Chapter 30

Andrew

Gina pushes open her window and leans out, a questioning look clear on her face. I clear my throat and spread my arms wide.

“Miss Georgina Evans, would you do me the honor of attending my exclusive, for four, senior prom?”

She bites on her bottom lip and nods, a wide smile breaking through.

“I’ll be down in a minute. I…uh…I just need to get changed.” Her strawberry blonde hair catches in the wind slightly as she turns away.

“She said yes?” Gina’s dad, Jimmy, steps out of the shadow of the house, grinning. “Thank you for this, son. It will mean a lot to her.”

“It means a lot to me too, sir.”

Lottie tugs on my sleeve, so I scoop her up into my arms.

Before going to work, my mom helped me string up yards of lights in our backyard and dress my little sisters in their best party dresses.

Sammy, in particular, is very excited at the prospect of spending the evening dancing in her “princess dress.”

A few minutes later, Gina walks out of the house, and I’m sure my jaw hits the ground.

She has swept her long hair up into some kind of twist, with a few tendrils left loose to frame her face, which has the faintest hint of makeup on it.

The only thing that really catches my eye is the red lipstick which makes her mouth look even more pouty than normal.

She’s wearing a long, simple silky dress with thin straps, which is the color I imagine would be produced if the colors of her eyes were mixed together: a light teal.

As she walks forward, I realize there are two slits up the front of the dress, giving me tantalizing glimpses of her legs.

She stops in front of me with a shy smile before crouching down and exclaiming how beautiful Sammy and Lottie are.

I feel like I’m in a daze as we pose for several photos for her dad, and before I know it, we are back at mine.

She walks out onto the deck, holding onto both of my sister’s hands, and gasps, slowly turning around to meet my eyes.

“AJ…it…it’s so pretty!” Her eyes shine in the twinkling lights.

“It’s nothing really.” I scoop a wriggling Lottie up just so I have something to do with my hands. “I just figured neither of us should have to miss out on prom, so I brought a little prom to us.”

“Andy…” Gina steps forward and puts her hand on my arm, causing the gang of butterflies in my stomach to go wild. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” She leans closer and presses a soft kiss on my cheek.

***

After a couple of hours of dancing around the garden to mindless pop that my sisters enjoyed and stuffing ourselves with the party food my mom cooked for us, the two little ones are looking tired.

“I’ll be a minute. I’ll just get them quickly changed and put to bed.”

“It’s okay. I’ll come help.” Gina smiles down at the half-asleep Sammy sitting in her lap. “We’ll do it in half the time then.”

Watching as she helps them out of their dresses, I’m struck again at how I totally judged Gina wrong.

She catches me staring and pokes her tongue out at me. I chuckle and focus back on tucking my baby sister into bed.

We wander back down to the garden in silence. As we cross the threshold onto the decking, Tom Waits comes onto my playlist, “Hope I Don’t Fall in Love With You.”

As the opening guitar fills the air, I link my fingers with hers and pull her close to me, swaying in time with the music. She sighs and rests her head on my chest.

“This is one of my favorite songs.”

I tighten my grip around her waist as I listen to the lyrics. I inhale her soft vanilla and apple scent, rubbing my thumb slowly up and down the satin material of her dress.

“Do you ever listen to a song and think ‘Fuck! That is my life right now?’” I swallow the sudden nervous lump in my throat.

“Yeah,” Gina replies softly. We stop moving, and I lift her chin with my finger and thumb. “I think I was really ~really~ wrong about you.”

She gazes steadily into my eyes before hers quickly drop to my lips, and she absentmindedly licks hers.

“I think I was really wrong about you, too,” I murmur before I press my lips to hers.