“Ah. Sorry. When?”
“Right before the end of the school year last year. I was pretty upset all summer. And because of him, I lost out on a summer camp counselor job.”
He tilted his head. The expression on his face was so ... compassionate. Almost caring. Which was weird because the guy barely knew me. I found it a bit overwhelming, so I looked down at my lemon.
“Is that why you needed to work here?” he asked.
I nodded.
“This is an improvement over camp, I hope,” he said. “You get lemon squares here. I take it he’s still bugging you now?”
“Yeah.” I exhaled. “It’s not like I want him back or anything, but he’s being a jealous troll. I blocked him so he can’t text me anymore.”
Daniel smiled as his eyes traveled over me from head to feet. “He regrets breaking up with you.”
Was Daniel flirting? I shook my head. “Nah. He’s dating my friend now. She’s been wanting him for a year, at least. They’re going to the fall formal together.”
“Then he’s got no right to be jealous. Who is he even jealous of?”
“He thinks I’m seeing someone.” There was more to it. So much more. But now that I had the chance to tell him about his own involvement in my drama, it was hard to say anything. Being dumped and then catfished was mortifying. My shoulders slumped. “Devin and I were together fortwo years. I would never have imagined this is how it would end.”
Daniel shook his head. “Two years?I don’t know whether to be impressed or terrified of you.”
I shrugged. “I just ...” I didn’t know why I was telling him all this, but I couldn’t seem to stop. It was nice to talk to someone who didn’t know Devin or didn’t know me when I was with him. All my friends had known us both since grade nine. Everyone assumed we’d be together forever. Hell, even I’d assumed that, too. And everyone knew Devin was the cooler one. The popular one. I was just his nerdy girlfriend.
But Daniel didn’t see me as the nerdy girlfriend. He saw me as smart. As terrifying, for some reason. Even if that wasn’t actually who I was, that’s who I was to Daniel. It was kind of like LostAxis—he wanted to playDragon Arenawith me not because I was Devin’s girlfriend who’d come along when he’d started the guild with his friends, but because I was an excellent player on my own. I was myself when I played with LostAxis—not Devin’s other half. And it kind of felt the same with Daniel.
“Don’t get me wrong,” I said. “Iamover Devin. He’s being such an asshole. I even told him off.” I sighed. “The breakup was rough, though. The whole school thought I was pathetic.”
“Hopefully, now they realize you’re kind of adorable,” he said.
Daniel was definitely flirting. I swallowed. “I don’t think you’d think that if you knew me better. I’m kind of seen as only a high-achieving nerd at school. I basically have two friends right now.” I’d had more, but those were Devin’s friends.
“Yeah, I figured out that you’re a high achiever. But why would what others think of you affect whatIthink of you?”
I stared at him. Daniel was ... perceptive. And very smart. “Don’t you care what people at your school think of you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really have a ton of friends there. I’m closer to my hockey team. My school is pretty chill, though.”
“Well, at my school people are taking bets on whether me or Devin is winning our breakup. And spoiler alert, it’s not me.”
Daniel looked up from his lemons and gave me a sympathetic look. I thought he might even put his hand out to comfort me. “Why would people do that? Breakups are not a game.”
“This gossip Instagram account at my school keeps talking about me and Devin. They posted a picture with his hand on his new girlfriend’s butt yesterday.”
“Like on that historical Netflix show! Lady Whistledown!”
I raised a brow. “You watchBridgerton?” I’d watched the series with Tahira when it first came out. I would not have thought a male hockey player would be into period romances. I handed Daniel the last lemon to juice and watched as he cut it in half and started juicing.
He nodded. “I watched it with my mom. She covered my eyes during the sex scenes. Hey, Samaya, you didn’t tell me who your ex is jealous of anyway.Areyou actually seeing someone?”
I chuckled. The irony was, Devin was jealous ofDaniel. The very person who was asking who Devin was jealous of. When I didn’t say anything, Daniel shrugged. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“Nah, it’s fine. A gamer I played with online over the summer. LostAxis. We’re not actually dating. But that gossip Insta account posted a picture of me with him.”
“LostAxis? Your mystery dude has a secret spy-like code name?” He shook his head, impressed. “You know what? Nerds are so much cooler than civilians. So, someone posted a picture of you and this spy-guy on Lady Whistledown’s Instagram, and your ex saw it and freaked out.”
I nodded. If he looked up the account, he’d see the picture was of him.
