Noelle looks at me with confused amusement. “What’s it to you?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing to me.” I must sound like a total creeper, so I reboot my coolness, attempting to appear aloof. “I just met Dean Graft doing gala prep and he mentioned his daughter was out of town and that she would probably want to see Hector, that’s all. It’s nothing.”
I think she sees me sweat because she whispers, “Seems like someone might be jealous.”
“Of him? Please, I’m gay.” It’s always weird being in a new place and meeting new people. The act of coming out all over again is exhausting, stripping away a little piece of yourself every time someone tries to get to know you. It’s not that I’m not one-hundred-percent proud (okay, ninety-eight percent). It just took a lot of hard work to get there, especially with the media hounding my family.
Then I reconsider Hector’s unicorn speech and recall the rainbow crosswalk. Maybe this town is more accepting than I initially wanted to give it credit for.
“Duh. I knew that. I was a fandom leader during the height of Dissension mania. It was all that came up when anyone did a search for your mom for a while.”
At thirteen, when I was caught making out with Lukas, whatever privacy I’d thought I had disintegrated in my hands. My parents got Sarah Pearson involved and everything became clinical. That was the first time I realized intimacy wasn’t really on the table for me unless it looked as good on the outside as it felt on the inside.
“I’m queer too, so it’s no big thing,” Noelle adds. I think she sees the complicated history entangled in my expression and wants to reassure me. It works. “Also, I wasn’t talking about him. I was talking abouther.”
“You’ve lost me.” I take a long, hearty sip of her handiwork.
“You’re jealous thathe’shere withher. Hector is kind of a catch around town. I’ll even admit I had a brief crush on him when he was a freshman and new to town. He’d come in here reading his Victorian-era novels at the table by the window, and I swear every passerby did a double take.”
“Are you insinuating I have a crush on him? Because that’s absolutely absurd.” Noelle’s wonky foam heart has morphed since I sipped, and now it really looks like a heart. A heart that’s almost beating along with the music, mocking me and my silly emotions.
“Okay, Mr. Something Hot and Strong.” Her sarcasm is off the charts. “Just because you’re stuck here doesn’t mean you’re above Winter Boo syndrome.”
“Winter what syndrome? Is that what they call a ghost with a cold?”
“WinterBoo, as in baby, sweetie, significant other. An offshoot of cuffing season,” she explains like she’s leading a TED Talk. “Come on, Matthew. Catch up.”
“Fine.” I take the bait. “What is this Winter Boo syndrome?”
She perks up. “I’m so glad you asked. Winter Boo syndrome is when you start catching feelings in the cold months for someone because you’re looking for cuddles and cute dates and holiday romance magic.”
“Yeah, no. That’s not me. I don’t subscribe to holiday romance magic. I don’t try to live out Lifetime Movie taglines. I’m not about that life,” I say.
She sighs. “I’m skeptical too. Trust me.” A second, larger sigh. “Last year, I finally told my crush, Siena, that I’ve liked her for almost three years now, and we spent this amazing week together as winter boos before she got cold—ha, cold—feet about the whole thing, but here I am, choosing to believe again. Because, do you know why?”
“Why?”
“You’re never too old for a Christmas miracle.”
“Seriously, Hallmark should hire you to be their spokesperson.”
“That network wishes,” she says with a groan. “Anyway, this year I’m going to give my heart—and my foam hearts, once I perfect them—to someone special.”
“Never mind what I said, now you’re just loosely misquoting Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas.’”
“Sometimes life imitates art, Matthew. That’s not a crime!”
I relent, but still roll my eyes. “Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because you’re here for the holidays and he’s here for the holidays, and matchmakers gon’ match, if you know what I’m saying.” She does a flirtatious shimmy to the beat of her own drum. It’s clear she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. I’m jealous.
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re saying. Not even an iota.”
“Matthew! The universe is clearly trying to set you up. The holiday romance magic is already at work.” Her eyes sparkle and her voice jumps entire octaves like she’s practicing a Mariah Carey riff. “You’re from rival kingdoms. Big city. Small town. You’re forming an alliance. The gala. Hello? This is just like when Prince Quigley and Princess Belinda joined forces to train those wild dragons in the second Game of Dark Dissension book. Even though they were born rivals, working together and almost dying helped them see all that they had in common and sparks flew.”
I bypass her fangirling to say, “What about the sparks already flying over there between him and Natalia?”
Noelle shakes her head knowingly. “Even Quigley and Belinda had some baggage to overcome before they could fully tame Taregerton and win each other’s affections.”
