Page 132 of Shine Bright

Chapter 61

Ophelia

“How do you feel about them knowing?” Phoenix asks, lazily tracing circles on my stomach. We’re lying in his bed, my head on his chest, his heartbeat under my ear. If he keeps this up, I’ll fall asleep.

I just told him about my conversation with Susannah and then about the one with Katie, who didn’t believe me at first. She started off being offended but eventually wanted to know every little detail about Phoenix and me. I told her enough so she could understand how much he means to me.

“Good. Very good, I think. It was nice talking to them. Really talking, I mean,” I say quietly and snuggle closer to him.

“I’m glad.” His lips brush my temple, and I can feel him smiling.

“Me too.”

“What about Susannah? Did you talk about what happens next?”

“Yes. Maybe she’ll get help soon.”

“That would be nice.”

“I really hope she gets it under control and that she can dance in the performance.”

“You really don’t seem to want the role for yourself anymore,” he notes with a mixture of surprise and pride in his voice.

I lift my head from his chest so I can look at him. “No. It feels strange somehow.” I hesitate briefly because there’s more, a question I can’t get out of my head. “Does it make me a bad dancer that I don’t put pressure on myself anymore? Not like before, I mean.”

“No,” he replies gently, brushing a stray strand of hair from my forehead. “You put enough pressure on yourself already. Your whole life is practically pressure. It’s okay to decide against something if it makes you feel a little better.”

“I think you’re right. And it feels right. I just didn’t think it would ever come to this.”

“Sometimes that’s how it is.” His hand moves to the back of my neck and pulls me toward him. I hover a few inches above his mouth. His breath caresses my face, and I feel warm.

“I also didn’t think I’d ever leave a party with someone, and especially not that I’d still be lying in their bed months later.”

“I wouldn’t have believed I would either.” Phoenix leans toward me, his mouth brushing mine.

My eyelids flutter shut. “Sometimes things turn out differently than you expect,” I murmur against his lips.

“Maybe it’s how they were meant to turn out all along,” he murmurs against mine.

I have to smile and pull away from him, just enough so that I can look at him again. “That’s a little cheesy.”

“I like being cheesy with you, Ophelia.” His eyes light up, and I think it’s perfectly fine that we’re cheesy. After all, we’re madly in love. “Speaking of which,” he says, sitting up. I make a sound of protest as I slide off his chest. He leans over to his nightstand, opens the drawer, and pulls out a small velvet-covered box. “I have something for you.”

My heart starts racing. “Something for me?”

“Yes.” He hands me the little box, his fingers trembling slightly, and his nervousness touches something very, very deep inside me.

I hold my breath as I open the lid. I have no idea what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the delicate gold chain lying inside the box. It has a small circular pendant, which, after a moment, I recognize as the letter O.

“O for Ophelia,” he explains as I let the chain slide through my fingers.

Speechless, I stare at the small pendant, a lump in my throat.

He clears his throat awkwardly. “It’s to remind you who you are. That you’re Ophelia. That it’s okay to feel what you feel. Always. That you are seen.”

“That’s . . .” My voice sounds strained, and tears well up in my eyes.

Uncertainty flickers in his gaze. “Is that stupid? It’s stupid, isn’t it?”