He shrugged. “I didn’t want to. I’d rather give you this with the cookies.” He stepped closer to me and slipped his hand behind my neck. My breath hitched when his lips touched mine. The kiss was soft, and sad, and I wanted it to never end. I pulled him closer. When we broke the kiss, he just hugged me for a few seconds, and I savored it. We fit so well for two people who didn’t really fit at all.
“Goodbye, Daniel. I hope we can be ... friends again one day.” I took my sad cookies and left.
29
Well, Yeah, It’s Complicated If You Put It That Way
Well?” Cass said as I approached.
Cass and Owen were sitting on a park bench near the start of a walking path. I’d texted them as I left the shelter, and they’d told me where to find them.
This was the same forest where Yasmin had gone searching for fairies on Friday. I sat between them with the box of cookies on my lap.
“Daniel’s fine. He left his phone at home.”
“He’s moving out?” Owen asked.
I shook my head. “No.” I took a deep breath. I couldn’t believe this was happening again. “But he dumped me.”
“What?” Cass sounded shocked. And pissed.
I was not pissed. I was monumentallysad. I didn’t fully understandwhyDaniel would go along with what his uncle wanted instead of fighting to live his own life, but I did acknowledge that his life wasn’t mine, and what I would do was different from what he would do, and he had to do what he felt was right. I leaned back on the bench. “We were officially dating for only four days, and I’m a mess. Pathetic, right?” I wiped a rogue tear.
“What? I thought you guys were together for almost two months?” Owen asked.
I let out a sad chuckle. That was at least one good thing about this—people wouldn’t question why I was so heartsick over a days-long relationship because, in the world’s eyes, it had been months, not days.
And it hurt like it had been months, not days. “Thanks for keeping my secrets, Cass, but it’s not really necessary anymore.”
“What do you want to do now?” Cass asked. “Dye your hair? Get a piercing? I know a tattoo shop that doesn’t ask for ID.”
“Honestly, I just want to eat these cookies.” I offered the container to Cass and Owen first, then took a cookie for myself.
“That I can get behind,” Cass said.
We ate cookies while Cass and I gave Owen the briefest backstory of my situation. “So let me make sure I have all this,” Owen said after we’d explained. “Your ex broke up with you and went to India all summer, and when he came back, he started dating your friend. All while you were talking to a guy online and playingDragon Arenawith him. Another friend does some photo editing of a picture of online-guy with you, so the school thinks you’re really dating online-guy, not just online friends with him. It turns out that online-guy gave you a fake picture, though, and it’s actually a picture of Daniel, who you randomly were volunteering with. You ask Daniel to pretend to be online-guy and pretend to date you because a gossip Insta is claiming your ex was winning your breakup. But then you and Daniel started dating for real until the gossip account called you out for fake dating, and Daniel’s uncle went through his phone and saw the post and forbid him from seeing you or he wouldn’t let him continue hockey?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Then: “Oh wait—the online-guy turned out to be my ex catfishing me the whole time. And his parents told him to dump me in the first place because I’m smarter than him. And not Indian enough for them.”
Cass gave me an incredulous look. “What? Are you serious?Devinwas LostAxis?”
I chuckled, nodding. “Yup. I figured it out and went to confront him last night.”
Owen looked over me at Cass. “When I asked you out, you told me you couldn’t date me because your life was too complicated.”
What? I glared at Cass. “Owen asked you out? I’ve tried to give you space, Cass, but you should have told me this! What did you say?”
Cass rolled their eyes. Clearly, I needed to have a talk with them about their relationship with Owen. Preferably when Owen wasn’t with us.
“My life is just complicated,” they said. “Samaya’s life is a complex calculus equation. But seriously, I can’t believe LostAxis was Devin the whole time. What a dingus.”
“This is the best love square that turned out to be a love triangle I’ve ever heard of,” Owen said.
I winced and took another cookie. At least I had these.
“My life is a disaster,” I said after swallowing. “I totally get why Daniel’s uncle doesn’t want Daniel anywhere near me.”
Neither Cass nor Owen spoke for a while, which gave me time to finish the cookie. And to eat another one. I was firmly #TeamCurrants now.
