Chapters (61)
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ONE DANNI
- TWO ROSE
- THREE DANNI
- FOUR DANNI
- FIVE ROSE
- SIX ROSE
- SEVEN DANNI
- EIGHT ROSE
- NINE DANNI
- TEN ROSE
- ELEVEN ROSE
- TWELVE ROSE
- THIRTEEN ROSE
- FOURTEEN DANNI
- FIFTEEN DANNI
- SIXTEEN ROSE
- SEVENTEEN DANNI
- EIGHTEEN ROSE
- NINETEEN ROSE
- TWENTY DANNI
- TWENTY-ONE DANNI
- TWENTY-TWO DANNI
- TWENTY-THREE ROSE
- TWENTY-FOUR ROSE
- TWENTY-FIVE DANNI
- TWENTY-SIX ROSE
- TWENTY-SEVEN DANNI
- TWENTY-EIGHT ROSE
- TWENTY-NINE ROSE
- THIRTY DANNI
- THIRTY-ONE DANNI
- THIRTY-TWO ROSE
- THIRTY-THREE DANNI
- THIRTY-FOUR ROSE
- THIRTY-FIVE ROSE
- THIRTY-SIX DANNI
- THIRTY-SEVEN ROSE
- THIRTY-EIGHT DANNI
- THIRTY-NINE ROSE
- FORTY DANNI
- FORTY-ONE ROSE
- FORTY-TWO DANNI
- FORTY-THREE ROSE
- FORTY-FOUR DANNI
- FORTY-FIVE ROSE
- FORTY-SIX ROSE
- FORTY-SEVEN DANNI
- FORTY-EIGHT ROSE
- FORTY-NINE ROSE
- FIFTY ROSE
- FIFTY-ONE ROSE
- FIFTY-TWO DANNI
- EPILOGUE ROSE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Also by Sophie Gonzales
- Praise Page
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
We’re pressed together tightly, even more so than when we sat side by side at the palace, because the school’s piano bench is rather more narrow. So, when Danni turns to look at me, her face is closer to mine than it’s ever been before. Almost as close as Alfie’s was, right before he kissed me. But where this level of closeness with him had made my stomach clench with discomfort, with Danni, it gives me a pleasant, swooping sensation.
“I don’t remember,” she says, her voice softening and her eyes scanning my face from eyes to lips.
“So?” I ask, swallowing, and it’s a thousand questions in one.
She looks at me for a little longer, and time starts to feel weighed down.
“Screw it, let’s do it,” Danni says, and for a confused, scattered moment I don’t know what she’s referring to. But then she collects her music books and closes the piano, and I remember the reason I’m here. Ice-skating. Of course.
Cheeks blazing, I’m halfway to the door before she finishes collecting her stuff. “Chop chop,” I say over my shoulder. “Lots to do.”
She gives me a rueful smile and hurries to catch up.
TWENTY DANNI
My heart is a fucking traitor. I know it is, because even though my mind knows damn well that space from Rose is a smart move, I’ve never felt as high in my life as tonight, now that she’s sought me out.
Even worse, my heart’s actually trying to convince my brain that the situation here is more nuanced than my brain figured. Because even though this morning it seemed really obvious that the distance has been doing me wonders (for example, it’s now been forty-nine hours since I last visited Alfie’s profile to look at photos of him and count the ways he’s better than me), and I should tell her I have a date with a med drama tonight and I’m too busy to see her, I can’t. Because now that Rose is here, and I remember the richness of her voice, and the way her eyes crinkle when she looks at me, and the timbre of her laugh, I’m done for. I’ll do whatever she wants. I’ll do anything to feel happy like this. Especially after some of the lowest weeks I’ve ever lived.