My hands dropped and I found myself beaming. I knew it must have taken a huge effort for her to say that, and I appreciated it more than I could have ever expressed. Noelle gazed at me for a moment, then stood and walked to the back of the boat. Taylor slapped her laptop closed and the rest of us joined Noelle. My heart felt heavy and excited at the same time. Noelle had one hand curled around the railing and I placed my fingers right next to hers, taking a deep breath.
“Noelle . . . I’m sorry if it seems like I’ve been ignoring your feelings about all this,” I said, as Kiran stepped up next to me and Taylor leaned in next to Noelle. “So if you’re really and truly against this whole thing, I’ll drop it. I’ll call Carolina right now and put the kibosh on. I swear.”
“Wait. You’re against Billings making a comeback?” Kiran blurted. “Are you sure you’re Noelle Lange?”
Noelle ignored her. “Really?” she said, pulling her ponytail over her right shoulder as she turned to look at me. “You’d do that?”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I would. You’re more important to me than Billings.”
There was a long, loaded moment of silence. Taylor and Kiran exchanged a nervous look. Water slapped against the sides of the boat and the sound of a yacht’s horn carried over the ocean.
“Okay, fine,” Noelle said finally, rolling her eyes. “You and Billings have my blessing.”
“Are you serious?” I exclaimed.
“How could I stand in the way of your budding career as a real estate tycoon?” she joked, taking a sip of her champagne.
I threw my arms around her. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Noelle, you have no idea what this means to me.”
“Oh, I think I do,” she replied, giving me a quick squeeze.
“Well, I say we celebrate!” Kiran announced.
“I’m so confused as to what we’ve been doing up till now. . . .” Taylor teased her, narrowing her eyes.
“Ha-ha. More champagne!” Kiran cried, grabbing the bottle from the silver ice bucket.
She refilled all our glasses and we clinked them together once again. “To the new Billings,” I said.
“To the new Billings,” they echoed.
We sipped our champagne, the afternoon sunlight glinting off our flutes, and I smiled, trying to lock this moment in my mind. Who knew how many chances the four of us would have to be together over the next few years, what with Taylor in the UK and Kiran bopping all over the world?
“So, how long are you guys sticking around?” Noelle asked, grabbing a chocolate from the tray.
“Oh, I’m here through graduation,” Kiran said, waving a hand. “I cancelled all my appearances so I could hang with you girls.”
“Me too,” Taylor said. “I pretty much completed the credits for graduation in December. And I’m dying to go to the Easton graduation party.”
“Do you think it’s as crazy as they say it is?” I asked.
For the last few weeks I’d been hearing rumors about this graduation bash. Rumors that made a rural Pennsylvanian like me blush.
“Crazier,” Noelle said gleefully. “I can’t wait!”
As the three of them started to share stories they’d heard about graduation parties past—tales of mass skinny dipping, near ODs, and random hookups—my phone beeped. I tugged it out of my bag and checked the screen. I had one new text. From an unknown number.
It was MT. I glanced around at my friends to make sure they weren’t watching me, then opened the text. My heart all but stopped when I saw the short message.
U SHLD FIGURE OUT A WAY 2 LOCK UR DOOR.
My knees gave out beneath me. Luckily I was close enough to the bench to fall down on the cushions and make it look like the tipping of the boat had thrown me off balance. My fingers shook as I placed my champagne glass ca
refully on the table.
“You okay, Glass-Licker?” Noelle asked.
“She never could hold her alcohol,” Kiran joked.