Meant To Be (The Callahans #4) - Monica Murphy Page 0,29
things. He can be wildly inappropriate one second, and really sweet and thoughtful the next.”
“You sound like Mom,” Autumn teases. “Wildly inappropriate?”
“He says some of the worst things ever. He does terrible things too,” I say. “But when it’s just us, and we’re all alone, he’s…” A wistful sigh escapes me.
“Perfect?” Autumn asks, her voice soft.
“Yes.” I nod. “He’s perfect. Perfect for me. It’s like we’re…meant to be.”
“Soulmates?”
I make a face. “I hate that term. I don’t know if I believe in it.”
“Okay, Ms. Jaded.” She nudges my side with her pointy elbow.
“Ouch.” I scoot away from her. “I miss him.”
“Maybe he misses you too.”
“He won’t answer my texts.” I completely forgot to check my phone. I haven’t really checked it since I got home.
“What an asshole,” Autumn says, as I get up and go to my backpack, unzipping the front pocket with shaky fingers and yanking my phone out.
To see I do have a text message.
From Eli.
We should talk. Tomorrow night. Jackson’s having a party at the cabin. Want to meet me there?
My heart starts hammering and my mouth goes dry. I’d love to meet Eli tomorrow night. But I don’t even know if I can go to Tony’s house after the game. Technically, I’m still grounded. And so is Jake. I’d put money on my dad letting Jake go anyway.
Would Dad let me go? I don’t know. He’s very overprotective of me.
“Look.” I show the phone to my sister, and she reads the response from Eli, then starts scrolling up like the nosy B she is. I tug my phone out of her grip. “What should I do?”
“Go meet him at that party and talk to him,” Autumn answers without hesitation.
“But I’m grounded still.”
She thinks about it for a moment. Even taps her index finger against her pursed lips like she used to do when we were younger and I would ask her for advice and she actually gave me some. Those were rare moments. Usually she just bit my head off when I’d ask her anything. Even over something as mundane as asking the time.
“Tell Mom and Dad you’re going to Tony’s. I’ll tell Jake he has to keep his mouth shut or I’ll let it slip to Mom and Dad about the time he snuck Cami into the house and they had sex in his room while we were all sleeping.”
“Oh God.” I make a gagging noise. “That’s so awful, Autumn.”
“What, me threatening to rat our brother out, or the fact that he had sex with Cami Lockhart in our house?”
“The last one. For sure.” I make another gagging noise before we start laughing again.
“Listen, I’ll get Jake to cover for you,” Autumn reassures me. “In fact, I’ll go talk to him right now, and then we can have Jake go plead your case to Mom and Dad, and by tomorrow morning, you won’t have anything to worry about.”
“Yeah, I will. I’ll be a nervous wreck thinking about meeting with Eli,” I tell her, my entire body starting to shiver just from saying it out loud.
Tomorrow night, I could be in the same room as Eli. The idea both excites and terrifies me.
“You’ll be fine. Answer his text. I’ll go talk to Jake.” She starts to get up, but I grab her hand, keeping her from leaving. “What?” she asks me.
“Thank you,” I say, my voice sincere. “For talking to me about this. For the advice. For helping me.”
“Little sister, you have this figured out. I barely gave you any advice. You know what you want.” She pulls me into a hug, and I cling to her. “Go get it. Go get him.”
Nine
Ava
Ellie and I arrive at Jackson’s uncle’s cabin around eleven. When I say we got to the cabin, I mean we parked about a mile out, there are so many cars here, most of them lining the side of the road. I can hear the people at the party before I actually see them as we walk down the middle of the street, the air so cold we can see our breath. After the game, I hurriedly changed into my favorite jeans that make my butt look good and an oversized, yet cropped, black sweater. Of course, I’m cold. I wish I had a jacket.
That would ruin the entire look I’m going for tonight, so yeah. Screw that.
“There are a lot more people at this party than last time,” Ellie says, as she wraps her arms around herself and rubs them. She’s looking good