See, I know better than anyone that finding love—real, honest, life-altering love—is a privilege. It is never a guarantee. And it can slip through your fingers just as quickly as it fallsinto your lap.
The Fates, quite literally, brought Felicity and me together. But they wouldn’t be what tore us apart if I had anything to do with it.
Which is how I ended up here, at the threshold of Felicity’s apartment, her soft, warm hand entwined with mine—and a screaming woman running straight at us with arms thrown wide.
She goes for Felicity first, ramming into her so hard I hear an audibleoof. Next, it’s my turn, and she squeezes me so tightly I think she might have cracked a rib.
When she lets go, she holds me at arm’s length and looks me dead in the eye. “If you hurt her again, I’ll hunt you down myself.” Then she pats my cheek, turns to Felicity and chirps, “Text me the details!” and flounces out of the apartment.
“Uh, nice to meet you?” I call after her, utterly confused.
Felicity laughs and pulls me deeper into her personal space. “That’s Janae, the best friend I told you about. She won’t actually hunt you down,” she says. “I don’t think.”
“That’s…comforting.”
With a light shove, Felicity directs me toward her couch. We both settle onto the cushions, taking brief, tentative looks at each other.
Boy, do I have a crush on this girl.
“I just wanted to—”
“I’m sorry that I—”
We laugh as we accidentally talk over each other.
“You first,” Felicity tells me.
I take a deep breath, then dive right in. I explain—or try to—how infatuated I was that first night when I met her. Then, like the stars aligning, the Fates told me they needed me to goon a mission—and it was to find her. To make her believe in love again.
“The Fates are who you heard me talking to in the slot machine.”
“Huh, I wondered about that,” she says. “Do they—do they live in slot machines?”
I chuckle, trying to imagine that reality. It would certainly make my life more peaceful. “No. They just kind of…show up wherever you are and make demands.”
When I met with the Fates that night, I was conflicted. On one hand, I couldn’t believe my luck. It was about the beautiful woman I met at the bar! Now I had her name and a reason to find her again. But it wasn’t that easy.
“The Fates told me this whole story about how important it was to get you to stop making that app. They wanted me to shoot you with one of my arrows,” I explain. “I told them I would, but…I lied. I don’t think I ever really intended to do it.”
“Why?” she asks, softly.
“Because I thought…” I feel my neck flush, and a blush creeps across my face. “I thought we might have something special,” I admit. “And if we were going to—you know—I wanted it to be real. Because ofme, not because of what I can do. Not because of one of my arrows.”
Felicity tilts her head and considers me.
“I guess that makes sense, in a weird, twisted way,” she tells me.
“Not my most brilliant plan,” I say with a sigh. “But I didn’t know what to do, and they told me I was on a tight timeline.” My eyes meet Felicity’s. “One thing I’ve learned over my lifetime—you donotfuck with the Fates.”
She nods as if this means anything to her, and even this small gesturetugs at my heart.
“But you kind of did,” Felicity says, smiling, “when you decided not to use the arrow.”
“Like I said…not my most brilliant plan. Then, after I spent even more time with you, I knew I was a goner. And you started to act like…” I clear my throat. “Like you might feel the same way. Then youtold meyou did. I thought my bet paid off.”
“Then I overheard you.”
“Then you overheard me.”
