”Here.” I held up the phone. "Alexis wants to talk to you."
Drew took the phone, and I went to talk to the stage manager to see if there was anything else they needed to do before rushing off to the next event.
"Areyou excited to see Gwen again?" I asked Drew the next Friday as I drove him to the secret house he and Gwen would be staying at for the weekend. Dion was picking up Gwen at the airport that afternoon. And within a few minutes, Drew would get to see his girlfriend, and I would be meeting the girl who had finally stolen Drew's heart.
The first impression I'd had of Gwen from watching Monday's episode hadn't been super awesome, so I hoped, for Drew's sake, that Gwen's second impression was much better.
"It’ll be good to see her again,” Drew said. “It's been hard to grow our relationship to the point it needs to get to, when we only see each other every other weekend. FaceTiming and texting just isn't the same."
I nodded. "Well, then I hope this weekend is a good one. Do you guys have anything fun planned?"
"You do realize we can't go anywhere, right?” Drew stared at me like I was missing a screw in my head. “Like, we'll be stuck in the house with nothing but each other and movies and whatever else is in the house to keep us entertained."
I shrugged. "You're a homebody. I thought it would be right up your alley."
Drew smiled and shook his head. "I'm a homebody when I choose to be, but when I'm forbidden to leave, it just kind of feels like jail." Then seeming to realize how that came out, he hurried to say, "Not that being alone with Gwen is a punishment. It would just be nice to go on a real date one of these days."
"I bet that after living in that huge house of yours, staying in a regular-sized house like us commoners probably gives you claustrophobia." I winked, unable to resist giving him a hard time about that. But when he scowled, I added, "I totally get it though. You want to broadcast your love to the world instead of keep it a secret."
"Something like that."
Ihad certainly done that. I'd wagged my huge engagement ring in everyone's faces and totally earned Nolan and me the title of PDA couple among our friends.
What a huge piece of humble pie I'd been dished to teach me a lesson.
We arrived at the house a few minutes later and I maneuvered the car into the garage.
"It's so nice not having to use a disguise this time,” Drew said as I parked. “The last place we stayed at didn't have a garage, so I totally had to dress up like a crazy, homeless holy man." Then realization dawning on him, he said, "Oh, yeah. You saw that one, actually."
"You got your holy-man costume for this?” I raised my eyebrows. “I bet Gwen just loved that.”
Drew lifted a shoulder. "She made me take it off as soon as I got in there."
My mouth dropped open as an image of Drew taking off his costume ran through my mind. ”Talk about TMI,” I said, feeling my cheeks flush. "I do not need to know about that."
"That's not what I meant." He cleared his throat and his face immediately turned beet red. "You remember that nickname they gave me in college?"
"You mean Saint Drew?" I thought back to how Aiden and Drew had talked about how their new college friends made fun of Drew for choosing to remain a virgin until he was married.
Was it possible that after all these years he was still a virgin?
Drew nodded, a flash of embarrassment crossing his face. "Saint Drew is still…saintly.”
I arched my eyebrows. "I'm impressed." And despite how awkward it was, I couldn't help but ask, "How does Gwen feel about that?"
"She's not a fan, and totally tries to corrupt me,” he said. “But I didn't make it twenty-eight years without having a strong will."
I could imagine that. I mean, with his looks and muscles, he probably had offers to be corrupted on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
I’d certainly daydreamed about it enough growing up.
But instead of telling him any of that I just cleared my throat and said, ”Good for you, Drew. I think it’s awesome that you’re able to stick to your morals even though you've gotten a lot of crap about it through the years."
"It's not without difficulty. Believe me.” He unbuckled his seat belt. "This whole show is set up for that to happen. Even these weekends. Dion certainly doesn't understand it. But I'm just thankful that at least I have Alexis to stick up for me. She makes sure each of the houses we stay at has two bedrooms, so I can lock Gwen out at night if I have to."
"Do you really have to lock your door to keep her from sneaking in?"
"Now that was a joke." Drew laughed, his eyes bright with humor as he opened his door to climb out. "She's been understanding. She even tells me it helps her feel special—that if we do get married in the end, she'd feel lucky that she was the only one to have that part of my life."