The Reunion by Kayla Olson(89)
He closes the distance between us, takes both of my hands in his. I can’t stop staring into his eyes—the feeling seems to be mutual.
“Liv,” he says, with more emotion packed into a single syllable than I’ve ever heard. “We said a lot of things earlier, but when you left, I realized I never said the most important part.” His hands close tighter around mine as he takes a deep breath. “I’m so sorry for all the years I never acted on how I felt. Sorry for being so afraid to lose you that I wasn’t up-front when it mattered—I’ve always only wanted to protect you, but ended up being the one to hurt you. I hate that things happened like they did.”
He takes a breath, keeps going. “I’m sorry I wasn’t brave enough to cut my father out of my life years ago and that his actions made you doubt what you and I have.”
My heart tightens at the memory of that night in his living room: how cold I was to him, how I left without giving him a chance to explain. A sand-colored kitten curls around my ankle, its fur soft on my skin: YOU, reads its tag.
“When my dad leaked the news about us, I completely lost it—I wasn’t thinking straight after what he did, and how he did it, and—” He cuts himself off, takes a calming breath. “Point is, after finally getting my chance with you, I thought I’d blown it.” His eyes are practically on fire, and I can’t look away. “I should never have snapped at you that day on set when all you wanted was to help.”
I have no words. Not one.
“I love your eyelashes,” he goes on, words tumbling out one on top of another, “and how you freak out if one lands on your cheek. I love your smiles, all of them, the hundred different ones you have in your arsenal—but especially that first one you gave me twenty years ago, when we met for the first time. I was so, so nervous, even though I was trying to act chill, and your smile—it was shy and small and I can still remember it like it was yesterday—it was the first thing that actually made me feel chill. Like everything would be okay. And I love the smile you gave me at the Fanline dinner, like we’d never missed a day, when the truth is I should’ve been in your life for every single one of them. I’m so sorry, Liv. I’m sorry for all of it, and I hope you’ll forgive me, because I—I don’t think I could run out of ways to tell you how much I love you if we had a hundred years together. So. Hi,” he says. “Will you be my very best friend, and also my very public girlfriend? I think it’s a little late to keep the news from getting out, unfortunately.”
I break into the widest smile, laughing, overwhelmed in the best way by all of it. “Yes,” I say, nodding avidly. “Yes, please. Yes to all of it.”
“I love you, Livvie,” he says quietly. “I don’t care who knows it, I don’t care how hard it might be to live our lives with so many eyes on us—I just want to live it with you.”
He puts one hand to my face and wipes a stray tear away with his thumb. Each second passes in slow motion, until suddenly it can’t go fast enough: I close the distance between us, kiss him like I should have all along, making up for the past week and so many years before. I’ve never kissed someone while smiling before—never tasted salt on a smile, either, or kissed someone with half a dozen kittens mewing in the background.
“Ransom?” I say, between kisses. “I just have one question. Why did they bring in all the kittens?”
He laughs, pulling away until it’s just our fingertips touching, and then not even that. He pulls a laser pointer out of his pocket and points it at the floor—its beam is Girl on the Verge pink, just like our logo. All the kittens gather around it in a line, their heads bobbing in unison as he captivates them with the light.
I read their tags: WILL MY BE YOU?
“Oh,” he says, grinning, leaning down to the ground. “The last one’s still missing.” In one smooth motion, he swaps one kitten for another, and it now reads WILL YOU BE MY? “The last one says GIRL—we can play it off as a teaser for the reunion special, if you want. I think they’re hoping I’ll officially ask you out on live TV, but we can keep it just between us if you’re not ready for that. When you pull them out of their gift boxes during the segment on the show, though, be sure and act surprised, okay?”
“This is amazing. You are amazing.” The laser blinks off, and the kittens scatter, except for the sand-colored one with the question mark who seems seriously in love with my ankles.
Ransom pulls me in for another kiss, and I know it will be the first of many, many more. Being this close to him is the most familiar thing in the world, but at the same time, it feels brand-new: he’s my very best friend, my favorite place on the planet even if it isn’t always safe, my risk worth taking—because whatever happens from here, we have to try. We’ve wasted too much time. Now we can start making up for it all.
There’s a soft knock at the door. I break away, reluctant to end the moment, but it’s okay—this is only the beginning for us. I open the door. Alyssa’s on the other side, the wayward gray kitten curled up and purring in her arms.
Alyssa’s eyes dart between us, bright and hopeful, but she doesn’t pry for details. “You’re on in five, Liv,” she says. “Ready to do this?”
In only a few minutes, I’ll be on camera in front of a live studio audience, under a white-hot spotlight, answering a thousand questions about my career, my personal life, and my plans. In only a few minutes, Ransom will “surprise” me with kittens upon kittens, and I’ll do the best acting job of my life pretending he’s caught me off guard.