Who invented this. Sadist.
Every few seconds I look up to check if Rava is looking. He’s not. He’s busy with the others, probably making sure nobody dies from a seashell. I catch myself smiling like an idiot and look back down fast.
Then the end of the string slips out of my fingers. The whole thing slides off and every single bead drops straight back into the box.
I just stare. So does Emiliana. She looks disappointed.
In me. Personally.
She digs in, picks all the beads back out and drops them into my palm. "It’s okay," she says.
"Used to happen to me too. Before."
"Before what," I mumble. "Before you turned seven? You’re six, not eighty. You were making bracelets in the womb?"
She ignores me. Fair.
I start over. Slower this time. Concentrating like this is heart surgery. After like ten minutes, my back hurts, my fingers hurt, my soul hurts, but the bracelet actually looks good. Annoyingly good.
"Look at that," I say, weirdly proud. "I have talent. Maybe I picked the wrong career. I should retire and commit to jewelry full-time. There’s clearly potential here."
She takes it from me, ties the knot neatly, then hands me both bracelets. They both have our names, with a little heart bead sitting right between them. Around it, there’s chaos of color.
"You’ll give it to him," she says, "when you finally grow a pair and tell him how you feel."
My jaw legit drops. From a child.A child.
Why is everyone roasting me today. God. She snaps the bead box shut and pushes it toward me. "Be careful with them. You can’t lose these."
I nod, laughing. "I won’t. Relax." She doesn’t. She puts her little hands over the bracelets and squeezes. "I put my energy inside," she says very seriously.
"Your what."
"My energy. Good energy. I thought about you and him while I was picking the beads so they remember to be happy together."
I just blink at her. She nods, satisfied. "That’s how it works. It has my magic. So don’t be dumb, okay?"
I stare at her. "Wow," I say finally. "That was…a lot."
She shrugs. "Adults don’t listen. Someone has to fix things." I shake my head, still a bit rattled. "Alright, guru. You officially earned one free tattoo with marker."
Her eyes light up. "Really?"
"Really," I say, standing up and brushing sand off my shorts.
"Come on. Before your parents see and call security on me. Pick something small, okay? I’m not doing a full sleeve on a first appointment."
22) How Do We Tell Charles
Gio
We’re in the car. My fingers tap against my thigh.
I haven’t said anything since we left the playground. I look at Rava’s face.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike his father?
I swear I’ve never disliked someone the way I fucking dislike Charles.
