Page 96 of Never Not Friends

Emma:

Sounds perfect to me.

Vinny:

I’ve really missed you, Emma.

Emma:

I’ve missed you too. Can’t wait to see you again.

EMMA

Post College

Tonight is the night.

I’ve changed my outfit four times, which seems crazy since Vinny has seen all versions of me. No makeup. Bedhead. Pajamas. Even the version of me that threw up all down the side of Juliet’s car when I ate too much ice cream after the state football game junior year.

There’s no outfit I could possibly wear tonight that will suddenly make Vincent Brooks see me differently.

And yet, I change my outfit a fifth time.

I think this one is going to stick.

An off-the-shoulder white shirt with blue jeans that have a faded white ticking stripe through them.

Casual but cute.

Nothing about tonight is a date.

He simply texted and said he got home from college this afternoon and wanted to come see me.

That’s all he said.

But it’s the subtext behind the text that counts.

How we’ve been texting a ton lately. How he’s dropped hints about us hanging out a lot now that he’s home. How he asked if I was dating anyone right now. How he’s said that he’s really missed me.

It’s all the subtext that makes me think this might finally be it.

The thought makes my stomach cartwheel.

It’s been four years since Juliet broke up with Vinny and he moved away for college. Sure, he’s come home for holidays and a few weeks each summer, but we’ve always missed each other or been dating other people. Well, I’ve sort of dated other people, but really, I was always holding out for him.

But now he’s back.

Single.

He specifically told me that like it was an important piece of information I needed to know.

And for the first time since we were fifteen, there’s nothing standing between us.

No parents telling me I’m too young to be in a serious relationship.

No Juliet.

No random college girlfriend.