I feel my face contort, a blush flooding. “Wasnot.” I’m furiousat my transparency, for being this wound up when it’s been years since we were together, and I’ve had other relationships since then. By all rights, he should have been packed away in a long-forgotten box like everything else from high school. Damn him. He’s so stubborn that even as a memory, he’s refused to be scrubbed out.
Trevor crows. “Wasso, and still is. Andhiseyeballs, by the way, were sparkling at you like cocktail juice right up until Allison paused drinking the blood of virgins and sleeping in her daytime coffin long enough to tell everybody we’re together.” He uses air quotes fortogether.
“Who’s Allison again?” Luna divides a puzzled look between us, pausing her note-taking. The headline, ominously underlined, isDon’t take no for an answer. “She’s the cousin, right?”
“Cousin and archenemy. Told Teyonna I wasn’t good enough for her. T didn’t understand. I stole the helium tank toimpressher, not because I’m some delinquent.”
“I’m dying to know why you stole a helium tank.”
“To blow up a hundred green balloons with,” I explain. I’ve heard this story before.
Trevor is ripping off pieces of my florist’s tape to give himself a tape beard. “Green’s her favorite color. I was going to release them in the sky over her house, then shoot them down with a bow and arrow to celebrate her doing so baller in pharmacy school.”
“Aw, what a sweetheart.” Morgan spins his chair.
“Right? But Allison was all like, ‘My cousin’s immature, you can do better, you should go out with my boyfriend’s best friend instead.’ T said she was gonna stay with me anyway, but after I showed up at her house with squirt guns, she said she didn’t think I was cut out for serious relationships.” He broods over this. “Ithought the squirt guns would be fun. She’d been under so much stress, you know? From school and working. I just wanted to see her laugh.”
“And you?” Morgan turns to me, eyes glinting intently. “How’d it end with you and King?”
“It ended in a garbage can. Literally. He threw away all of our mementos—stuff I gave him during our two years together, anything that reminded him of me.”
Morgan and Trevor wince. Luna’s turned murderous; she was with me when we walked past Alex’s house and discovered him making a trip to the garbage bin with my homemade presents in tow. As ifhehad any right to be mad atme! Him! I’m steaming just thinking about it.
“A mess!” I smack my own face with a bunch of freesia. “How are we going to rewind all of this and tell your dad it isn’t true? I don’t want to lie to the guy I’m trying to get a loan from. Not the right way to start business.”
“Romina, you naïve potato,” Morgan interjects with a tut. “You’re not going to tell thetruth. The truth never helps.”
Luna throws a pencil at him. “Quiet, you. You’ve done enough.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Morgan grins devilishly. “This is an opportunity to make them writhe in jealousy.”
“Alex isn’t going to be jealous,” I deadpan. “He’s the one who ended it, right before we went to college. If he wanted me, he could’ve kept me.”
“Then let him see what could’ve been his. Make him sorry for what he lost.”
“Ooooh.” Trevor pitches forward. “Yes. You’re on to something. Did Teyonna look a little flirty to you, Ro? She looked a little flirty to me. I think I’ve still got it.”
“Don’t.” Luna slashes her arms in the air. “Don’t make this worse by lying more.”
“The idea...” I ruminate. “Is appealing.”
“I’m not involved.” Luna busies herself straightening candles that were neat as a pin to begin with. “I don’t want to hear about it, I don’t want to know a thing. This is how you wind up with bad luck.”
“If I tell Teyonna we only pretended to be dating because of that shit Allison said about me not being able to keep a girlfriend, I’m going to look pathetic,” Trevor says darkly. “Not to mention, that guy Alex? My new stepbrother? He was giving me the dirtiest look! I wanted to pop him in his pompous face.”
“Heispompous,” I agree heatedly. This is what happens when you receive too much praise from authority figures throughout your life. Alex actively worked to make himself the favorite student of every single teacher. The principal, too, who’d been good friends with Alex’s dad when they were young. I’ve long suspected that when Alex and I started dating, Mr. Schneider phoned Mrs. King to discourage it. Unfortunately for Mr. Schneider, the only thing Alex loved more than his mentors’ approval was a girl who flouted all the rules he lived by and made him feel like a big strong hero.
Trevor shakes his head. “We can’t go down like this.”
“And what would your dad think?” I point out. “If we turned around and were, like, ‘Never mind! Just kidding!’ We’d look like idiots. He’d never give us the money. And wedesperatelyneed this money. There are fliers all over town about the night market starting on May first, which seems impossible to pull off right now. We’ve got vendors on the line already.”
The shop is silent as Trevor and I give this ruse serious deliberation.
“I think Morgan’s right,” he says at length. “This is a golden opportunity. To make Teyonna realize that I’m a fantastic boyfriend, actually.”
“How dare Alex invade my life again,” I spit. “I’ve been counting on him never coming back here. He’s been gone so long, I wasthis closeto putting him out of my mind for good. I’d been doing so well, too! It took forever to get over him.”
Morgan punches the air. “Yes! Go get under their skin. Make them sorry.”
