Chloe

I was stuck at a hotel with a completely hot guy that I’d just made out with. I didn’t know whether to jump for joy or quake in fear.

“I’ll call my dad.” Drew picked up his phone and then set it down again. “He’s a mechanic.” He hit the home button and then clicked it off. He rubbed his hand through his hair again. I realized it was his tell when he was nervous. “In case you’re wondering, that means that we have no money.” His mouth pulled down. “But he can help us out today.”

He started to turn the phone on again but I stopped him. “I feel like this is a thing for you. Does it bother you that your dad is a mechanic?” He’d grilled me about my parents and now, it was clicking into place. His insecurity about his fancy school, his need for assurances that I wasn’t one of the rich kids.

He shrugged before he answered. “No. I mean, maybe.” His hand ran through his hair, until the strands pointed every which way. “The kids at school would give me crap, you know. And I got pretty good at dealing with that. But a lot of the girls,” he stopped. “They would only hook up with me, they dated guys like…”

“Like what?” I asked.

He swallowed. “Like Alex.”

“Oh.” The air rushed from my lungs. The final piece clicked into place. “Drew. You thought I was another one of those girls who cared about his family’s money.”

He nodded. “I know that’s not true now. No one is more honest and forthright than you but I had a hard time believing it at first. It wasn’t you, though. It was me.”

I pulled out my ponytail, intent upon fixing my hair, because, honestly, I needed to do something else to occupy my hands while I talked. But the second my hair was down, his hands were in it. He gave me another quick kiss.

I kissed him back but I had something I needed to say to him. “I’m not sure why I thought I liked Alex so much. We’re alike and I think I thought that was important.”

He gave me a wide grin. “I disagree. I think somebody like me is much better for you.”

I grinned back. “I’ve come to see your point. But I swear to you. My crush on Alex had nothing to do with how you grew up or his money.”

“I get it,” he said softly. “That’s my hang-up. Not yours.”

I shrugged. This next part was going to be hard to say. “Me thinking our first kiss was a trick. That’s my hang-up. I’m an easy target and people tease me. I’m used to it and most of the time I don’t care but I’ve always kind of assumed it’s because I am super annoying.”

“They won’t tease you anymore.” He leaned his forehead against mine, his voice holding an intensity that made me gasp.

If we weren’t careful, we were going to start making out again. “Call your dad.”

“Right,” he let out a breath and then made the call.

“Hi Pops,” I heard him say. “It went good.” Another pause. “No, I have another problem. The car broke down in Northern Connecticut.”

I nibbled my lip as I listened. I could hear someone talking on the other end. “Outside of New London at a Day’s Inn.”

“My mom and dad could pick us up,” I whispered, not wanting to interrupt. Apparently I did anyway.

Drew bent his neck, running his hand through his hair. “That was Chloe, Pop.”

I hadn’t heard a lot of the words his dad had said but I did hear what he said next. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, Pop,” Drew answered giving me a quick glance.

Heat spread through my cheeks as I reached for his hand. Was this it? Were we boyfriend and girlfriend?

They exchanged some more words and then I heard Drew say, “She hasn’t called her parents yet. I’ll call you back.”

Drew looked over at me. “My dad can come fix the car at like five tomorrow so that we still make it in time for roll call.” He took a breath. “The question is, do you want to sleep at the hotel or do you want to call your parents to come get us?”

A little noise, like a squeak, slipped out of my mouth.

He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “It’s totally fine if you want to stay at your parents. I can stay here and keep an eye on the car.”

“No,” the word was out before I could stop it. “I’ll stay with you but I just want to get a few things straight.”

His eyebrows rose. “Shoot.”

I reached my hand up to fiddle with my hair. “I heard you talking with your dad. Obviously, I’m in the car with you. Why wouldn’t I hear you?” I was rambling. “Well, are we… are we dating?”

“Are we?” he asked back but he had a smile that made me melt inside. “I’d like to be.”

“Me too,” I took a deep breath. “But tonight… I’m not ready for…”

“We’ll take it slow.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m done making mistakes. From here on out we’re going to do this relationship thing right.”

I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I felt the same. From here on out we were doing this right. “I love you,” I said, letting the words slip out before I could hold them in. So much for doing things right. The second the words left my lips I knew I had just made a colossal mistake.

* * *

Drew

Had Chloe just said what I think she said? My heart was pounding in my chest as she lifted her head and started scooting back across the seat.

“I didn’t mean to say that,” she began. “There’s no pressure and I am so sorry. We only just started and here I am--”

I hooked my hand behind her knee to stop her from scooting away. Then I slowly started pulling her back toward me. “I love you too,” I said. Then I kissed her again. Because she was my girlfriend. And we loved each other.

Ten minutes later, we headed into the hotel. We had no bags, no toothbrushes even. But as I explained that we needed a room because our car broke down, they were actually really cool. The manager came out and gave us a discounted rate. And while they didn’t have clothes for us, they did give us deodorant and toothbrushes. Which was awesome considering this was kind of our first date. Best not to smell.

“This has been the strangest day,” Chloe giggled next to me.

I had to laugh at that. “It has.”

“Not bad,” she added as the elevator slid open.

“Nope,” my hand came to the small of her back. “Just different.”

Our room had two beds separated by a small end table and as we each collapsed onto one, we reached across the space and held hands.

My phone rang. Picking it up, I sat up on the bed. “Hey,” I said to Derek.

“Hey, just wanted to let you know that we loved your audition. If you need time to decide that’s cool. Bet we’d love to have you in the band.”

I looked over at Chloe. She gave me a thumbs up as she stood to do a silent happy dance. It was everything I could do not to laugh. “That’s awesome.” I replied. “But I don’t need time to think. I’d love to join.”

“Nice,” Derek said before I heard him call to some people in the background. “He’s in!”

I heard the other guys give a cheer and I blinked my eyes. Just like that, my life had gone from a fight, where I was struggling to make it through to everything just going right.

I looked up to see Chloe still dancing around and I shook my head. I had a new band, a music school I’d be attending, and an amazing new girlfriend that I never wanted to let go.

And Camp Winni? I couldn’t wait to get back to that place.

As I hung up the phone, I asked Chloe for the car keys.

“Sure,” she handed them over.

“I’ll be right back,” I said. “I need my guitar.”

She pretended to hold a mic up to her mouth. “Practicing your new band songs?”

“Nope,” I gave her a wink “We need to sing a round of ‘Camp Winni.’”

Her mouth hung open before she pumped her fist in the air. “You are so right, that is exactly what this moment needs.”

We sang all the best camp songs that night and a few love songs too. I don’t know how I had never realized that my perfect girlfriend would sing along while I played but now that I had someone like that… I was never giving her up.

“Chlo,” I sat down next to her as I set my guitar to the side. “You really are like the sun shining down on my life. I love you.”

She kissed me, her smile saying it all. “I love you too.”

We lay awake talking for longest time, each on a bed, and when we fell asleep, our hands were still linked across the space between us.