Page 70 of The Masks We Burn

I clear my throat, breaking the top open. “No. It’s for you.”

Her eyebrows furrow and she stays where she is, her scrunched face reminding me of when we argued about lemon zest. I know we didn’t explicitlysaywe were done with the “benefits” part of our arrangement, but it was more than understood. So my showing up unannounced with a gift, no less, seems strange.

I keep my eyes down, not wanting to read too much into her body language as I pull out the first book. “I ordered it the morning after we talked about your anime café. I just wanted to get you some things to start you off.”

She moves closer now, and I have to take a step back to keep from touching her. “You got me what?”

She peers at the book in my hand before opening the box fully, gasping when she looks inside. “William, this is… there’s… what?”

“It’s the whole set of theDeadman Wonderlandmanga. That shit is hard to find, so I got a few copies. Then there’s someHero Academiaplushies,Attack on Titankey chains, magnets galore. I just got an assortment of things since it was only an idea when we talked about it. But I wanted to get you something to motivate you in case you ever had doubts.”

“I—” Amora swallows, looking up at me with tears filling her eyes.

My body suddenly feels heavy, knots forming in my gut. When I reach out, she jolts backward, making my heart squeeze, before she motions to the box. “Why would you do that?”

“I just told you, I—”

“I don’t need anything from you.”

“Amora, I know you don’t, I was just trying to…” I look at my hands, realizing too late how fucking stupid this was.

“Just what, Will?” When she says my name, I’m thrown back five years, to the party where she held nothing but disdain for me. “I don’t fucking need anything from you. From anyone!”

“Yeah, I know.”

“No, obviously you don’t.” She’s all but screaming, tears streaming down her face one after the other. “You think I don’t know why you got me this? Did you think that I would fall in love with you? Think it was the sweetest shit anyone’s ever done and just forgo everything I wanted and be with you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what?”

“I was doing something nice,” I say quietly, doing my best not to succumb to the hurt swelling my throat.

“No one does something nice for people they’re just fucking, Will. You did this to prove a point. You did this to show me I need you. That the whole fucking café was your idea in the first place, and I need you to help me start it and see it through! Well, fuck that and fuck you.”

She turns on her feet, stomping to the front door and opening it.

I stare at her for a moment before nodding. We needed to have this—whatever this is, or else it would only be a matter of time before things got deeper, more complicated.

She needs a reason to let me go. A reason to tell herself I’m not worth letting her mother be right after all.

I decide to let her be angry and push me away. Why? Because she showed me what my parents have is possible for after all. That giving myself to one person doesn’t mean I’ll wake up every day not feeling alive. That choosing doesn’t mean sacrificing happiness.

It’s the opposite.

Falling in love meansfreedom.

So I’ll give her this.

And I do.

* * *

ONE MONTH LATER

“William,I’m really proud of you, son.” My dad claps a hand on my back, looking over the designs spread out on the table again.

Bellamy and I have worked day in and day out for a month to get all the details ready to present to my parents. We crafted field plans, equipment costs, club dues, and set schedules. Everything you can think of is all on spreadsheets, nice and organized.

---