Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“There is nothing wrong.” She smiles up at him and gets on her tippy-toes to kiss his lips. “We ended up together.”
“Thank God for that.” I hold up my hand. “And to think, I was the fastest swimmer.” Throwing my other hand in the air, I spout off, “I think I’m still drunk.”
“You think?” my father mocks me before he turns and walks out of the room with my mother.
I walk over to the bathroom and painfully, ever so painfully, get in the shower. I have to sit down midway just to get my bearings for a bit, and I think I even nap. Needless to say, when the car comes to pick me up two hours later, I still feel drunk.
Kissing my parents goodbye, I head to the car. I’m wearing gray sweatpants that are tight at the ankle and a white T-shirt. My hair is in a ponytail, and I stole a baseball hat from my father while sunglasses block out the light. I don’t even bother conversing with the driver like I normally do. Instead, I sit with my head back and my eyes closed. When we get to the private plane, I get out and grab my purse and backpack, then walk up the four steps. “Welcome, Ms. Beckett,” the flight attendant greets me.
“Hi,” I mumble, trying not to sound like I’m dying, but I think I actually am. I walk over to the couch on the plane and sit down. “Is it okay if I lie down?” I ask, and she nods.
“Your father sent this,” she offers, taking out a brown bag, and you can see the grease stains on it. “A double cheeseburger and fries.”
“I love him.” I hold out my hand to her. “He’s the best dad in the world.”
I pull out my phone and I’m about to text him when I see my lock screen is a picture of Gabriella and Romeo with all of us around them. I’m standing next to Romeo, holding his arm, and Stone stands beside me, his hand on my hip, while he smiles at the camera. I have to say he has to be the hottest one in the bunch, and that’s saying something. I open it and text my father.
Me: You’re the best dad in the world. I don’t care what anyone else says.
Opening the bag and grabbing the burger, I decide to go through my camera roll. I groan as soon as I see the first picture of me trying to take a selfie with someone. It’s blurry, and all that’s there is my shoulder. I swipe and see a bunch taken on the dance floor. I have to give it to Gabriella’s family—they can party. Everyone was there, and, by that, I mean everyone; not one person from the family was missing. It was enormous and overwhelming and, at the same time, so fucking amazing. The love they have for each other is hands down something you see in movies and think it can’t be real, but it is. Swiping, I see there is one with me in it, and I don’t even know what move I was doing. But I was holding my dress up in my hands, and I’m squatting with my bare feet. I take a bite of the burger at the same time the plane door closes, and I see I’ve taken a candid snapshot of Stone.
He’s standing with his cousins, Christopher—who sent the tie flying through the air the minute he sat down for dinner, we have yet to find it—Dylan, Michael, Mini Cooper; who I think is forty-five but they still call him Mini Cooper even though he has like eight kids. The four of them are telling a story, and all of them are laughing. I think I only meant to take a picture of Stone, but I captured this one instead. The next one is the one that stops me. It’s a picture of Stone and me. I vaguely remember taking it. It was the one time I let myself get close to him. He put his hands around my waist and pulled me to him. I can still feel his hand on my hip while he kissed my temple.
I turn off the phone, not wanting to read more into it. I’m not this woman who sits around waiting for her Prince Charming. That is so not me. In fact, it’s the opposite of me. Growing up in Hollywood taught me a couple of life lessons, which means I learned very young that people always have two sides to them: the one they show the world, and the one they really are. I also learned everyone always has an ulterior motive for being your friend or even being around you. I was, after all, Tyler Beckett’s daughter. At first, I thought I was cool—you know, all the kids pointing at you when your dad came to school. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I went to a school where all the celebrity kids went, but—as you know—there is always a pecking order in Hollywood. I can count on one hand how many people I’m actually close to from my life in Hollywood. I also knew I would be going away for college as soon as I entered high school; the only question was where I would go. I busted my ass to make sure my GPA was the highest it could be because I also knew that I wanted to major in pre-law. The thrill of arguing with someone and winning got me every single time. After I took the LSAT and received a top score, I had my choice of law schools and I decided to attend Yale Law School. I want to say my last name didn’t help, but I would be lying. Knowing I wanted to eventually become a district attorney, I knew that I had to go above and beyond and I exceeded those expectations. I’m currently one of the top ADAs—assistant district attorney—in my department in Chicago, and I help prosecute criminals. I’m busting my ass so I can eventually become a district attorney. I did an internship in Chicago, and it was love at first sight. I loved everything about it from the minute I landed in the city. It was like I was born to live there.