Page 31 of Okay, Cupid

As eager as I am to find Huy, Cal’s no good to me in the state he’s in. So, we join a long line where we eventually get to order our breakfast sandwiches and large coffees.

“Oh God.” I watch as Cal opens the paper container his food sits in. The sandwich is almost comically stacked, like a cartoon. “It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

“There, are you happy?”

“Ecstatic!” Cal says with a mouthful of breakfast sandwich. “Do you see Huy?”

“Not yet. We’ll just have to walk around.”

“How’s all that going?”

“It’s fine. I’m making progress.”

“No, I mean—” Cal pauses to swallow his food finally. “School. How is school going?”

“Oh, well …”

To be frank, it’s kicking my ass. Because I’m keeping an eye on Huy and Alice at all times, I find it hard to keep track of my notes in class. Yesterday, we had a quiz in algebra and I’m 100 percent sure I absolutely bombed it because I have zero idea what any of it meant.

“It’s fine,” I finally tell Cal.

“So, you’re failing already?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” He takes another bite with a satisfied smirk on his lips. “You touch your face when you lie.”

“I do not!” Do I?

“Totally do. Done it for as long as I’ve known you.”

“You’re serious?”

“Have you never noticed?”

“No!”

“Well, it’s your tell.”

I pause, the realization dawning on me. “Is that how you always figure out what I get you for your birthday?”

His only answer is a sly smile, yellow stains on his cheek from the egg.

“Ugh, you’re disgusting.” I take a napkin and wipe away the mess.

“Thank you!”

“What would you do without me?”

“Hmmm … probably not sit through as many terrible rom-coms.”

“You’re not allowed to call Princess Diaries bad.”

“Geriatric isn’t even a real country!” he argues, his point null and void because he can’t even get the name of the country Anne Hathaway rules over correct. “And you’re telling me no one told her that she was a princess? I’m not buying it.”

His hair is getting long, curling at the ends where it falls over the tops of his ears. I know he hates it, but I think Cal looks cuter with the shaggier look. There’s something more relaxed about him that way. Then again, I’m a sucker for a boy with long hair. Leo’s hair was nice, soft, and smelled sweet, just like him.

I sigh, my appetite no longer a concern, so I let Cal eat while the coffee warms us up. I’m usually against hot coffees, but given the temperature right now, I need it.