His Reverie (Reverie #1)(41)

“Yeah. I have.” I’m suddenly feeling self-conscious. I want to impress this girl. It matters to me, what she thinks. “You like it?”

“I love it.” She flashes a smile at me from over her shoulder. “Looks cozy.”

“Come on.” I take her hand and we sit on the layers of blankets, me closer to the ice chest. I pop open the lid and pull out the bottle of wine. “You want some?”

“Um, sure. Did you bring a corkscrew? Glasses? Or are we going to have to break the glass over a rock and sip out of the bottle?”

Shaking my head, I chuckle. “Don’t worry, I brought it all. I’m classier than you think.”

She laughs in return but says nothing. I wonder if she realizes how true my statement is. I don’t want to seem like some sort of dumbass loser in her eyes. I want to impress her. To be someone. Someone important.

I get to work on opening the bottle of wine, having a hell of a time with the corkscrew at first but I finally figure it out, yanking the cork out of the bottle with a loud pop. I grab one of the glasses and fill it, then hand it to Reverie before I fill one for myself. I watch as she takes a sip, grimaces a little then takes another one.

“You like it?” I ask.

“I’m not much of a drinker,” she admits as she takes another sip. “I had a glass of champagne at a wedding once.”

Ah jeez. I’m not a big drinker either but I’ve been doing it more lately with Michael. Not wine though. Mostly beer. “If you don’t want to drink it…” I start but she shakes her head, cutting me off.

“I do. I love that you brought this for me. Thank you.” She takes another swallow, a bigger one this time and I take a swig as well, hoping the alcohol will calm my nerves.

Ridiculous but I’m nervous around Reverie. I want this next hour, couple of hours, whatever, to be perfect. This might be my only chance with her so I’m going to make it as good as I can get.

“I have something else for you,” I tell her, watching her closely as she keeps drinking her wine. The surprise that flashes in her eyes makes me smile.

“You do? I thought you said you didn’t get me a present.”

“Well, I did.” Reaching into the ice chest, I pull out the wrapped package that I kept safe in a plastic shopping bag. I hand it to her, pleased at the eager way she plucks it from my fingers and holds it in front of her, smoothing her thumb over the already wrinkled wrapping paper.

“What is it?” she asks.

“Open it and find out.”

Slowly, she tears the paper away, revealing the dark pink decorative bottle that I found on Mom’s dresser. I think it held lotion in it at one point because when I unscrewed the top, I could still smell it. Faint and floral and reminding me so much of Mom, nostalgia hit me strong, right in my chest, directly at my heart.

The color of the bottle reminded me of Reverie. I stopped by the local Walmart and bought a jar of iridescent glitter. The girl at the checkout counter helped me create a label out of a plain white sticker she had and let me use her pink glitter pen. I’ve known her since we were in Kindergarten and she’s one of the few people from my past I’ve bumped into since I was released from jail who treated me like normal.

“Dreams,” Reverie says as she reads the label on the bottle. She lifts her head, her gaze meeting mine. “You made this?”

I nod, suddenly embarrassed. It’s a cheesy gift, clearly made by someone who’s broke. “The bottle was my mom’s.”

“Oh.” She studies it again, smoothing her fingers over the bottle, the label. She’s cradling it like it’s the most precious thing she’s ever held when really it’s just an old empty bottle of cheap lotion now filled with messy glitter. “I…I love it.”

“Really? I just…” I let out a ragged breath, trying to find the right words. “I didn’t know what else to get you and I don’t have a lot of money but I wanted it to be something meaningful. I know it’s not much—”

“Stop.” She rests her fingers over my lips, silencing me. Since when did she get so close? And how does she smell even better than usual? I breathe in her scent, my head starting to spin and it’s not from the glass of wine I just sucked down. “I love it. You made this for me. I almost don’t feel right in taking it since it’s something that once belonged to your mom.”

“It’s not much,” I start but she presses her fingers firmly against my mouth, silencing me again.

“It’s everything,” she whispers. “You made it. For me. No one ever makes me anything. They buy me stuff. But that’s not the same. This is…this gift came from the heart.”

My damn heart starts to beat so hard I feel like it’s going to pound out of my chest. “The color of the bottle reminded me of you,” I admit. “And every time I hear the word dream, I think of you.”

“It’s beautiful.” Her hand drops from my mouth as she studies the bottle once again. “I’ll use it to capture all of my new dreams.”

“New dreams?”

She lifts her head, those luminous blue eyes meeting mine. A cool breeze washes over us, sending a stray strand of her hair across her face and I reach out, tuck it behind her ear. “I have new dreams,” she whispers. “They involve me and you.”