Page 126 of Okay, Cupid

I’m sure of it.

“Jesus.” Alice holds her stomach. I can only assume she’s as carsick as I am as Neve’s car lurches during gear shifts.

“Sorry!”

“It’s okay, we’re making great time,” Neve tells us as she fails to slow down for a speed bump, nearly earning me and Alice concussions.

We’re only halfway to the Sunset, and hardly any of the lanes are moving. And even when we do manage to merge, we only seem to get a few feet ahead at a time. And even as we finally get off of Geary, as I think we might just be in the clear and we can make it straight down to the donut shop, Neve has to pull into Golden Gate Park.

And traffic hits an absolute standstill.

“I should’ve known better.” She smacks the steering wheel, accidentally honking at the car in front of her.

“It’s either take this way, or go all the way around. And who knows how long that would’ve taken,” Alice tries to reassure her with a calm hand on Neve’s thigh.

I sink back into my seat.

Maybe this is a sign. The universe telling me that this is a mistake.

“Hey.” Alice leans into the back seat. “It’s okay, Jude. We’ll get there.”

“Yeah.”

“And even if we don’t, we can go to his house. Traffic is clear the other way.”

“Yeah … maybe.” With each passing minute, I can feel myself getting worse, my anxiety spiking. This was a mistake, obviously. It was stupid to plan this grand gesture, to think that I could show up at the dance and he’d want to see me. To come to his work and interrupt his night in an effort to convince him of … what, exactly? That I deserve him; that despite everything, I think that we belong together, even when it could never possibly work?

I’m thrown back into my seat as Neve floors it, nearly colliding with the car in front of us as she switches lanes like she’s a character in The Fast and the Furious.

“What are you doing?” Alice shouts.

“Getting Jude to Trinh’s Donuts.” The car she’s cut off blasts its horn at us.

“You’re going to get us killed!”

“Pfft, please. I know how to drive,” Neve says as she nearly merges into another car, which honks at her. She just winces and gives them an apologetic wave.

“Neve, it’s okay, you don’t—” I try to tell her. But she stops me.

“No, I do. I’m tired of the two of you bouncing around your feelings. It’s so annoying. You’re going to apologize to him, and then tell him how you feel.”

I don’t know how she does it, but Neve pulls through, she turns the corner on nearly two wheels, hitting the brakes so suddenly that both Alice and I are nearly launched into the windshield.

In the darkness, it’s hard to see the face of the figure by the front door. The guy who was locking up the shop, but now stands there with a hand on his chest after Neve’s antics nearly gave him a heart attack.

It’s him.

I step out of the car, leaving the door open as I face him.

It’s funny. Every single word that I ever thought I might say to him is gone from my brain.

There’s only him.

“Jude?” Huy breathes, the cloud of breath forming in front of his mouth. “What are you …”

“I’m sorry,” I spit out.

“What?”