Page 82 of Hockey Halloween
But my gut already knows.
This is about Jaxon.
“Jaxon,” she starts.
Fuck me.
“What about him?” I ask, pretending I didn’t just die a little inside.
She slides past me, stops in front of the mirror. Pulling off the witch hat, she fluffs her curls, cheeks flushed, lips parted. She’s so goddamn gorgeous. They call me Big Bad, but honestly Roman is the biggest hound dog here tonight. Why isn’t he chasing her?
Because he knows what I’ve been trying to hide.
And that begs the question—who else does?
The fortune teller definitely does and she told Paisley to go after Jaxon.
“She said I need to make the guy I want jealous.”
I blink. “Jealous?” I try to channel my inner Best Friend of the Year.Just be cool. Chill. Supportive. Dead inside, but supportive.“I don’t really get it.”
She steps toward me. Closer. Closer. Until I’m pinned betweenher and the sink, my heart slamming against my ribs like it’s trying to make a break for it.
“Yeah. Jealous. And I need a favor.”
“Of course. Anything.”
She takes a breath. A big one. Like the girl who hates heights is about to go skydiving.
“Tonight… will you pretend to be my boyfriend?”
Paisley
Gunther blinks once. Then twice. Like he’s rebooting. Honestly, I can’t believe I just asked him to be mypretend boyfriend.
I came to this party to move on from the hopeless crush I’ve carried around since middle school like a backpack full of bricks. A guy who shattered my heart the night I finally worked up the courage to tell him I liked him… and he turned around and left withSuzy-freaking-Sizemore.
I got the message loud and clear.
Because out of every girl at that party, he picked her. My former best friend turned high school it-girl, who ditched me the second she got a flat iron and a fan club. I was the chubby girl she left behind. The sidekick turned invisible.
But time did its thing. I grew up. I shed the weight, the braces, and the glasses. I found a little confidence. And maybe—just maybe—I held onto the tiniest shred of hope that someday, Gunther might actually look at me andseeme. Not just his buddy. Me.
Tonight when I was talking to Jaxon, I noticed the way Gunther was watching us, like he wanted to launch Jaxon into the next zip code. Yeah, that was new. Weird. But also... encouraging.
Then Melanie swooped in, all smug and knowing, and said,“Go for it.”
I nearly choked on the eyeball-shaped grape I was chewing. She sawit too. I mean, come on, who doesn’tknow how I feel about Gunther at this point? I basically have a PhD in pining. I visit as often as I can. I’ve gotten close with his friends. I’ve never said the words out loud, but these women aren’t dumb. Melanie’s a psychologist, for crying out loud. She reads feelings like I read romance novels—fast and with full emotional commitment.
So when she said the only way to get Gunther to own up to his feelings was to make him jealous, I laughed it off. Obviously. That’s the kind of thing you read in a YA love triangle. But then...
Tamara.
I asked her, just for fun, about my future. And she said:“The wolf howls tonight, not for the hunt, but for the heart. You’ve already tamed him, my dear. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
I mean, what was I supposed to do with that?
A part of me wonders if Melanie and Tamara teamed up, plotting behind my back like matchmaking witches with glittery intentions. Probably not. But maybe that’s just my fear trying to claw its way out. Because if I screw this up... I don’t just lose a fantasy. I lose him.
