Finding Us (Finding #2) by Shealy James

before she rested her head on my shoulder. “I guess her words just pushed me over the edge. Alexis has an uncanny way of making me feel like I’m not right for you because I can’t figure out how you could have liked her and me. We’re too different.”
    “That’s easy, baby. I never liked her. She was convenient. That may be terrible of me to say, but she never minded until you came along. Alexis can get over it though. After today I don’t plan on hanging out with her again.” She lay down on my chest and tucked her head under my chin. This was her spot and my heaven. My hands snuck under her shirt and started rubbing her bare back. She was still in her clothes she was wearing while she was trying to get ready to go out, and her thin shirt did nothing to conceal the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
    “What about the band?” she asked distracting me before my hands could roam too far.
    “What about them? Technically, I wasn’t in the band anyway.”
    She sat up to look at me. I saw the disbelief in her eyes when she said, “I know, but you love playing with them.”
    “You’re more important. Besides Grady and I can write songs without her. The guys will just come over to Pop’s house where we can record anyway.” She nodded, but she wasn’t completely appeased yet. “Babe, Grady has had some stuff going on with Lex anyway. He isn’t going to stop being my friend because I want to avoid her. Everything will be ok.”
    We sat in silence for a moment when Maggie’s stomach took that opportunity to announce its displeasure with her lack of dinner that evening. I laughed, but the smile died on my face when I saw she was still unsure.
    “Everything will be ok, huh?” she whispered.
    “I’ll make sure of it,” I promised with a kiss.
    “If you say so…”
    “I say so. Now, let’s get you inside, fed, and to bed. I know you’re hungry and exhausted, and I want to wake up tomorrow in a better place.”
    Maggie nodded and laid her head back on my shoulder as I stood from the lounger with her in my arms like a little monkey. I brought her inside the silent house and sat her on a barstool. Sarah, Max, and Becca were in bed and everyone else was gone. After eating sandwiches and giving her an “I’m sorry” penny that I had saved to be an “I love you” penny from earlier in the day, we went to bed and quickly fell asleep against each other. I knew this wasn’t the end of Maggie’s insecurities or of Alexis for that matter, but for now I took comfort in the fact that I had my girl wrapped around me.

Chapter 6
     
    Maggie
     
    The Saturday morning of graduation was bittersweet. It was the day I had to say goodbye to my closest friends, but thankfully I woke up with my legs entwined with Parker’s and one of his arms wrapped tightly around my body, a feeling that thrilled me every morning, especially since the devil ex-slut bag had been out of the picture after the beach. Still, this morning felt different. It was like my friends and I had spent the last few years in paradise together and now we were floating apart. The only bright side was I wasn’t floating alone. I had Parker to keep me company in my life raft. To think I came to college with one friend, a best friend, and now I felt like I had a second family with Max, Sarah, Becca, and Parker.
    Sarah was practically being forced to go home right away and help her parents on the farm. Her graduate school plans were delayed because her family needed her. Max and Becca were moving out into their own place, so that left Parker and me alone in the house while we attended law school. While I was more than happy to be starting my life with the man of my dreams by my side, I was still going to miss having everyone here all of the time. Saying goodbye was the downside of making friends I decided.
    I curled up in the bed thinking about the end of our college experience while I absorbed the comfort from Parker who still slept soundly. The perfect