Chapter 23 – Just Say Yes
Friday
I was still staring down at my phone when my kiss thief texted back.
“I’m not Leo. But that was very entertaining to watch.”
He was here. I lifted my head and looked around the cafeteria.
There were so many people on their phones.
I turned around in a circle as I stared at all the tables full of students.
I felt a little light headed. But it might have been the vinegar smell clinging to my skin.
My phone buzzed again with another text.
“And now everyone knows that you’re mine.”
I threw my hand over the side of my neck. He had to be talking about the hickey he’d given me. I kept turning in circles to try to see who was texting. But there were too many people.
“What are you doing?” RJ asked.
“My actual kiss thief is here. In the cafeteria.”
RJ grabbed my phone and hit the call button.
“Don’t call him!” I said. “He’ll think I’m a psychopath.”
RJ laughed. “But if it rings we can pinpoint him.”
“Good thinking,” Sophie said.
RJ, Sophie, Liam, and I all looked around the cafeteria. But no one’s phones were ringing. Because of course they weren’t. No one called anyone. And it would be stupid to have your phone on anything but silent at school.
“I just got another text,” RJ said.
“You?” I snatched my phone away. “Stop it.”
“But it’s actually to me.”
What? The four of us peered down to see it.
“You think I’d have a phone I never answer calls on blasting a ringtone in the middle of school, RJ?
You should know by now that I’m a little stealthier than that.
Because the four of you have been working on this all semester and you still have no idea who I am. ”
“He knows we’re all trying to unmask him,” RJ said.
Sophie folded her arms across her chest. “He must have seen through our disguises at Odegaard. I knew I should have used a different name than Gog.”
RJ shook his head. “Those disguises were perfect.”
Were they?
“And I really don’t like the way this guy talks to me,” RJ said.
An exasperated laugh fell from my lips. “This isn’t about you.”
“It is now. This asshole has evaded us for long enough. Seriously, where is this clown?” RJ turned around in circles scanning the cafeteria now.
My phone buzzed again.
“So your best guess was Leo? Really? Epic fail, guys.”
“That son of a bitch,” RJ said under his breath.
Liam grabbed my phone. “Seriously, who the fuck are you, you creep?”
“Don’t steal your sister’s phone.”
Liam looked up at me. “I’m going to kill this guy.”
“Stop it.” I grabbed my phone back. “He’s here. Somewhere.”
“And you know who’s not?” Sophie smiled.
“Mr. Halifax. I knew he wasn’t your kiss thief.
Which I probably should have put together this morning after your photo development room hookup.
Since Mr. Halifax was in class with me. I had eyes on him the whole time.
” She squealed. “He’s still in love with me!
He must have just given you an A on that quiz because he’s scared of Uncle James.
Not because he’s obsessed with you. Because he’s obsessed with me! ” She clapped her hands together.
Well, that was a relief.
“Great,” RJ said. “But can we please focus on identifying this loser?”
I pressed my lips together. “He’s not a loser, RJ.”
“Scar, why else would he be hooking up with you in dark closets otherwise? Who are the ugliest people in the cafeteria right now?”
“No, we need to go back to the beginning,” Sophie said. “I still have the JV team roster...”
I groaned. “I’m not doing that. This ends now.” I started typing a text out. “Tell me who you are right now or I’m never speaking to you again.”
Sophie looked over my shoulder. “Brilliant.”
I hit send.
He texted back right away: “You’ve threatened that before. Yet here we are talking. And we did a lot more than talk this morning.”
I felt my cheeks growing hot. “Please,” I texted. “Just tell me.”
“Step away from your friends so I can text just you,” my kiss thief responded.
“Don’t do it,” RJ said.
“He’s literally watching me right now. I can’t not do it. I’ll let you know what he says right after.” I walked over to the windows.
My phone buzzed with my kiss thief’s text: “You always look beautiful. But what happened to your uniform from this morning?”
“I was trying to follow you and I accidentally knocked over a stop bath. I’m not sure the vinegar smell will ever get out of my hair.”
“I’m sorry about that. That wasn’t a first I meant to steal. But I’m sure you still smell amazing.”
Still? So this guy had been close enough to me today to know what I smelled like earlier? No. I probably smelled the same most days. Gah. “Please tell me who you are.”
The seconds slowly ticked by. But his response finally came: “Are you over Jacob?”
Did I even have a choice not to be? Jacob had already moved on. I looked over at our table to see him laughing about something with Olivia. She placed her hand on his arm and he smiled down at her.
“Yes,” I texted back, even though the truth was a lot more complicated than that. I was pretty sure a part of me would always love Jacob. But that piece of me got smaller and smaller the more obvious it became that Jacob had never loved me back.
The kiss thief didn’t write back.
Maybe he didn’t believe me. Had I made a face while I’d thought about it? Or maybe the pause before I responded was enough. I didn’t want this conversation to end. I felt like I was so close. “I was surprised you stopped texting me,” I typed out. “Even though I told you to.”
This time he did respond. “At first I didn’t think your relationship was real. But then...all of a sudden it was.”
He was right. At least, from my point of view.
I wasn’t sure if any of it had been real to Jacob.
The kiss thief knew it wasn’t real because I kept hooking up with him before Jacob and I had started real dating.
I didn’t think it mattered to tell my kiss thief the truth now.
The whole thing had combusted in public.
My kiss thief had already put some of the puzzle pieces together.
But I didn’t want him to think I’d cheated on Jacob or anything like that.
“It wasn’t real at first. Jacob was just fake dating me to help me make someone jealous. ”
“Who?”
I shook my head. “Does it matter?”
“Yes. Because now I need to know if you’re still hung up on this other guy.”
I looked over at my table again. I could barely see Axel sitting on the other side of Jacob. But the two of them were laughing about something.
Just like a piece of me would always love Jacob, a piece of me would always love Axel too.
He was my first love. I’d been obsessed with him my whole life.
And my whole life all he did was put me down.
Axel would never love me back. And if I was ever going to be happy, I needed to let that go.
We were friends. Just like maybe Jacob and I could one day be friends again.
“It doesn’t matter,” I typed out. “He doesn’t like me like that.
He’s made it abundantly clear. And I’m so tired of hurting.
Everything I’ve done this year has been such a disaster. ”
“I don’t think the two of us would be a disaster.”
I smiled. “Maybe not.” I paused. “But really, why did you stop texting me?” I’d kind of thought he’d fight me a bit more on it. Yes, I’d told him to stop. But he didn’t seem like he gave up on things very easily.
“Because that’s what you wanted. Trust me, you dating Jacob was slowly killing me. But I wanted you to be happy. That’s all I want.”
My kiss thief wasn’t a creep. He cared about me.
He’d been willing to step aside because he could probably tell that I’d loved Jacob.
“Well, I’m not happy anymore,” I texted.
That was the truth. I was miserable. I’d been miserable ever since Jacob hadn’t shown up after that party.
When he’d left me out in the cold like I’d never meant anything to him.
I felt tears welling in the corners of my eyes.
My phone buzzed. “Then let me make you happy.”
I swallowed hard. I wanted to just say yes. But there was one thing I’d learned from Jacob. Even if the rest of it hadn’t been real. “I want to be loved out loud.”
“And all I’ve ever wanted was to love you out loud.”
My heart started pounding. I looked up from my phone to scan the cafeteria again. Who are you?
But then my phone buzzed. “Let me take you to the Sadie Hawkins dance.”
“I’m pretty sure the girl is supposed to ask the guy.”
“Mhm.”
I laughed. Was he waiting for me to ask him? “Does that mean you’ll let me see who you are?”
“I’ll pick you up for the dance.”
“Really? You’ll pick me up?”
“What kind of date would I be if I didn’t?”
He was finally going to let me see him? For real?
“Just say yes,” he texted. “Be my date to the Sadie Hawkins dance.”
I’d spent months trying to unmask him. And now he was just offering himself up on a silver platter? “Yes.”
“I’ll see you next Saturday, baby.”
My heart was beating funny in my chest. I should have known Leo wasn’t my kiss thief. Yes, Leo was funny and charming. But he didn’t make me feel like this. Not even close.
I slid my phone into the pocket of my sweatpants.
Sophie, RJ, and Liam ran over to me.
“What did he say?” Sophie asked. “Tell us everything.”
I knew I couldn’t hide my smile even if I wanted to. “He asked me to the Sadie Hawkins dance.”
“What?” She pulled her eyebrows together. “But the girl has to ask the guy. That’s literally the whole thing.”
“Maybe it is a girl,” RJ said. He smiled. “Hot.”
I shook my head. “It’s not a girl. I’ve...felt him against me.”
“Maybe she had a banana in her pants.” His smile grew. “Now I’m picturing the two of you sharing a banana.”
“You are such a pervert,” Sophie said. “Stop it. The kiss thief is a rugged stud, I’m 100% sure of that. So he’s really going to take you to the dance?”
“He said he’d pick me up.”
“He’s going to unmask himself? For real?”
I nodded.
She clapped her hands. “Finally! Because he was right, the four of us sucked at figuring out this mystery.”
“Speak for yourself,” RJ said. “I found a very possible suspect and got him to confess.”
“A false confession.” Sophie laughed. “What else did your kiss thief say?”
“That he stayed away because he thought I was happy with Jacob. And that that was all he wanted. For me to be happy.”
Sophie sighed. “So romantic.”
“And I told him that at first everything had been fake between me and Jacob. So he wouldn’t think I was a total slut.”
Liam laughed. “I mean...I’m not sure that will convince him after what you’ve done in closets with him.”
Sophie swatted his arm. “I can’t believe this is really happening!
And we have one week to figure out who it is before he reveals himself.
Should we set up another kissing booth? Oh!
Wait. We could run a school president approved raffle.
And all the winners can just win a kiss with you.
We’ll give out official tickets and everything. ”
“I’m not running a rigged raffle. I take my role as school president very seriously.”
“I know,” Sophie said. “And I hate that for me. But don’t worry about the relocation of the Sadie Hawkins dance. I slipped Mr. Halifax a note saying there was going to be a huge drug deal going down at the dance. If he doesn’t come now, he’s clearly just a bad teacher.”
“Hopefully he just calls the police,” Liam said. “Then we can get this kiss thief guy arrested.”
I shook my head. “Liam, please don’t ruin this for me.”
Liam just shrugged in response.
“I can’t wait to see who it is,” RJ said. “It’s the only thing about the dance that I’m looking forward to.”
“What do you mean?” Sophie asked.
RJ sighed. “I’ve tried to cancel on Parker. But she always writes back and just says “no” and sends me a picture of her dress. A few girls have asked me. But then they immediately cancelled the next day. I think Parker is behind it. She’s actually going to make me go with her. That little twerp.”
I laughed. “Are you sure the other girls canceling isn’t just...a you thing?”
RJ laughed and put his arm around my shoulders. “I’m sure of it. Ladies find me irresistible.”
I pushed him off of me and turned to Liam. “Are you going with Natalivanka?” I was kind of hoping Liam would miss out on the dance now. I didn’t want him interfering.
“No. I told you, we’re not serious. Besides, she’s out of the country right now doing princess things.”
“Sure.”
He laughed. “She is. RJ and I crashed a party at the college dad used to teach at last weekend. A girl there asked me.”
“A college girl?”
“Yeah. I think she’s a junior.”
Seriously? I shook my head. So Liam was going with someone way older than him and RJ was going with a child. This was going to be very weird. But all that mattered was that I was finally going to unmask my kiss thief. The real one this time.
“A college party?” Sophie asked. “Seriously? You two are acting like you have lots of downtime. But you’re supposed to be figuring out when that countdown in Axel’s notebook started. Have you solved it?”
RJ shoved his hands into his pocket as he stared at me. “Does it even matter now? You like the kiss thief, not Axel, right? Or else you’d be going to the dance with Axel.”
I glanced over at Axel again. I knew he didn’t like me back and never would.
I’d asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance and he’d turned me down.
Jacob and Axel were both meant to be my friends and nothing more.
My parents had let me watch too many Disney princess movies growing up, filling my head with fairytales that would never pan out.
Axel Stevens wasn’t my Prince Charming. And no one was going to heal this ache in my chest but me.
I cleared my throat and turned back to RJ. “Right. It doesn’t matter.”
RJ stared at me for a moment. “Well good. Because I didn’t figure it out.”
“Axel definitely just wants you to notarize something,” Sophie said.
I laughed and shook my head. Axel probably wasn’t even counting down to my 18th birthday.
It was more likely Valentine’s Day for some reason.
Maybe he was planning a big romantic gesture for someone else that day.
Because if there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that Axel didn’t like me like that.
But my kiss thief liked me. And he was ready to love me out loud. God, maybe I still did believe in fairytales.