Page 172 of On His Mind

“Oh!” Gianna says, reaching for something in her bag. “This one is for you.” She hands Penelope an envelope. “I expect to see both of these cards on display at your wedding, and I’m going to need full details about how all of this happened.”

Melly adds, “Allthe details, Penelope.”

Penelope smiles at that. “Okay.”

Benson rolls his eyes. “Nobody is getting married yet, G. Let them just be. They just got together.” He reaches for Lucy, pulling her in. “If you want to talk about marriage, turn around.”

Gianna whips around and Benson is dropping to one knee. Lucy is laughing, and Gianna is shoving his head.

“When you finally propose, she isn’t going to take you seriously, idiot,” Gianna scoffs as Benson stands back up, dusting his hands. “And––” Gianna points at us. “They’ve been together the longest out of everyone here.”

That makes everyone quiet down.

“Right?” Gianna asks.

I look at Penelope. “Does my freshmen year count?”

She shrugs.

“Jesus,” Mara scoffs, and then covers her mouth with her hand. “Sorry.” She looks at Penelope. “You seriously have to tell us all the details.”

Stanley lets go of Aspen and steps in front of us. “Alright, alright. Let’s give the new couple some space.” He waves everyone away from us. He turns around and says to Penelope, “It’s like herding cats.”

Gianna and Mara make a sound.

The room slowly empties.

“Congrats,” the girls say. “Happy for you two.”

Gianna catches Penelope’s arm on the way past. “You’re coming on the trip.”

Penelope nods.

Melly grabs Blue’s hand and stops in front of Penelope. “If you need me to, I’ll call your mom and tell her I kidnapped you.” She grins. “If she gives you any trouble, you let me know.”

Penelope laughs as they head out.

Rowan is the last one to go. He turns around and says to me, “You deserve to be happy, man. I’m happy for you.”

I nod once. “Thanks, Laurens.”

The guys pile out. The girls complain about the cold and end up running out of sight.

When they’re gone, the lobby goes quiet, and it’s just her hand in mine and the sound of the heat kicking on somewhere. I don’t know what happens now. That’s the thing. I got her back, and I never once let myself think past it — never planned a single day on the other side of this, because I didn’t believe there’d be one. So there’s just her, and me, and a whole stretch of nothing mapped out ahead of us, and for the first time in my life the nothing doesn’t scare me. I’m not waiting for it to get taken.

I look down at her, and she’s already looking up at me.

“Do you still have exams?” she asks. “I finished mine early.”

“Really? You’re done?”

She nods.

“Yeah, I actually need to study, but all my stuff is at Hawthorne.”

“Okay. Let’s go to your place.”

“Are you sure?” I ask. “They’re all going to be there.”