Page 84 of Fake Crown

She lets out a light laugh. “Any of it, I suppose. She seems like she’d be hard to get to know.”

Despite Posey’s high walls around a relationship, she’s been open with me from the start. Posey’s observation about Val is interesting. While Posey told me in Bermuda she wears all kinds of faces, I’m not sure I ever saw Val’s real one. Sad, actually. We spent a year and a half together, and we never got to know each other at all.

“You okay?” Posey asks, and she wraps her arms around my middle and gives me a squeeze.

“Yeah.” I plant a kiss on top of her head. “I’m just really grateful for you.”

She draws away, and she links her hand with mine before raising it to her lips and kissing the back of my hand. She leads me toward the exit. “You know, Faulkner, I think the feeling might be mutual.”

A blast of warmth shoots across my body, as though she’s just given me the best present. “You gonna let me take you out tomorrow night on a real date?”

“More than lattes and orgasms?” She quirks an eyebrow.

“We’ll start with dinner and see whether you can handle it,” I say.

“Oh,” she says. “I can handle it. I’m an expert handler.” She gives me an exaggerated wink.

The words I’ve been holding back rise into my throat, but I swallow them. Even if she was ready, I wouldn’t say them in the middle of a crowded food court.

“Tomorrow night,” I say. “I’ll pick you up after practice.”

At the exit, we part ways. She has class, and I’m behind on my latest assignment thanks to all my social media PR work. With the Val situation resolved, I’m hopeful Posey and I will be able to figure out what even ground looks like for us.

No matter what, I want her in my life.

Posey

Idon’t know why I’m so nervous, but I’ve primped and fussed with my hair and makeup for the last hour in anticipation of seeing Brent. We’ve done so much together the last few weeks, and we’ve seen each other at our best and worst. Going on a date with him shouldn’t be sending the butterflies in my stomach into overdrive.

But tonight feels like the start of something new.

When I emerge from my bedroom in the shortest, tightest dress I own, Destiny lets out a whistle. “That dress is fire! Where’s he taking you?”

Nadiya glances up from her phone. “Val took down the video, closed comments on her post of half-naked Brent, and changed the caption to confirm they broke up and she doesn’t have any bad feelings toward him.” She rolls her eyes. “A day late and a dollar short on all of it, but at least it’s done.”

With all the fluttering in my stomach, the last person on my mind is Val, but I’m glad my friends have my back. The drama coupled with our return to school from the holidays has meant Brent and I haven’t spent much time together the last few weeks. Val isn’t our problem as long as she stays out of our lives. My revenge is being happy and enjoying a version of Brent that she, for better or worse, never got to see. He said he was different with me, but part of me figured it was a nice line. Having Val confirm he never treated her the same way he treats me was a real heart-stopping moment.

“You look nervous.” Nadiya clicks her phone closed. “You going to tell him that you like him—like him, like him?”

Rather than answering her, I lean down to check the straps on my high heels. Completely impractical for winter with the ice and snow on the ground, but I’m hoping I can stick to salted, shoveled paths. Or stick to Brent. If it’s slick and slippery, he’ll have to lend me a hand or two.

“You’re not going to answer her?” Destiny pops her gum. “I think the entire universe knows how he feels about you after his super sappy posts this past week.”

“They have not been super sappy.” I tug on the strap one last time and face them.

“He just posted another one.” Nadiya lets out a sigh. “At this rate, I think I might be in love with him.”

When I peer over her shoulder, it’s a black-and-white photo of just me, and I’m sleeping in his bed. Whether he got lucky or he learned a thing or two about camera angles from his ex, it’s a beautiful shot. The caption, like all the others, is simple.

In life there are plastic balls and glass ones. What I have with her is glass, and I’ll do everything I can to keep it from cracking.

“Deacon and I are having a chat,” Destiny says. “He never does shit like this for me, and we’re one-hundred-percent endgame. He needs to step it up.”

I’m rereading the caption again, and I’m trying to identify the emotion that’s welled up in me. It’s so thick my throat feels tight with it.

“Is it too soon to love him? I think I might love him.” My hand is over my heart, and I’m so full of emotion I could cry.

“You feel what you feel when you feel it. I knew pretty quick with Deacon,” she says.