. Refusing to just go away because it was never even given a chance.
My whole face heats as Lauren pulls us toward the bar. I had no business having a crush on Bennet in high school, because he was dating Pamela. I have no business feeling this giddy at the sight of him now, but what am I supposed to say? I can't tell Lauren to stop, and more importantly I don't want to. I can’t believe he’s back in town.
I want to see him up close.
Oh, God, he's even more attractive up close. How is he hotter than my memories of him that kept me up at night?
He slides the glass across the bar to the woman it's for, brushes off his hands, and looks up.
Our eyes meet.
It's the first time I've looked him in the eyes since he moved across the country and the shock is no less powerful than it was all those years ago. The pale blue of his eyes lights up, and a slow smile spreads across his face. That's the smile of a heartbreaker, right there.