“How long have you been awake?”
“Not too long,” she says. “I heard when you got up, and then when my parents knocked on the door. Thought it might be better if I pretended to be asleep when they barged in on me, but thankfully I have an overprotective boyfriend who shooed them away.”
“Boyfriend?” Bella cuts in, a cheesy grin on her face, and she’s not the only one. She shares a look with Elena and Diego, all of whom are looking at us just as goofily. Andrew rolls his eyes, but he can bluff all he wants. I know he’s happy for us.
“Shut up.” Leti pretends to scowl, but she can’t hold it. Then she glances back up at me. “And what’s this I heard about a birthday party?”
“Nothing,” I say quickly. “You heard nothing.”
“I didn’t even tell you when my birthday is. Who—” She turns her glare on the four people sitting in the living room. “Which one of you spilled the beans?”
“I don’t even remember when your birthday is,” Andrew says, bypassing her for the front door.
“Hey.” She stops him before he can go after their parents. “Thank you.”
He shrugs, but the edge of his mouth lifts a smidge. “Don’t thank me yet. It’s still gonna take some more work before they come around, and it’s not gonna look good for me for alongtime.”
“Welcome to the club.” She smirks at him before turning to Bella and Elena. “Now, which one of you is giving away secrets.”
I exchange nods with Andrew before he’s out the front door. Little does Leti know he’s the one who told me when I asked him two weeks ago.
“Happy for you, man.” Diego claps me on the shoulder before pulling out his phone. “And I’m officially adding you to the family group chat. I have a feeling we’re gonna need you.”
“Thanks.” After a quick glance through the chat, I ask him, “Why isn’t Leti in here?”
“She’s left it like five times,” Diego says. “Congratulations on becoming her proxy.”
“From dating app proxy to family group chat proxy.” I smirk down at the screen. “That’s actually a step up for me.”
“Oh no, don’t tell me they added you to the family group chat,” Leti says after turning away from her sister. “Now my parents are gonna try and add me back in.”
“Not on my watch,” I tell her. “We both know I can take over from here.”
49
Leti
No one ever talks about how hard it is to craft a grand gesture when your dominant arm is broken.
Or how difficult it is to hide said grand gesture from your boyfriend who hovers. I like the sound of that, though.Boyfriend.Partner. It’s not nearly as hard to get used to as I thought it’d be.
Bella is at Luis’s with Mari, which means Julian and I have the apartment to ourselves tonight. He walks right in at seven on the dot, the time I asked him to come over, and his eyes scan the place in awe. The back wall in the living room is covered in the printouts and notes he made when we started this bonkers dating scheme of ours—only now I’ve written over every page in huge, block letters that ask him a very important question.
JULIAN, WILL YOU BE MY BOYFRIEND?
I’ve been sweating all day, first from nerves, then from the physical exertion of putting up the wall even with help from Bella and Elena, then from nerves again. It’s all compounded by his arrival, at the way he’s staring up at my creation as his eyes mist over with tears. I only hope they’re good tears.
“What’s all this?” Slowly, he approaches the wall. At the top corner is the only page not marked out with a letter in Sharpie. It’s his dating profile from the app we matched on, his picture circled in red marker accompanied by my annotations. He lifts onto his toes and snatches the page for a better look. I’ve gone over the page a hundred times but still read it over his shoulder.
Julian Gutierrez, 24
High school history teacher
who knew we’d end up working at the same school?
4 miles away
more like 0. This app is broken.
