Meanwhile, on the trip
(Peter's pov )
I had had a really crazy year, but it has been pretty exciting. See, I grew up with a good group of friends, even though it dissolved after middle school. It used to be me, Lara Jean Covey, Chris, Chris's cousin Genevieve, Trevor Pike and John Ambrose McClaren. Then in middle school things got completely out of whack with the group. Johnny moved away, sports drew me and Trevor apart from the group due to busy schedules with sports, and then there was the incident between Gen and Lara Jean. In seventh grade, the first real boy/girl party we had ever gone to. I was not about to tell my very Catholic family that there was a definite chance of a game of spin the bottle happening. Once I got to the party, the rumors were true, the game was on. Now, I had a little thing for Gen back then, and everyone knew she wanted to kiss me. I wouldn't be surprised if the game was her idea, even when the party was not for her.
Anyway, the bottle of 7-Up was spun, and it almost landed on Gen and myself. The girl chosen was Lara Jean, or rather, the boy chosen was me. That's right, she had been spinning. Gen had glared at her, and keep in mind they were best friends at the time. Panicked, Lara Jean offered
"I can spin again."
I couldn't help but smile at her sweet, selfless disposition
"Well, you can't cheat the bottle."
At that moment, she and I kissed, and I could hear Gen gasp or huff, whichever it was. Now, I guess I was kind of into both girls, but in the end, Gen and I ended up together. But even yet, Gen still made Lara Jean's life a living nightmare whenever she could. I tried to stop her many times, but it was only a temporary solution, and more of a distractions whenever it did work. At least Lara Jean still had Chris, who stayed by her side. She, of course, also had her family. Her father Dan, and her sisters, Margot who would soon be off to college in Scotland and Katherine, Kitty to her friends, who was entering middle school as LJ and I entered Junior year. At present moment we are in our second semester of Junior year. But, back to the beginning of this year.
Anyway,Lara Jean had always loved the idea of love, but had never really chased it other than in her head. Or so we thought... One day her love letters got out. Yes, letters. She's an old school romantic, and she wrote a letter every time she fell in love with someone. Never really planned on sending them, but sometimes, things don't go as planned. The letters got out. Yes, plural. There were 5. One to a guy from a camp she attended, one to a guy she went to model UN with, Lucas James, who she went to freshman homecoming with, but he wasn't looking for girls, so they became friends instead. The other two letters were to Josh Sanderson, her next door neighbor, childhood friend and her sister's now ex, and one to me.
At the start of Junior year, Gen had also dumped me for a college student. It came out of nowhere, and it had hurt. She would sometimes briefly date another guy just to see me grovel at her feet to get her back. It was a dance, but not one I enjoyed. As the letters came out, Lara Jean's sole focus was on Josh's letter. Her sister had just broken up with him. He had just discovered Lara Jean had feelings for him, and did not know whether those were in the past, new, or if they never went away. Lara Jean did not want her older sister thinking she was trying to make a pass at her ex. And so, an idea formed in my mind, and I proposed it to her.
To fake date. Gen would get jealous and want me back, and Josh Sanderson would not think Lara Jean was interested in him. But the quirky romantic girl wanted ground rules. Fake or not, this was her first relationship, and she had not wanted all her firsts to be fake. There was no kissing, but I could put my hand in her back pocket like in 16 Candles, which I had to watch with her. She watched Fight Club with me after. I was to drive her and Kitty to school everyday, I proposed the idea of writing her daily notes as well, and she would come to my lacrosse games and parties. Yeah, while my cousins Sean and Jack preferred Soccer, I loved lacrosse.
One contingency rule in the contract LJ and I both created in order to fake date was the Adler High Ski Trip. It was months away when we first wrote the contract, that is why it was a contingency. If we were still fake dating, she had to go with me. Boyfriends and girlfriends always went together, and most people did it there than in other likely events. It was not Lara Jean's scene, but I could tolerate it because of the skiing, since I was not big on their extramarital festivities, being raised in a Catholic family. Very, VERY Catholic. But, in present day, Lara Jean and I are still fake dating, and currently on said ski trip. It was just before Christmas, too. Well, Christmas break. Gen tried to flirt with me the whole time, and I was growing annoyed. The more time I spent with Lara Jean, the more I outgrew the idea of a fake relationship with her, and any romantic involvement with Gen. I had wanted Lara Jean Covey, or Covey, as I called her, to be mine for months. I was stirred out of my thoughts by Covey herself, coming near me in her nightgown and a coverup. It was nearing nighttime and I was relaxing in the hot tub. Her sweet voice broke through my thoughts, even though I was a little upset with her, still.
"All by yourself out here?"
I gave her the silent treatment. She was angry.
"Oh, so now you're ignoring me?"
I had to laugh at that, even a bitter laugh.
"Oh, I'm the one ignoring you. That, that's funny".
She grew meek, upset
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not a great skier, but you didn't even offer to teach me!"
Her voice had risen by the end of the sentence, but I was still upset over what had happened on the bus ride over to here.
"Oh, and I'm just supposed to be sweet to you after you don't sit with me on the way up here."
She instead had sat with her friend Chris, who spent the whole trip sleeping , due to an overnight concert on a school night. She would only come if Chris came, and Chris normally did not do school functions. I had to beg her. Lara Jean once more fired back a response at me
" Aren't you happy that you got to sit with who you really wanted?"
She was referring to our plan, and how, to my unhappiness, Gen got to sit next to me. But that was not what I wanted nor what I had planned for. I'm sure I had some sort of pleading look on my face when I said
"For a girl who has such good grades, you can be so dense sometimes. I wanted to sit next to you, Lara Jean! I packed the snacks, I even got those Korean yogurt smoothies you love so much."
Her deceased mother was Korean, she is Korean-American. She looked at me in surprise
"The Korean Grocery store is ll the way across town."
I nodded
"I know. So, if I went all the way across town to get you something that you like, then that means..."
She was either messing with me or couldn't take a hint given on a silver platter, because she answered
"You must really like yogurt?"
Ok, I did, but that was not the point in this conversation. I looked at her and splashed my fingers in the water
"You are impossible"
Her voice softened and she leaned her face closer to mine, still sitting at the edge of the hot tub
"I'm sorry I didn't sit next to you."
Shaking it off, I shrugged
"It's alright."
A moment later, to my surprise, she took off her coverup and came even closer to me. I spoke in surprise
"You're coming in. In your nightgown..."
She swam towards me, saying
"I did not bring a bathing suit."
She had packed books and Korean face masks, though. She now stood in front of me, smiling. She spoke
"Hi."
Not being able to contain myself, I picked her up in my arms, and whispered
"There's no one like you, Covey."
And we kissed. Nothing more than that, though. We just kissed a lot. Til the sun started to rise. After leaving Lara Jean in her room, still in a fake-dating status, I made a pitstop I never should have made and would soon come to regret.