“Isn’t it?” I broach.
“Not at all. Do I really have to spell outI’m not that superficialfor you?”
“So what you’re saying is if I showed up one day in a black wig…”
Perking, she stuffs a heaping helping ofbluein her mouth. “Wigs aren’t a bad idea, actually. I gave your vampire character blond hair way longer than yours.” She shimmers in the sunlight. “Have you ever considered getting extensions?”
Sardonically, I murmur, “Never once.”
“Have you considered getting a black streak put in, perhaps? To convey that time you messed with dark magic and irrevocably ruined a section of your otherwise shining locks?”
That’s all news to me. “Dark magic sounds enticing. Maybe I’ll toy with it a great deal more.”
Aghast, she abandons her spoon in her cup of blue and plants her palm to her chest. “Are you trying to ruin all your pretty blond hair to spite me?”
I lift a shoulder, scoop up a bite of coffee ice, and hold it out across the table for her. “You’d still like me even if I did. Probably more if spite were involved.”
She presses her blue-tinted lips together and scoops a reciprocating bite. Holding her spoon out for me, she says, “Yeah, probably.”
Leaning forward to accept her offering, I let myself embrace the blast ofblue, then I hum and eye her while she melts for me. “Be a good girl and tell me: how exactly does one get into the business of dark magic?”
She giggles. “You cannotgood girlme like this.”
“Can’t I? It seemed like you liked it before.”
Her head shakes. “No. Nope. No idea what you’re talking about.”
Uh-huh. I’m just so sure. “Come now,love.”
Her face blisters as she fixes her attention back on me.
I lift my spoonful for her. “I can’t help but feel like you’re gatekeeping your knowledge on dark magic.”
“Well.” She stares at my coffee-flavored ice. “First, you need a tragic backstory, and no other options.”
“Check.”
She leans in, and I watch, captivated, as her lips fold around the plastic of my spoon. She pulls back, swallowing, and says, “Then, you need to stumble upon a forbidden tome in an ancient library…” Her eyes glitter as universes spin in them, and by thetime we’ve finished our shaved ice, I know I’ve fallen in love all over again.
Chapter 22
?
The price of being right.
August
Is he Ali…or isn’t he?
That’s the question.
True, he didn’t go to that meeting the other day, but I’ve been paying careful attention since, and there’sjustenough times where he’s absent in accordance with a scheduled meeting that I’m not yet willing to believe this hypothesis has been debunked.
I could have missed him postponing his other meeting, even though postponing a meeting on my account seems really, really stupid. Despite that,stupidisn’timpossible. Even though it is improbable.
As far as I can tell, both Dominic and Ali work incredibly hard. Their work ethic matches their aptitude for devotion. Their tones are similar. And, the other day when we got shaved ice, we had a moment that felt suspiciously likegirl talk. We just fell into it. Like Ali and I have done countless times before.
All this to say: I’m not convinced that heisn’tAli yet, which brings me here.
