“I hate that sentence,” said Byron loudly over the music.
Onny grinned and started shouting the lyrics.
Byron laughed. A true, belly-deep laugh, and when Onny opened her eyes to look at him, it seemed that the party outside them melted away. For a moment, there was only this: the colorful lights like strewn jewels, the eighties bass creeping through the dance floor and into their blood, his hand in hers, and his smile wide and reckless. For the first time, there was a happy looseness to his movements, a rare glimpse of the boy who knew the names of flowers and had remembered what song she’d liked for dancing. Byron moved closer, his silver eyes pinned to hers. A slow flutter swept through her belly.
Right at that moment, Onny heard a loud shriek that could only belong to Corazon Diamante. Corazon appeared at the edge of the dance floor, hopping excitedly and shrieking:
“THAT’S MY SONG!”
Without sparing a glance at her daughter, Corazon pulled a very reluctant Antonio onto the dance floor. In quick succession, the adults pushed through the teenagers awkwardly hovering on the perimeter and flooded the dance floor. Onnyreached inside her purse and threw a little bit of the dirt onto the ground. The music changed again, blaring Madonna’s “Into the Groove.” Onny probably would’ve kept dancing if Byron hadn’t mimed a drink of water. She laughed and nodded, and together they pushed through the dancers and headed toward the bar.
Onny’s face felt flushed and warm. She skimmed her hands over the front of her red-and-black gown, aware that Byron’s eyes were following her movements. His gaze darkened as he swiped two drinks off a serving platter, not taking his eyes off her the whole time. By now, the music had picked up, jumping from eighties disco songs to upbeat Top 20 hits, which left the darkened skull mouth of the bar almost entirely empty.
Onny knew the music was loud, but it felt quiet here, as if the music couldn’t reach them anymore. So quiet that she immediately fumbled for something to say.
“Three ingredients down! Well, sorta. One of us has to go get some of that dirt to finish up the love potion,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “But still! Cheers!”
He clinked his glass to hers silently. The whole time, his eyes never left her face. The intensity of his gaze felt like a physical thing.
“Which means I get to ask for my favor in return,” he said.
His low voice sent a tickle down her spine.
“Anything,” she said lightly. “What do you want?”
“Onny, I—” he started, then shook his head for a moment. He stretched and tightened his free hand, before taking a deep breath and glancing at the dance floor. “You know what? We’reactually not done yet. I want you to have all three ingredients before I… before I say anything.”
He said it more to himself than to her.
“Okay?” she said, fighting back a smile.
He looked at her, something determined flashing in his eyes. “I’ll… I’ll be right back.”
Onny raised her glass. “I’ll be the one in the blood-spattered gown.”
A corner of his mouth lifted in a smile, and then he disappeared onto the dance floor. Onny watched him go, feeling strangely cold in his absence. This whole night was supposed to be about remaking the love potion for her and Alexander the Great-Looking, but now she found herself pausing. When she closed her eyes and imagined the face on the other side of the love potion, it wasn’t Alexander’s lively green gaze staring back at her, but a pair of smoky, silver eyes.…
But that couldn’t be right.
This whole day, the stars, the cosmic will of the universe, it was all lining up for Alexander. So why was it that he hadn’t crossed her thoughts once? And how come when Byron’s face popped up in her thoughts, it wasn’t met with revulsion but a sudden softening deep inside her? They couldn’t possibly make any sense together… could they?
“Onny?”
Her eyes flew open. At that moment, a sinking feeling rooted in her chest. She recognized that voice.
Standing before her and looking more than a little bemused was Alexander the Great-Looking. He held up a glass of punchwith a wry smile. Nothing had changed. He was still utterly gorgeous. And yet, Onny didn’t feel anything. Not a single flutter in her stomach.
“Apologies, but I got a tad too thirsty and decided to get my own drink,” he said.
Oh.
Duh.
Onny wanted to disappear into the ground.
“Listen, about that, I’m so sorry—” she started to say.
“Don’t bother,” he said, cheerfully. “I found you in the end.”
