“Ally-Bear, you could wear a garbage bag and make it look fashionable,” I teased, knowing that she was about to disagree.
“You’re a shitty liar, King.”
“If you’re already going to use my last name, baby, use the full one. I know you know it.” After all, she’d been quite curious about my family, hadn’t she? She knew things I never told her before, so she must’ve googled me.
Her eyes rolled, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. “I’m not gonna.”
“Why not?”
“Somehow, it’s just going to boost your ego, and you have enough of that.”
“Fair point.” I chuckled. My ego didn’t need any more boosting, though it wouldn’t have hurt. “Back to your question, you can totally pull that outfit off. Just show me before you leave the house so I can approve.”
I wasn’t a stylist or a fashion icon. In fact, most of the stuff I wore, my sisters and our mom went out to purchase for me—even sent me pictures of how to pair them. It wasn’t like I couldn’t do it myself, but they had a better eye for that than I had. I was theleastfashionable in my family. Even my dad knew how to dress better than me.
In fact, I took inspiration from him a lot. Sometimes, when I’d see him wear a good outfit, I’d ask my mom where he got it from and purchase it for myself.
Dad hated it. I loved it.
“Alright, so if you find it good, I should get changed, right?” Alana stood up again, turning the camera away from her.
Well, she wasn’t going to kill me by stripping in front of my eyes, so she had to use her words to do the job.
20
ALANA
Everyone was staring at me.
These past weeks, it was a miracle if I’d been seen by myself. Eden and I were practically attached by the hip. He had walked me to my classes even if that meant he was late for his own.
Each time someone attempted to speak to me, Eden was right there to shoo them away.
I was just glad the majority of my classes had been canceled today, otherwise, I probably would’ve skipped the entire day. It was scary going to a place where now almost everyone knew your name, alone this time.
With Eden there, I at least had him to shield me. He’d known how to keep my head occupied—well, kind of. Eden always talked such nonsense when he realized all those eyes and the attention were getting to me. In the end, he’d manage to distract me.
During classes, he wasconstantlyspamming my phone with messages, sending me funny videos or calling me over and over again to annoy me. While I got mad sometimes that he’d do such things, I now realized that his efforts kept my mind fromspiraling. I’d never missed someone’s annoying habits as much as I did right now.
At least I felt surprisingly comfortable in today’s outfit, even though it wasn’t what I normally would’ve worn. Sure, it was more on the casual side, but seriously, who dressed up forcollegeevery single day?
I’d gotten pretty unnoticed through the halls, but my luck ran out when fewer people were blocking the way. A few girls waved at me before giggling to each other. Some guy who I’d never seen beforenoddedat me right before he winked. Another one stared at me for a solid ten seconds before heading into his classroom.
But the most shocking of them all was Austin standing right in front of me as I was about to walk inside my lecture hall.
“You’re Alana, right?” He spoke delicately, a faint smile painting his beautiful features. He cut his hair—far too short for my taste—but I guess he could still pull it off. He was Austin; he could pull everything off.
My voice was stuck in my throat so all I managed to do was nod in response as I tried not to blush.
“Eden King’s newfling.” He said it like it was supposed to be an insult. Maybe it was.
I didn’t know what came over me, but for just a moment, I forgot Austin Bennett was the love of my goddamn life. Perhaps it was the strange tone in his voice when he said Eden’s name or the way he emphasized the word “fling” like it was degrading.
“It’s Eden Desrosiers-King, actually,” I said, ripping my eyes away from Austin’s face and focusing on the door behind him. “Only his friends are allowed to shorten his last name.”
I wasn’t exactly sure if that was true. His hockey jersey had hisfulllast name on it, and I only ever heard his friends call him just King. All of his “fans” called him Eden or used his whole name.
“Oh, I know. Eden and I gowayback.”