Bookishly Ever After (Ever After #1)(17)
“Really cute,” I forced out as I took back my phone and tried not to sound disappointed. The girl behind me in line was starting to tap her foot and roll her eyes.
Niamh went back to sitting, saying, “Tag me if you post it anywhere,” as she picked up her pen. “I’d love to have that picture.”
“Okay.” When she started writing in my book, all of the cool things I wanted to say flew out of my brain, but words started coming out of my mouth, anyway. “I really, really love your books, Ms. Adams. I’ve been a fan since forever and Aedan is my favorite book boyfriend and…” I stopped midbabble before I ended up sounding even more like a crazy fangirl, “I’m so glad to finally meet you,” I finished lamely.
“Well, I love meeting all of Aedan’s girlfriends.” She said in an amused tone of voice, then glanced at the sticky note before writing my name. “Phoebe. I love that name, it’s so pretty.” Niamh finished writing with a flourish and handed my book back to me. “Thanks so much for coming.”
Spoiler Girl started making impatient sounds and pushing her book onto the table. Before she could force me to move, I quickly held up my bow.
“Actually, before I go, can you…I mean, I got into archery because of Maeve and you and…” My voice grew shaky and tears just barely threatened at the corner of my eyes. I focused my attention on the teal riser of my bow instead of her face, hoping she wouldn’t notice.
“You want me to sign your bow?” Niamh finished for me, her tone gentle.
“Please.”
“I thought this was a book signing, not a bow signing,” Spoiler Girl snarked.
Niamh carefully signed the inside of one of the limbs, right under the Hoyt logo. “I hope that’s okay,” she said, hands hovering over the bow as if she was unsure of how to pick it up without breaking it.
“It’s perfect. Thank you.” I expertly picked up the bow. If I could maneuver it in crowded competitions, I could avoid knocking out my favorite author. “Thank you so much. I—” Before I could say anything else, Spoiler Girl practically hip-checked me and shoved her book at Niamh.
With a lame wave, I walked towards the bookstore exit, trying to look as dignified as I could, flipping open my book to the title page. Niamh’s curvy gold signature caught the light from the mall skylights and I hugged both my bow and the book to myself. Meeting her was totally worth every bad photo of me that was bound to pop up online.
9
Frustration bubbled up in me as Em chattered on about one of her elaborate plans before it finally overflowed.
“I am not asking Dev out,” I said into my phone while trying to reorganize my way too tall to-be-read pile before it could eat my dresser. “He’s the guy. He should do the asking.”
“Well, excuse me, Miss Nineteen-Fifties. You realize this is the twenty-first century, right? You don’t have to wait for a Sadie Hawkins dance or something. Girls do ask guys out.”
I dropped onto my bed, switching to video and rolling my eyes at Em with deliberate emphasis. “I’m not stuck in the fifties. I’m just a romantic. Did you know that my granddad actually hired a band and serenaded my grandmom?”
“And I thought my family was dramatic.”
I ignored that and pushed on. “I want that. Where would the romantic story be if I just said ‘Hey, Dev, Em thinks we’d be great together because we have so much in common, like being juniors and being in band. And you know, the whole milkshake thing was actually really cute. Wanna get some pizza?’”
Em stared at me for a second before bursting out laughing. “You are ridiculous.”
“This whole situation is ridiculous. They should have just handed us relationship instruction manuals when we started high school.” An idea hit me and I sat up quickly to stare at the incredibly crammed bookshelves around me.
“How to get a guy to confess his undying love in five easy steps?” Em’s laugh turned snort-y and it took her a second to catch her breath. “You can’t learn everything from books. But you can just suck it up, join the new millennium, and ask him out already.”
“I don’t know...” I wasn’t really paying attention to her anymore. My fingers reached for my copy of Golden. I was already always asking myself WWMD—What Would Maeve Do? So why not actually try to apply it? Or act like another one of my favorite heroines? “I…have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Of course. And then you can tell me all the details about Dev and books and milkshakes.”
Golden’s dust cover glittered as I absently flipped it around in my hands. “Right.”
“’Night.”
“’Night.” I clicked off the phone and stared at the tower of books shoved on my “favorite” bookshelf. There had to be some way to become more outgoing or interesting. The kind of girl who guys like Dev asked out.
Marissa from the Hidden House books was like that. She was sassy and there was that scene with Cyril after she got trapped in the mirror with him...the heat rushed to my cheeks as I shook my head and fanned myself. No way could I do anything like that. My eyes moved to Meet Me on the Edge of Midnight. Nope, Saila was linked to Tarak. I didn’t think a psychic connection would automatically spring up between me and Dev.