Side Note: I Think I Love You (Side Notes Book 1)

Chapter 13 - Ian

"Come on, princess. You weren't so bad." My eyes wander the walls of her room. Last time I walked into here, it used to belong to both her and Jason. A lot has changed in the past four years. The bunk beds that were covered in permanent marker and paint were replaced by a rather clean single, queen-sized bed with blue covers. Everything that was remotely Jason's is gone and in a new room.

This whole room screams Attie.

"That's new." I point to the drawing of three bears—I think they're bears—on top of each other.

She looks near the window. "Yeah, I still have to finish that."

"Is that what you're doing right now?"

She shakes her head. Pulling the closet door open, she grabs a thin, rectangular-shaped cardboard box, and lays it on the floor gently. "I forgot about my cousin's birthday gift so I'm trying to finish that real quick."

"A birthday?" I stare at her blankly. "You forgot about someone's birthday? That is not like you," I feign shock. She knows I'm messing with her, even if I might be just the slightest bit surprised because Attie hardly forgets about a person's birthday. When we were younger, the first thing we ever bonded over was how close our birthdays were, mine being the day after hers and Jason's.

"I didn't forget, per say," she argues, placing her hands on her hips. "I just...had a lot of things on my mind."

I raise a brow. "Were any of those things about a certain guy? You know: tall, sexy blond hair, on the football team."

She shakes her head and her lips turn upward and I get a glimpse of little dimples that I never knew she had. Were they always there? I guess but they were never so noticeable before.

Maybe I need a new prescription for my glasses or something.

"Nope. Doesn't ring a bell." She taps her chin with her index, laughing. "I am seeing this guy whose head is a little too big for his glasses, though. Does that count?"

I scoff. "Fair game, Ryder. Tell you what: I'll help you with your gift."

Her dark brows fly over her head. "Really?" Then, her smile is flipped slightly upside down and her eyes show a hint of confusion. "Are you sure about that, Ian?"

I nod. "It's not that hard to wrap a mirror, right? Just don't break it or we'll both get seven years of bad luck."

"That's not—" she begins to say before I hop off the bed and sit myself on the floor, next to the mirror, trying my absolute hardest to not squish any of the bottles of paint or step on the brushes that are on the floor. She has a lot of stuff for someone who only paints as a hobby.

"Okay, I guess there's no changing your mind," she mumbles before reaching for her phone and stopping the music. "Yeah, I'm not wrapping the mirror just yet."

"But it's just a mirror," I point out. No shit, Sherlock. "What else are you going to do with it?"

She smiles mischievously as she opens the box. "Do you know how to draw?"

****

"How does that sound?" Attie finally asks.

She had just told me her plans for the mirror, after getting off-topic one too many times whenever Jason entered the room for something or whenever something reminded her of her favorite Taylor Swift song.

Which is a lot. That girl really likes Taylor Swift and Jason must leave a lot of his stuff in this room. Either that or he was playing the big brother role and having way too much fun with it.