Take Me for Granted (Take Me #1)(69)

“Gabi.”

Huh, the little pixie. I would have never guessed. “Is Ari in there? I need to talk to her.”

McAvoy looked confused. “She left early this morning.”

“Left for where?” My blood ran cold. No. I need to fix this. She had to let me fix this.

“Bro, I thought you knew. I would have told you.”

“Where did she go?”

“Back to Jersey. I heard her tell Gabi something about an early flight to Boston, but I guess I assumed she meant Sunday.”

“Thanks, man.”

I dashed away back to my room. I heard McAvoy yell something after me, but I didn’t bother listening. I had to get back to Jersey. I had to see her. She could not leave for Boston before we talked.

I packed quickly and grabbed my guitar. I banged on Sydney’s door. When nothing happened, I moved to Miller’s door. “Where the f**k is Sydney?”

Sydney’s head popped out. “Can I help you, resident ass**le?”

“We’ve got to go. Get your shit together.”

“What? I’m not going.”

“I need to leave now! So, let’s go.” I was getting hysterical. I needed to get to Ari as fast as I could.

“Bro,” Miller said, “she can come back with us.”

“Take care of her.”

“I’m not a doll.”

“See you later, cuz,” I said, mimicking her nickname.

Then, I was out the door.

The drive back to Princeton felt like it was taking forever. The roads were shit from a snowstorm that had blown in recently. It had been awesome on the slopes, but it wasn’t so great to drive in. I was thankful for my truck because I drove recklessly back to Ari. I just had to get to her. I had to make it right. No matter what it took.

Chapter 40: Aribel

I heard the beating on the door before Cheyenne did. I dashed to her room and flung the door open wide. “Chey, you have to answer the door.”

“Ari, are you sure about this? I’ve never known you to back away from confrontation,” Cheyenne said, her voice sympathetic.

“I’m not backing down from confrontation. We had our confrontation last night, and it was horrible! I can’t talk to him today. Please, I’ve never asked you for anything like this.”

“Besides driving you back from the ski resort a day early when I was getting together with Vin?”

I shuddered. Vin. Gross. “Thank you. You’re the best friend ever.”

“All right, but I’m only doing this because I love you,” Cheyenne said.

She walked to the door, and I huddled on the floor within earshot of the conversation that was about to go down.

I hadn’t thought that Grant would follow me. I’d made a split second decision this morning to come back to Jersey. I’d even called my parents and asked if we could move up the flight to Boston, so I could come home earlier. They’d been surprised since I’d insisted on going on the ski trip in the first place, but they hadn’t complained. They missed me.

Now, Grant was here. What do I do now that he’s here?

“Grant…hey,” Cheyenne answered warily.

“Where is she, Cheyenne?”

My heart pounded from the sound of his voice. I just wanted some space. I needed time to think about whether or not this was what I wanted, but then hearing his voice…it just brought back all the memories.

“She left already.”

“What? No way. Her car is still out there!”

“I dropped her off.”

“In Newark?” he asked incredulously. “You would have never made it back by now.”

I watched Cheyenne shrug. She was lying for me. I would squeeze her if I didn’t feel like a total jerk for cowering behind the door while she fought my battles for me.

“Come on, I know she’s in there. I need to talk to her.”

“I already said she’s not here. You should just go back home.”

“Ari!” he yelled.

I heard his hand hit the door gently to keep Cheyenne from closing it.

“Ari, I know you’re in there! Just come talk to me. Can’t we talk about this?”

I closed my eyes and put my head between my knees. God, I just wanted to run to him. I wanted to see him and have that feeling of completion again. But I couldn’t forget our argument, and I wasn’t ready to have another one. I’d asked for time, and I still needed it.

“She’s not in here!” Cheyenne yelled back. “And even if she were, do you think she would talk to you with all this yelling? Haven’t you done enough damage?”

“I just want to fix this,” he told Cheyenne. “She has to know how I feel about her.”

Oh no, not the tears again.

“Well, if you really care about her, I think the best thing to do is to just back off. She’s stressed. She’s never been in this kind of situation. I told her you were going to break her heart, but she wouldn’t listen.”

I felt the tears trickle down my face at Cheyenne’s words. There was the I told you so that Cheyenne had kept from her lips when I asked her to drive me home this morning.

“So, just give her some space. Maybe after the break, she’ll want to talk to you.”