Enchanted

25

"Where are we going?" Holly asked for the billionth time.

Adonis glanced at her from the driver's seat, his smile wide. "It's a surprise."

"Oooh are we going shopping? Or are we going to watch you surf? But I didn't bring my swimsuit. Lisa, where are we going?" Holly bounced, looking back at me from the passenger seat.

I shrugged, keeping my smile to myself. "Adonis said it's a surprise. I'm not going to tell."

My little sister sighed dramatically, running her tiny fingers through her pin-straight hair. "You two keeping something from me? I don't like this one bit."

My eyes met Adonis' in the rear-view mirror. I grinned and he looked away quickly, returning his gaze to the road.

I fought the urge to squeal at the sight of the barely-concealed smile tugging at his lips.

Today was a good day.

The sun in the sky cast a warm heat over my skin, enough to give me more freckles but nowhere near hot enough to burn Holly's sensitive skin. The wind was nothing more than a lazy whisper against our faces, bringing with it the scent of salty water and meat cooking somewhere in the distance. My newly painted toes were freely greeting this amazing day in my new pair of flip flops and even the maxi dress I usually hated looked great on my too-skinny body. My hair had cooperated into two bushy space buns after about a hundred bobby pins and the lip gloss Holly had forced on me wasn't nearly as sticky as it usually felt against my lips. I felt...pretty.

Yesterday had been a good day too.

Despite Holly's episode, me kicking Adonis out and Trevor nearly getting between Adonis and I, I had gone to sleep with a stupid smile on my face. I already liked Adonis - that much was clear - but seeing him break down (for like the billionth time) somehow made me like him more. He'd always been like this unattainable star: a beautifully broken prince who I had no business even fantasizing over. But he was so much more than that. He had problems...real issues that robbed him of his peace and left him isolated in loneliness.

Before our night under the stars, I had assumed he was a spoilt rich boy who was only after me to make sure I didn't file a racism complaint against his company. Then, on the night he confessed his life story to me, he became too good for me. I liked him then, I'm sure of it. Maybe it was the bags under his eyes or the genuine emotion in his ocean eyes when he told me he liked me, but that night, I started to fall for him. Except falling is the wrong word. It was more like my eyes opened up to the possibility of us. Our one kiss and those eyes, and those hands, they all begged me to succumb to him.

But I resisted. Not only was he too good for me, but I had bills to pay and a mouth to feed. I couldn't waste time with another woman's man. I refused to be that social ladder-climbing bitch who used his feelings for me to get Holly and I out of trouble. I had my pride to maintain and a self-esteem to keep intact.

But he didn't give up. One by one, he practically destroyed every stumbling block in our way and he came to me. He fought his demons...because he wanted a chance with me.

It felt too good to be true. And maybe it still did but it felt different when we climbed out of his car. The way he opened the door for Holly and treated her like a princess, the way he looked up and gave me a wink, the way he constantly begged me to stay....it all felt possible.

I could see myself by his side, independent but happy, dignified and not lonely. I could see Holly on his shoulders, demanding to be taken to school by a white horse and him being unreasonable enough to indulge her just to see her smile. I could see the three of us in a tiny house with a golden retriever named Golden and maybe that cat Holly had always wanted. Yes, I'd liked Adonis before but right then, in the moment before we walked into the music shop, I could see a future with him. One which I'd always dreamed about but different: maybe I didn't have my parents and I'd never have that best friend I could call a sister but I had the best little sister in the world and the kindest, most considerate man who loved me more than he feared his demons.