Page 28 of Witch You Would
“Oh my god,” she wheezed. “I can’t even.”
I grinned. “Has your ability to even been compromised?”
“What did he call us? Popular nerd meets what?”
“Anime waifu? Is that like... the body pillows?”
“I don’t know. My cousin Daniella likes that stuff.”
“Anime?”
“And swords. She does ren faires.” Penelope gave a tiny snort and covered her mouth. “Do you think they put us together because they were hoping we would . . . what did he say?”
“Put out the vibe?”
She squealed and lost it again.
“Don’t worry about what he said.” I pointed at her. “You get to decide what you’re comfortable with. We can be all business,no party.”
“No party?”
Rule two, Gil. “Okay, not no party, but not that kind of party.”
“Not a pants party?”
Yes! “No pants party. Normal levels of normal party.”
Penelope sucked in a breath and blew it out. “I can’t believe this is happening. We’re supposed to get popular by pretendingwe have a thing, and then what?”
“We could fake a huge pretend breakup and make everyone pick sides. Go on a couples therapy show, get back together, breakup again... We could probably get a solid few years out of this if we’re creative.”
“This shouldn’t be funny,” she said, “but it’s too wild not to be. I came on this show hoping to get a better job, you know?By showing how awesome I am at casting and spell design? But instead, they want me to be your arm candy.”
“Oye, ’scuse me, I’m clearly the arm candy here,” I joked.
“Por favor.”
“Okay, we can both be arm candy, but I get to be the gummy bear.”
Penelope half smiled. “What am I, a chocolate bar?”
“Jelly bean. Cinnamon jelly bean.”
“First of all, no way. I’ll accept French vanilla or cream soda. Second of all, we have to figure out what to tell these people.”
True facts. “What do you want to tell them?”
“I don’t know.” Penelope sucked her teeth at me. “And I’m being a total asshole, just worrying about myself. Sorry. Wouldthis be a problem for you, for your show?”
Would it? Sam had a better sense of this stuff than I did, but I couldn’t ask her. I smoothed down my mustache. “I don’t thinkso?”
“It wouldn’t, like, mess with your subscriber numbers or something?”
“I might actually get a few extra people hoping for early access to secret chisme.”
Penelope scrunched her face up. Was she actually considering it? My brain hydroplaned.
On the one hand, this could be a huge mistake, and not for show reasons. I was emotionally invested, and Penelope had no idea.Whatever she had with me as Gil would probably expire like milk once she found out the truth, and I extremely didn’t wantthat. Not before we’d had a chance to see where things could go with us.
