Page 4 of This Feeling

“Why is he here?” Amanda asked in a lowered voice.

Sean and I had broken up a few weeks ago, when he’d decided his future no longer included me. I wish I could say I was heartbroken, but it was honestly for the best. For the last year of our relationship, we’d felt more like friends than anything, and we ended our relationship still being friends.

Of course, my three sisters despised him, and that mostly had to do with the public humiliation I’d suffered when he broke up with me. I was pretty sure Tina put a curse on him as well.

“Not sure,” I replied, plastering on a smile and walking toward him. “Sean. What a surprise to see you here.”

“Yeah. What the fuck are you doing here?”

My head whipped back toward my sister. “Amanda! Youdorealize you’re holding your child, right?”

Amanda snarled her lip at Sean, who took a few steps back toward the door.

“She’s too young to understand bad words.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sean asked.

He jumped back even farther when Amanda took a step toward him.

“Amanda!”

Aunt Olivia hurried over. “What’s going on, girls?”

Turing to my aunt, I held up my hands. “Nothing, everything’s fine. Amanda was just leaving.”

“Not until I get a hug from that little one,” Aunt Olivia said. “I’ll walk you out, dear.”

When Amanda started to walk toward the exit, Sean quickly made his way around a table and out of her way. She stopped and glared, then made a strange sound with her mouth…almost like she was preparing to spit on him.

My eyes went wide as I started toward her.

“I’m leaving. I’m leaving,” Amanda said, glancing toward me and smiling. “Toodles.”

“Bye, Amanda. Bye, Mandy!”

Mandy smiled a toothless grin at me. Once the door shut, I faced Sean.

He pointed to the door. “I don’t trust your sisters. I’m telling you, they’re into some weird magic shit.”

I made my way back toward the counter. “What do you want, Sean?”

He rubbed at the back of his neck, and I knew what that meant. He had something to say, but he didn’t actually want to say it. Been there and done that with this guy.

When he just stood there awkwardly, I sighed. “Just spit it out. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“I need a favor from you.”

Placing my hands on the counter, I stared at him blankly. “Listen, I’m not brokenhearted that we broke up, but if you’re here to ask me to make flowers for a new girlfriend, then I’m going to ask you to leave because that’s just plain shitty.”

He looked confused for a moment, then laughed. “No, I’m not here for that.”

“Then why are you here?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

Sean paced to the door and back, then cleared his throat. “We need to start dating again.”

I nearly choked on my tongue. “I’m sorry…what?”

He quickly threw his hands up and said, “Not real dating, just fake dating.”

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