Page 52 of Prince of the Palisades

“Fine,” I concede. “Keep all your movie secrets to yourself.”

“I plan to.”

I watch him rock on his heels, suspended in my own awe.

He keeps surprising me with all these little quirks. Quiet admissions. And I keep shocking myself by committing every detail to memory. Like I’ll want to remember them. Rememberhimwhen I’m gone.

The point of everything I’m doing is to get home, but here’s this boy sneaking inside the iron ribs I’ve fortified around my heart. He can’t be there. Why am I letting him in?

Why has my “no boys” policy suddenly turned to dust?

I clear my throat. “So tonight was good, then? A decent birthday date?”

“It was good,” Reiss agrees. “But it wasn’t a date.”

Wait. Did I—no. I saiddate.

“I mean—” I scramble to say, my voice way too high.

“Reiss,” Karan calls, interrupting my semi-meltdown. “It’s pumpkin time. Gotta get Lo home before curfew.”

Lo smiles apologetically. “Mamá will murder me if I’m late again.”

Reiss nods, half-turning toward me. He’s not quite frowning. But his smile isn’t as wide either.

“Let me walk you out,” I offer.

Outside, Karan pulls his sleek gray BMW up the driveway. Lo launches themselves into the passenger seat. Reiss hovers by the back door. He gives me a soft, wondering look. I don’t know how to respond.

A year of dating Léon, and suddenly I don’t know how to say goodnight to another boy.

Impulse wins again. I blurt, “Would you like to go on a date?”

Reiss pauses, one hand on the door handle. The tinted windows are lowered. A Moonglow song pours from the speakers.

It’s too ironic. Almost too perfect.

“Go on a date with me,” I say with more sureness. “Tomorrow.”

I ignore the way Lo and Karan are both grinning like their favorite ship just became canon.

Reiss stays motionless, gaping at me.

Karan croons, “Broooooo. It’s a date with a prince! If you say no, I will—”

Lo smacks a hand over his mouth just as Reiss says, “Okay. Yes.”

I let out a breath that was trapped in my lungs for way too long. “Tomorrow,” I repeat before the door closes. Even as they drive off, I can hear Lo’s squealing and Karan’s whooping and Reiss’s embarrassed laughter.

“How disturbing,” Ajani says from behind me.

I ignore the dryness in her voice. I’m on a high. So far in the clouds, I can snatch the stars from the sky.

Suddenly, being stuck in America a little longer isn’t that bad.

10

YOUNG, BLACK, AND…ROYALLY UNINTERESTED?

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