Page 49 of Meet Cute Magic

“Yeah,” I whisper, that unsettling feeling I’d had in my gut for a week now making itself known once more. “Yeah. Well. We should go. It’s going to take about an hour to get there.” A beat passes before Jack sighs, then nods.

“We’re taking my car.” And despite the niggling feeling, I can’t help but smile before I nod at him.

We drive in utter silence, no music or conversation, both of us lost in our own thoughts, and then it continues when we trek across the valley where the flowers will bloom in about an hour, before settling into a spot on the top of a steep hill where I find the buds of the moonflowers. The only sound around us is the quiet whistle of night air, a rustling of trees off in the distance, and a few animals moving around us. I’m grateful it’s a warmer night, a heat wave hitting the last few days, so despite the fact that it’s early fall, it’s not too unbearably cold out here. The blanket Jack brought has one of those plastic backings so we stay dry as we sit, though we carefully leave a good foot between us. While the silence isn’t new for us, it suddenly feels suffocating, and I have to fight the urge to break it every other minute. When Jack does instead, I actually jump at the shock of it.

“I brought some snacks,” he says, shifting for his bag.

“Snacks?”

He nods. “I got some things from your sister’s bakery. Some lemon cookies and the muffins you like.” A hand goes to behind his neck and he rubs there nervously. When I see the cookies in question, I shake my head.

“Yeah, we’re not eating those,” I say, grabbing the bag from his hands and tossing it down the hill. I’ll have to grab it before we leave, but in the meantime, I need those cookies as far from us as humanly possible.

“What the fuck, Rosie?” Jack says, brows furrowed and irritation clear on his face. “If you didn’t like them, you didn’t have to eat them, but I like them and—” I ignore his protests, reaching into my own bag and revealing something I didn’t want to: that I also went to Vi’s place early this morning to get some treats, including his favorite cookies, for our outing tonight. I was relieved when I saw my sister was in the back when I came in, but it seems Jack wasn’t so lucky.

“I got some, too, don’t worry.” I reach into the bag and pull out the pumpkin-shaped sugar cookie and hand it to him. He furrows his brow, something I barely see in the dim light of the nearly full moon, before taking a small, tentative bite.

“You didn’t have to throw mine out, though,” he grumbles, and I nod in response.

“Yes, I did,” I say, matter-of-factly, already planning for how I can strangle my sister.

“They were perfectly good!”

“They were spelled,” I calmly inform him before taking a bite of my brownie. Silence fills the air as Jack processes my words, and I chew on my treat, hoping the sugar rush will ease my irritation.

“I’m sorry?”

“She spelled them. She probably thought it was funny. I can’t confirm the exact recipe, but I have my theory, and we don’t need that kind of complication.”

“What kind of complication?”

I sigh then groan, flopping back on the blanket. “I think she put some kind of lust spell in them. It would make you feel very… needy. Like the kiss bond, but worse.” Silence fills the air.

“Oh,” he says eventually, and my entire body burns with an embarrassed flush as I stoically stare at the stars. There’s a sound of him digging through his bag before he moves to lie beside me on the blanket. “Why would she do that?” he asks after a span of silence. I had hoped the conversation was going to end with my previous explanation, but I should have known Jack doesn’t let anything go. He needs all the information at all times. Normally, I find it endearing, but right now…

“She saw the bond on you and decided it was mine. We were hanging out, and Vi gave me truth-telling muffins—”

“Truth-telling?” he asks, his head turning to me, and I repeat the movement so I face him, smiling.

“Having witches for sisters can be so annoying. She reserves them for us, so no need to worry about you getting a dose.” Unless we start something and my sisters get protective of me, I don’t add.

“Damn,” he grumbles, and I nod.

“Anyway, I confessed enough that they got the gist.”

“Enough?”

“They don’t know about the curse, so I told them the bare minimum of what we were doing to get us bonded together. You can’t lie under the spell, but you can avoid revealing things so long as you stick to the facts. I’m pretty sure my sisters think we have some kind of thing between us and they told me I should… jump on it. Vi probably thought giving you the lusty lemon cookies would get that ball rolling.”

“Jump on it?”

I groan again. I wish he would just accept my explanation without needing all the details, but because I probably owe him the truth, I give it to him.

“I haven’t… been with someone, so to speak, in some time, and they know it. They think I should. You know. With you.” Honestly, I’ve been unable to think about much else since that conversation and their suggestion. I think my conversation with my sisters really fucked with me, especially when the fucking muffins made it impossible to lie, even to myself.

Since then, I’ve found myself wondering what it would hurt if we sated this clear need between us just for a bit. Just until the curse is broken. It would almost be foolproof, since once the curse is broken, we could both move on with our lives. Phillip said all previous relationships would be forgotten, and soon after, I would bump into my true love once and for all. I know how love works, how the universe determines these things, and I’m more than ready and have to believe I’m of a pure heart, despite my many flaws.

Love doesn’t care about your flaws, after all. Just your intentions.