The Bad Boy and the Piano Girl (Book #1)

Chapter Fourty Six: You Just Got Shot Down By A 50 Year Old

Chapter Fourty Six: You Just Got Shot Down By A 50 Year Old

Feeling like I'm interrupting Landon and Carlos' moment, I make my way out of the house. Sitting on the porch steps, I take in a deep breath.

"UCLA..." I whisper to myself.

I feel the presence of someone next to me and keep my eyes forward knowing exactly who it is.

We sit in silence for what feels like forever before I speak up.

"When did you decide?"

"It was always the plan, Gem." He sighs. "Even before we met."

I turn to him. "I'm leaving in less than two days, Landon. And you decide to tell me now?"

"I didn't want things to change!"

I run a hand through my hair in frustration. "Of course they're going to change, we're going to be 4,000 miles away!"

He stays quiet.

"Is that why you didn't ask me to be your girlfriend? Because you don't think we can do the whole long distance thing? Or you didn't want to be tied down?"

He quickly gets up. "That's bullshit and you know it."

"You know what else is bullshit? Basketball! Basketball isn't the dream."

"Basketball is the dream!"

"No, that's your dad's dream." I get up, cupping his face. He instantly relaxes into my touch.

My voice becomes softer. "Your dream's music. You know that. It's the only thing you really love."

"I mean..." He leans into me. "I love you."

"Then come with me. Come to Julliard and be with me!" I beam.

He pulls back. "I'm sorry Gem, I can't."

He isn't going to reconsider, Heidi. You can't force him.

Deciding to put my true feelings aside, I give him a small smile. "If that's what you want then I'm happy for you."

He takes my hands in his, planting small kisses on my knuckles. "We'll make it work. It's you and me against the world, Gem."

I look down. 4,000 miles my brain repeats.

"Hey, don't be sad." He wraps an arm around my shoulder. "We still have exactly..." He looks down at his watch. "1 day and 12 hours. What do you want to do, beautiful?"

I give him a small smile. "What we do best, Zuko."

"Hmm, pig out and play music?"

"Precisely."

***

After four hours of doing exactly that, Gigi called telling me she has an 'super huge emergency' at the mall. In Gigi's terms that emergency is either help choosing a pair of shoes or the perfect shade of a dress.

Landon offered to drop me to the mall since he needed to 'deal with something anyways', but wouldn't tell me what this 'something' was.

Weird...

"You do realise they're exactly the same shade..." I say, leaning on the dressing room door. It turns out the emergency was picking out the colour of a dress after all.

"You say this every time!" She whines. "Now please focus."

"Okay fine." I narrow my eyes, looking between the two dresses. I still stand by the point that they're exactly the same, but just to please Gigi I point to the one on the right. "This one."