Chapter 3 #2
She rolled her eyes. “So, I thought that maybe if we dressed up in costumes, nobody would recognize us and we could sneak out and go back to school.”
I glanced out the window, which we were almost up against when standing here.
The street was still busy, but they weren’t girls pressing themselves against the windows, trying to break in or anything.
We’d all come in the back way and the door out there didn’t mark the store, and with my brothers and Luca tucked out of view in the back corner of the store, there wasn’t an easy way to find out.
Of course, if they tried to step out, the vultures would descend on them in no time.
But Lilah made a good point about us. Except…
“I’m not sure we need the costumes,” I pointed out. “If we’re not recognizable at all, then we should be able to walk out of here no problem, right?”
“Except all those girls totally have photos of us in our current clothes,” Lilah said, gesturing vaguely toward the back alley.
“It’ll totally throw them off our trail if we don’t look anything like we did.
And we won’t even look weird since everyone is having costume parties this close to Halloween.
Besides…” Her grin was back. “It would be fun.”
Our definitions of fun clearly weren’t well-aligned.
I sighed and looked over my shoulder at the bodyguard, who was still standing in the other corner of the store with a frown on his face. He seemed terrifying at first glance, but I knew he was actually a huge softie. I also knew he took safety more seriously than anything else.
“I’m not sure their bodyguard will go for it,” I told her honestly. “He’ll probably say it’s not worth the risk.”
“Oh, but I’m so woozy,” Lilah said, dramatically putting the back of her hand to her forehead and pretending to faint. “I need to get home and lie down as soon as possible.”
I laughed softly, then looked at the box again. How bad could it be?
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll ask. But if he says no…”
Spoiler alert: he didn’t say no. In fact, I got the distinct sense he was kind of happy to be rid of us.
And that was how I ended up walking down the street dressed up as a Disney character that I’d never even heard of.
“Your hair should really go more this way,” Lilah commented, running her hands through my hair to get it to lay just right.
I probably would have told her to quit it about two blocks ago, except that this was one of the few times Lilah was actually initiating physical touch with me and I was trying to enjoy it while I could. Heaven knew it didn’t happen much.
“I can’t believe this plan actually worked,” I groaned.
Lilah shrugged, dropping her hands back to her sides. “Honestly, it probably would have worked without the costumes too. I just knew this was the only way I’d ever get to you to wear it.” I glared at her and she laughed. “And good news! This means you’re ready for Halloween. A win-win.”
“If you think I’m wearing this in public again, I—”
“Oh look, there’s Poppy!” Lilah announced, completely ignoring me. She waved a hand crazily in the air. “Hey guys! Ov—” The rest of her sentence was muffled as I cupped a hand over her mouth and used the other hand to pull her waving arm down.
“Are you crazy?” I hissed. “She’s with Bear. I don’t want him to see me like this!”
But it was too late. Lilah had gotten her roommate’s attention and now she was walking over with her boyfriend, who also just so happened to be one of my best friends and teammate.
The expressions on each of their faces as they walked up could only be described as gleeful—although Poppy showed it much more obviously than Bear, whose expressions only ever changed slightly.
I’d just known him long enough to be able to read his every emotion.
“So…” Bear said as we came up. “How’s your day going?”
I just glared at him. Poppy and Lilah, meanwhile, had stopped bothering to hide any of the glee they were each feeling and they both dissolved into fits of laughter. I sighed and tugged at the dark green shirt I’d been practically forced into.
“It wasn’t my decision,” I mumbled. Lilah just laughed even harder. Even Bear’s lips were twitching like he was going to smile, though he managed to keep himself from actually doing it. I turned to Lilah. “Didn’t you want to get back to the school? We should get going, don’t you think?”
When Lilah turned back to look at me, Poppy gasped. “What happened to your head?”
“Tino slammed a door into my head,” Lilah said flatly. Poppy’s eyes widened and she turned to me with a look of shock.
“What? Why?”
“It was an accident!” Something I really wished wouldn’t have needed clarification. She was looking at me as if I went out of my way to hurt her best friend. “I was checking if the coast was clear in the alley and she happened to be running and—”
“Woah, woah, back up,” Poppy said, holding her hands up in a stop motion. “If the coast was clear from what? And what alley?”
“It’s a long story,” Lilah sighed. “I’ll tell you when we get back, okay?”
Poppy still seemed a little unsure as she glanced between Lilah and me, but she finally nodded. “Fine. We were walking back to the school anyway.”
We set off again, the four of us walking in a line up the winding road in the direction of the boarding school we all attended.
Lilah started slouching into me as we got further and I started to worry that maybe she was a little worse off than she was implying.
When I wrapped an arm around her shoulders to help stabilize her, I waited for her to shove me off and say “nice try.” The fact that she didn’t do so told me all I needed to know.
“Hey, Lilah,” I said. It was probably the worst time in the world, but I had to try.
Besides, her response could tell me a lot too—if this was the time she actually said yes, I was pretty sure she would be on her death bed.
“What do you say we put these costumes to good use and actually go out to a party together?”
She snorted. “I’ll give you one guess on what my answer will be.”
Despite the rejection, I smiled to myself. I couldn’t quite name what we were, because I wasn’t sure I could consider us friends, but I wouldn’t call us enemies or acquaintances either. We were just… us. And there were many things I loved about us, but this was, perhaps, my favorite part.
I ask her out. She says no. I laugh it off, even though it breaks my heart.
And then we repeat the cycle every day.
All in the hopes that one day, if I’m the luckiest guy in the world, she finally says yes.