His tortured gaze sweeps my face. “Then why are you crying?” A tear drips down his cheek at the sight of my leaking eyes. Water brims over my lower lids and scalds my skin.
“I’m scared,” I say the truth so softly. I wipe my face again, and he rubs his bloodshot eyes.
Garrison lets out a staggered breath and then stands up. He extends a hand to me, and I put my palm in his palm. He pulls me to my feet, our boots knocking together.
Very tenderly, he asks, “Willow, can I hug you?”
I nod.
It might be our last hug for a really long while.
Garrison tucks a flyaway hair behind my ear, and then he wraps his arms around my body. I coil mine around his frame, my arms feather-light still, but his embrace carries warmth and extra pressure that dizzies my senses.
I hold tighter than before, my fingers gripping the fabric of his hoodie. Don’t go yet. Please don’t go yet. I’m picturing my life without him, and it’s so much lonelier than before.
Garrison tilts and lowers his head to whisper against my ear. “You’re still my girl.”
And then, without a single pause, Garrison Abbey kisses my cheek. His lips leave a fiery imprint, and my body solidifies like hardened magma.
He drops his hand to mine. I’m too stunned to speak, too sad to say how much he means to me, and too heartbroken to wish for a real kiss.
“If Ace Davenport gives you shit, you’ll tell me?” he asks, and he keeps talking as he sees me nod quickly. “You have my Twitter, Tumblr, and all that whatever, but…” He shoves his beanie in his back pocket. “I know we said we like the internet, but I’d really love your number.”
He’s asking for my phone number. It brings us closer in a different way than we both planned. “Yeah, of course.”
After we exchange numbers and add each other to our contacts, he prepares to leave. Taking a few steps back, Garrison hesitates.
I wipe my fogged glasses and then set them back on my nose.
“It’s not goodbye,” he says to me, as though he can’t bear that idea. “I’ll come back here. I promise.” He takes a few more steps backwards. “If not, then I guess I’ll just have to find two cans and a string long enough to connect you to me.”
My heart hurts, and just as he turns his back to me, I call out, “Garrison.”
He glances over his shoulder.
I don’t know what I planned to say. Maybe I just wanted to stop him. To see his face. I swallow hard and murmur, “Merry Christmas.”
He hears my quiet voice. “Merry Christmas.”
It’s the saddest holiday of my life. I lost one of the most precious gifts I’ve ever been given. I lost my first friend from Philadelphia.
I lost him to New York. I lost him to Faust. To a boarding school and his parent’s demands. I wonder if he’ll return after he’s graduated. Maybe we’ll grow apart. Our paths that kept crossing are beginning to diverge, and I’m really scared.
The Calloway Sisters & Their Men – Fan Page
Present Day | Followers: 88K
With Valentine’s Day just behind us, it’s time for another update on the Calloway Sisters & Their Men! Here’s the whereabouts of our favorite flower-named sisters (plus Willow!) and their sexy AF hunks.
The Stokes
Poppy Calloway (34) & Sam Stokes (34)
Daughter: Maria (11)
Update: These two were caught out and about on a romantic Valentine’s date night! They did a “sip and paint” at a local studio where paparazzi snapped photos of paint brushes flying at cheeks and arms, purposefully missing that canvas. So adorable! And such a rare sighting for these two who usually keep out of the public eye.
The Cobalts
Rose Calloway (30) & Connor Cobalt (31)
Daughters: Jane (4)
Sons: Charlie & Beckett (2-year-old twins) and Eliot (8-months-old)
Update: Rose and Connor headed to Paris with their entire family for Valentine’s. #CoupleGoals. Can you just imagine being a fly on the wall in their private jet?
The Hales
Lily Calloway (28) & Loren Hale (29)
Son: Maximoff (4)
Daughter: Luna (3-months-old)
Update: No photos of Lily and Loren on Valentine’s. Boo! But obviously they have good reason, since I’m sure they’re staying home to be with the cutest of cute babies – Luna Hale! Don’t you love that name?
The Meadows
Daisy Calloway (23) & Ryke Meadows (30)
Daughter: Sullivan (2)
Update: Daisy and Ryke took a motorcycle ride on Valentine’s Day, and paparazzi were given the iconic middle finger from Ryke. Check out the gif!
The Unofficial Calloway Sister
Willow Hale (21) & Her Boyfriend – Garrison Abbey (22)
Update: As far as the internet knows, these two didn’t see each other on Valentine’s. Truthfully, we don’t have any photos of them together for like…a whole year. Some sources say they might be broken up. It would be a little odd, if that was the case, since we do know that Garrison still lives with Loren Hale. But stranger things have happened!
What do you think? Are Willow and Garrison still together? Take the poll below!
Love you like Loren loves Lily,
xo Olive
20 PRESENT DAY – February
London, England
WILLOW HALE
Age 21
I glance quickly at my cellphone, regretting popping up the internet notification—or even setting notifications for entertainment headlines. Keeping up with fandoms isn’t as fun when my name appears and sends a jolt of anxiety coursing through me.
Only one day has passed since Valentine’s, and already, people are speculating that Garrison and I have broken up.
A random poll on a fan site has accumulated thousands of entries, and an overwhelming 84% of fans agree that my relationship has failed. And I’m not really surprised a credible magazine linked this fan site as a newsworthy source.
I think back, and I know I used to be the one clicking into polls about the Calloway sisters. Eagerly feeding this machine and rumor mill. Some are fun and harmless. Others cut too deep. And until I was on the receiving end, I never really understood the gravity of those cuts.
Jokes on all of them, though. Garrison and I are 100% still a couple.
But I’m not winning any Best Girlfriend awards this morning. “Maybe the time zones mixed up everything? Are you sure they delivered?” I ask Garrison on the phone while I frantically search the messy common area.
Wine glasses and empty bottles of Sauvignon Blanc make sticky rings on the coffee table, and I toss pillows off a purple thrift store couch, then peek behind the small TV. I already received an un-rate-able, out-of-this-world box of chocolates for Valentine’s from Daisy—(half the tin was espresso flavored)—so I don’t know why Garrison’s gift is missing.
“Nah,” he says. “I’m pretty sure they were already sent to your apartment last night—your time. I got an email confirmation, and someone signed off on the delivery. So they have to be there.”
I woke up in a cold sweat at 7 a.m. to his text message.
Garrison: did u like the roses? You never said anything about em
My heart sunk to my knees, and I texted back: what roses?
And then he called me.
Now I’m sweeping the tiny kitchen for a dozen pink roses and wondering if I should’ve taken Lo and Ryke’s handout.
The offer came early this month.
My brothers flew out to London ASAP—sooner than the visit they planned and booked—after Garrison made an off-handed comment about my flat being unsafe.
I don’t blame him for the loose lips. He lives with Lo, and he said it just slipped out.
When my famous brothers arrived, the internet went wild.
SPOTTED! Loren Hale & Ryke Meadows in London!
They were trending on Twitter, but they entered my apartment dressed in workout gear—baseball caps, sweatshirts, running pants, a
nd Nikes—appearing more like normal men in their late twenties than billionaire celebrities.
No matter their clothing, they’re intimidating. Towering with overprotectiveness as I opened the door. Concern was etched in Lo’s sharp gaze and Ryke’s hardened jaw.
Lo bulldozed his way in. “Is this the lock?” His glare punctured inanimate objects like the doorknob already accosted me.
“Yeah,” I said softly, noticing bodyguards posted up in the apartment hallway.
Ryke was full-on brooding as he sauntered inside the flat, checking on my bedroom door.
“How many people come in here a day?” Lo asked me.
“Um…” I pushed up my glasses. “Besides my roommates, it just depends.” On party nights. “Maybe like…a dozen…or more.”
Lo looked supremely more protective. He put a hand on my shoulder as he rounded my body and motioned for security to check the windows.
All three of my roommates were in class at the time, but Sheetal and Tess texted sad gifs that they missed seeing more of my family.
The living room was still a mess from a party the previous night (one that I avoided), and I’d been trying to clean up. After a short house tour, I swept up potato chip crumbs, and my brothers talked heatedly under their breaths to each other.
Lo came forward, brows cinched with seriousness. “We need to talk.” He took the broom out of my hands.
“Okay.” I felt really young all of a sudden.
Ryke crossed his arms, eyes darkened.
“You’re famous,” Lo said flatly, like I’d never been served the fact. “Severely famous, Willow.” This wasn’t the first time his fame had impacted my living situation.
But it’s different now that he’s an ocean away. He can’t bail me out as easily, and I know Lo has always felt responsible for me.
He’s my brother.
“You have to remember that,” he continued. “Every day, everywhere you go.” He sighed out. “For Christ’s sake, you should have a bodyguard—”
“I don’t need one,” I protested, worried it’d draw more attention. I can be invisible, but that feels less likely with a muscular shadow following me.
Lo’s cheekbones sharpened. “I can’t leave you in a situation where you’re at risk of kidnap, rape, and murder.”
Ryke rolled his eyes. “We can add extra locks, Lo, and a fucking security alarm.”
I nodded. “I’d rather just do that…” I trailed off, noticing how Ryke zeroed in on the remnants of the party. Daisy had told him about my roommate problems, so I think he was more fixated on those.
Ryke was popular in college.
The captain of the track team.
Lo was lazy at Penn and skipped class more than he attended.
I know this from what they’ve told me, not just Wikipedia, but I wonder how they’d be at a collegiate party in their early twenties.
Definitely not like you, Willow. Hiding. In a closet.
“Why do you want to live here?” Lo questioned.
“My lease doesn’t end until May.”
Ryke frowned and asked, “That’s the only reason?”
I wanted to say, no. That I’ve been having a stupendous, heart-warming time living with my friends, but it’s been…rocky.
Not just between me and them. Sheetal and Tess blew up at Salvatore after his hookup projectile vomited everywhere in the bathroom.
He said that he hired some cleaning service, but they never showed. He left the mess too long, so the three of us ended up mopping puke for two hours.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s all that’s keeping me here.” I looked around. “It’s a good location to campus. I can make it work for a while.”
Lo and Ryke exchanged a look, and then they offered to cover the cost of me breaking the lease. They’d help me find a new flat ASAP and pay the rent.
I wiped the mist behind my glasses.
Overwhelmed, because their love is unconditional. They’d do just about anything for me, no strings attached.
But I couldn’t accept.
It’s always been hard to say yes.
Yet, I’ve accepted a worse offer before. The one from our dad that does have stipulations and uncomfortable strings.
It’s not pride that stops me from taking money from my brothers.
It’s something else.
With my decision set, they flew back to Philly after we put in a security system and had dinner together. We hugged, leaving on good terms.
Now I’m racing around the flat in search of missing pink roses, and I can’t help but think this wouldn’t have happened if I moved.
“It’s okay, Willow,” Garrison consoles. “They’re just flowers. I can send you more.”
Palms sweaty, I switch the phone to my other hand. “You put a lot of thought into them though.”
“Maybe they’ll turn up. Look, don’t worry about it.”
I turn as Tess exits her room, carrying a khaki satchel with textbooks. Pretty sapphire earrings complement her dark-brown skin, and I’d ask if they’re new or from Sheetal, but on her way out, she must see my distress. “Hey, what’s happening?”
“Did you see any flowers get delivered?”
Tess shakes her head. “No, I don’t think Sheetal did either.” She sweeps the wine bottle graveyard. “Ugh, Salvatore left his shit out again?” She sighs, then says, “I meant to tell you, we’re doing a charades thing tonight. You should join us. It’ll be really lowkey.”
I shift my weight, hotter all of a sudden.
Their idea of “lowkey” isn’t exactly mine. I know because the last “lowkey” flat party involved dares and tequila shots.
“Um…” I hate rejecting their invites. I can tell they feel like they’re banishing me to my room.
But I’d rather be there.
I worry the longer I live with Sheetal and Tess, the more likely I’ll lose them as friends. I’m the standoffish one, and I know I should make a bigger effort.
It’s hard when parties are draining and my bedroom is a foot away with comic books calling out to me.
I thought we could watch The Flash together once a week, but no one paid attention to the TV and they always suggest other things when I bring up movies or shows.
My new eulogy: that anxious turtle, Willow Hale, she should’ve taken her brothers’ offer when she had the chance.
“It’ll be fun,” Tess smiles and nudges my arm with her elbow.
I think about it and then nod. “Okay.”
Tess high-fives me, and then says she’ll see me tonight. She has a huge advertising project that’s due later today.
Once she leaves the flat, I put the phone back to my ear. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah.” Garrison sounds tense. “Why’d you accept the invite?”
“I don’t want to lose their friendship,” I say softly, checking the bathroom for lost flowers.
“I’m gonna be an ass for a second, okay?”
“Okay.” I can’t help but smile at the warning.
“It feels like you’re choosing Tess and Sheetal’s friendship over your grades.” He knows I’m a firm B and C college student now. “You’ve tried the whole ‘maybe I’ll have fun at this party, maybe it’ll be different’ mantra and you always end up wishing you didn’t go. So don’t fucking go. If they’re your friends, they should understand that.”
“They feel bad leaving me out.”
“So what?”
I’ve never really cared about being invited anywhere, and now that I receive invites, I stress about how many I can reject without being alone here in London.
“I think I need to go to this one,” I tell him. “I’ve bailed on them too many times recently.” I shut the bathroom door, entering the narrow hall. “Or…I guess I could suggest dinner at Barnaby’s?”
That way, they won’t care if I retreat to my room early on through charades.
What I’ve learned: maintaining friendships offline takes work, and I just hope that in
the long-run it pays off and gets easier.
“You do have to eat,” Garrison says lightly.
I want to smile. It’s just harder when I miss him so much. I rub my arm, wishing he was here to draw me into his chest. I just picture my cheek on his heart. And I can almost feel the warmth of his skin. I can almost hear the soft beat.
“Let me know how it goes,” Garrison adds.
“I will…” My voice drifts as I glance at an ajar door. Salvatore’s room. Pink rose petals are strewn around the bed, and a girl’s ankle sticks out beneath the sheets.
My stomach drops.
“Willow?” Garrison’s voice spikes. “You okay?”
“I found the flowers,” I whisper. “I’ll call you back.” Once we hang up, I take a breath. Confront them, Willow Hale.
You can do this.
I step into the room and rap the doorframe. “Hello?”
Under sheets, Salvatore groans awake, stretching an arm, while the hungover girl smashes her face more into the pillow. Ignoring me.
“What is it?” he asks, Italian accent clear.
I push up my glasses. “Those roses belonged to me, and it’s okay…it’s okay that you signed for them but not if you planned to destroy them and give them to another girl.”
He makes a face like I’m delusional. “What are you talking about?”
“My boyfriend sent those roses.” I motion to the pink petals surrounding heaps of clothing.
“The card had no name,” Salvatore protests.
“Where’s the card?”
He points vaguely to the nightstand.
I snatch a square card from plastic wrapping. Near torn condom wrappers.
I read the card:
For my girl,
Hope these make you smile. If a whole fandom centered on you, I’d be your number one fan. Miss you, love you <3 <3 <3
Wherever You Are (Bad Reputation Duet Book 2) Page 19