Page 47 of Yearning Difficulties

‘Okay,’ he said, searching for it on his phone. It played softly for us both and I felt my heart clench. ‘No matter where we are, this is our song. Real. Not fake.’

I felt slightly overcome. ‘Okay, Killian.’

‘Every time you hear it, think of me. And I’ll do the same. And if you ever need me, play it. And I’ll be there.’

And despite our fake facade, I believed him.

Seventeen

Dress Rehearsing Tragedy

Today’s Track: ‘Dark Eyed Sailor’ by Olivia Chaney

Not long after that, everyone had bought it.

Killian and I had become canonically realized within Lake Pristine’s story.

‘Have you been practising your zingers for when you break up with me?’

I asked Killian the question with a teasing tone but he didn’t smile. He was weirdly serious, now that we were reaching the end of our fake romance.

We were walking around the stalls at the Medieval Faire, enjoying an hour of leisure before this evening’s showtime. I smiled at Sandy, the woman selling mood rings and friendship bracelets. I picked up one of the rings and slipped it onto my ring finger.

Killian watched over my shoulder. ‘Those things are such a scam.’

‘Sire,’ barked Sandy, ‘you must speak in jest. Only the finest trinkets in—’

‘My dad was joking about firing people for not speaking in ye Olde English, Sandy,’ I told her gently.

‘Oh, thank fuck,’ she breathed, all of her anguish dissipating all at once. ‘Most people want me to do it. It’s getting tedious.’

She moved to the other side of her booth to grab her very modern tumbler for a drink.

‘Go on then,’ I said to Killian, still admiring the mood ring on my finger. ‘We’re going to break up, publicly, at Dad’s big cast and crew feast on Friday night. How’re you going to do it? I know you love to yell at people in front of a crowd. What can I expect?’

I turned to grin at him but he wasn’t looking at me. He was examining a pair of earrings that were made to look like swords.

‘Kill, you okay?’ I asked. ‘I was kidding. Sort of. I thought you’d love the chance to make a big scene.’

‘Yeah, that’s me,’ he said. ‘Big old clown.’

‘That’s not what I said.’

He finally looked at me and softened a little. ‘Sorry, Red. I’m in a funk. What do you need from me?’

I didn’t know the answer to that. But Sandy had suddenly reappeared in front of us, hydrated and ready to make a sale.

I glanced back down at the ring. It had turned to a soft green. ‘What do the different colours mean?’

Killian scoffed beside me. ‘Nothing, Red!’ he said, towering over me like a disapproving pillar.

‘Stop being such a drag,’ I snarked back at him. I smiled at Sandy. ‘What do they mean?’

‘That light green means you’re relaxed,’ she said. ‘Blue means in love. Red is passion. Black is sadness.’

‘I prefer those little fishes you put in your palm,’ Killian said, slipping his arms around me from behind. He pulled my back against his front and although I knew it was just for the benefit of anyone from school watching us, my heart sped up a touch. ‘The one where the tail curls and that means you’re lying or something.’

I scowled up at him. ‘You trust a curling paper fish over this beautiful mood ring?’