JENNIE

It was a good thing that no one had told me taking eight weeks off right at the beginning of the season was going to be easy, because it hadn't been.

It absolutely hadn't been.

The past two weeks had been the most exhausting two weeks of my life, and that included the month that I had been going back to the MC to work out until midnight. But this time, I hadn't been alone. I'd had my best friend with me the entire time.

And I had enjoyed every sweaty, grueling, frustrating, painful moment.

Especially right then, as I stared out the window of the van that had picked up Liss, me, and six other pairs teams with their coaches, to take us to the facility where we would be competing at tomorrow. Relief like I didn't know I had in me, flooded my lungs, freeing them, as I took in the giant building with banners located around it. SKATE NORTH AMERICA, NOVEMBER 23-26. One of them even had Lisa—by herself—right after landing a jump the year before.

We were here and it was real.

We were ready.

Lisa had been quieter than normal over the last few days, while we'd done as many last-minute corrections as possible back at the MC. We had caught a flight to Lake Placid two days before, just in case the winter weather took a turn for the worst, but it hadn't. Skate North America only offered one day of official practice, so the past two days, we had just taken advantage of the giant conference room the WSU—World Skating Union—had booked for everyone with the same plans as us.

And when we hadn't been in the conference room, Lisa, Coach Lee, me, and the Simmons husband and wife team—our choreographers—had taken a taxi trip around, walked the downtown area, visited the Olympic museum, eaten lunch out, and then gone back to our rooms. At least until Lisa had showed up to my room to see what my view was like and we'd ended up ordering takeout and eating in there while we watched a show about cats from hell, and she'd told me about the three cats she'd had up until a year ago, when the last one had passed away from old age.

I didn't need to tell Lisa that this trip was different from every other trip I'd ever taken before, by myself and with Kai. But I thought she knew. I was excited—and I was nervous for the first time ever—but the excitement overwhelmed the rest.

And we were here. One step closer. One last thirty-minute practice away from the beginning of the end that I was trying so hard not to focus on.

We had just climbed out of the van when Lisa grabbed my hand out of the blue.

I glanced at her, not frowning but wondering what the hell she was doing. It wasn't like I minded it. I didn't. I grabbed her hand for random reasons every once in a while. But, I still didn't know why she was doing it. And it amped up my nerves a kick more.

"What is it?" I asked, when I took in the expression on her face as she turned her body to face mine.

Pulling my hand, she tugged me to the side to let the other teams we had ridden over with pass. We were all in Group B with practice times. Lisa's breath puffed white in the bitter Michigan air, and I shivered, trying to figure out what the hell was happening and why it had to be happening outside. Those brown eyes were focused on my face when the person who had driven me to every physical therapy appointment after she'd barged into my room so many weeks ago said, "I need you to promise me something."

This was going to be bad, wasn't it?

"It depends on what it is," I replied, worrying, trying to rack my brain for whatever the hell was so serious she wanted a promise out of me first.

That perfect face with its perfect skin and structure didn't sigh or give me an exasperated expression that she usually would have. "Promise me, Jennie."

Shit.

"Not before you tell me what it is. I don't want to break my promise." I frowned, dread quickly filling my stomach cavity.

Chances were I would probably do whatever she asked but… what if she asked me not to fuck up. Or not to make a scene if she introduced me to the next partner she had lined up, if she didn't go back to Niki. We hadn't talked about the future at all. Not once.

Shit.

Lisa's eyes roamed my face, slowly. Her breathing slowed and her too-calm features, relaxed even more. Then, she sighed, glanced up at the sky for all of a moment and then back down at me with a swallow that made her Adam's apple bob. "Please, promise me. I'm not asking you for anything you aren't capable of."

I must have made a face, because she tugged at the hand she was still holding.

"Promise me, Meatball. You know you can trust me," she said, not making it a question but a well-known fact.

And she'd be right.

But still, I hated that she was trying to use that against me. I didn't want to break a promise to her. Not ever. But I also didn't want to do something I probably wasn't capable of… like smiling at the person she was going to replace me with in a few months. I glanced away, and it was probably my imagination that the air grew colder by the second. I shivered. "Fine, I promise. What is it?" I asked, hearing the attitude in my voice.

The smile she gave me in response, slow and smirkish, put me at ease a little, but just a little. "Promise me that if you see Kai and Momo, you won't try to start a fight with him—"

The fuck? That's what this was about? Kai and Momo?

Get the fuck out. I hadn't thought about either of those two assholes in months. Not since he'd talked me into doing the photo shoot.

My scoff was so loud, it genuinely aggravated my throat. "Oh come on, that's what you want me to promise you? You think I'm going to go out of my way to fight with him and risk getting in trouble?"

She blinked, and her hand gave mine a squeeze. "You didn't let me finish. I was going to say that you should save it up until after the competition, then go for it. We'll kill them with our scores, and then you can give the knockout punch."

I opened my mouth, and then I closed it.

Those brown eyes lingered on my face even as her eyebrows went up, and she covered the top of my hand with her other one. "Is that a deal?"

I could only blink before I managed to get out, "What do you think?"

And her smile was just… ugh. "I think Lake Mirror across from the hotel is pretty convenient."

"You'll be my alibi?"

Lisa scrunched up her nose. "I know your sisters are here and all, but I thought you'd want me to help out. I'm stronger than they are. We wouldn't have to leave a trail."

What I wanted was her forever, but I'd take what I could get.

"Deal," I said.

She grinned. "One more thing."

Damn it.

"I want to know because you never told me, but what do you have against Momo Hirai?" she asked. "I want to know why we hate her."

Why we hate her. Lisa. Fucking Lisa. All I could do was shrug so that I wouldn't say anything else I had no business sharing. "When we were younger, before I was even in pairs, she used to talk shit about me behind my back. You can ask Rosé. Momo didn't know Rosé was my friend, and she talked about my weight, made some really racist, asshole comments about me being half-Filipino, and she was just a bitch in general."

Lisa blinked. "Did you say anything to her?" The question had just come out of her mouth when she snorted. "That's a stupid question. Of course you did."

I tugged on her hand. "You already know I did. I told her the next time she talked about me, I would open a can of whoop-ass on her."

"Son of a bitch!" I hissed as I burned my scalp again trying to get my straightening iron as close to the roots as possible. Skate North America wasn't the most televised event in the season, but…

It didn't matter to me.

What did matter was getting my hair as straight as possible, even though it already was. Only, I couldn't see or reach the back of my head well. We had three hours before the event even started, and we weren't scheduled to skate until almost the end. But my makeup was on, so was the black long-sleeved lacy dress that Nayeon had finished months ago, before I'd gotten injured.

Lisa had decided to go change in the restroom because she didn't want "any riots starting" if people saw her in her underwear.

The idiot.

And now I needed her help. She would help me straighten the rest of my hair. I knew she would.

But I was going to try and do as much as I could without hopefully burning myself for the sixth time. Turning back to one of the three illuminated mirrors in the room we were sharing with two of the teams we had worked out with at the same time the day before, I leaned into it and tried to angle my head as well as I could to catch a glimpse of what I was doing. I'd seen the other four people we were competing against—two teams that Lisa knew and had already said were nice—but they hadn't even changed yet.

I'd done two chunks of hair when the door opened, but I didn't think anything of it.

Until a voice I recognized spoke up.

And it wasn't Lisa's.

"Jennie, I want to talk to you," the semi-familiar voice requested as I turned to face him, instantly wondering where the hell Lisa was.

I'd made a promise to her.

I will not talk shit to Kai. I will not talk shit to Kai. I will not talk shit to Kai. Lisa made me say it seven times total the day before when I'd sworn I'd seen him while we had been waiting for the van to pick us up following our practice session, because apparently, once you did something seven times you couldn't forget it.

I had promised her I wouldn't start anything or do anything. I was a lot of things, and half of them weren't good, but Lisa was.

And I wouldn't go back on my word. Especially not to her. Not after everything she had done for me.

But…

There was no way either one of us could have predicted that Kai would be dumb enough to try and come talk to me before our first skate—our short program. I had always thought I was the one who wasn't as smart as other people, but apparently, this guy I had spent three years of my life teamed up with was the real fucking idiot.

Keeping my gaze on my own reflection in the mirror, I set my straightening iron down on the counter and made my hand into a fist.

"Jennie, please," the second man in my life to ever do shit to my heart kept going as I kept on looking at myself in the mirror.

I didn't think I looked that different from back when I was nineteen. My face was a little slimmer. My hair was longer, and I was more muscular. But on the inside… well, on the inside, I was definitely different.

Because nineteen-year-old Jennie would have already thrown her straightening iron at Kai and hoped it magically burned his balls through his costume.

"Jen, just… five minutes, please," my old partner basically pleaded from wherever he was out of the way from the mirror's reflection.

I fisted my hand tighter. Held my breath. Then I rolled my eyes because fuck him. Repeatedly. I hadn't given Kai a single thought in so long, I had genuinely forgotten how much I hated his ass.

But I remembered real quick. Real fucking quick.

You promised Lisaya, that calm part of my brain reminded me.

And easily, so easily, I got myself under control… and I exhaled.

"You're just going to pretend I'm not here?" my ex asked, stepping so close behind me I could finally see him in the mirror. So close, I was pretty sure if I kicked out backward, I could easy-peasy kick him in the nuts.

You'd figure after three years together, he would know how dangerous of a position he was putting himself into.

Fucking idiot.

God, Lisa would know better.

Tall, slim, and brown-haired, he looked the exact same as he had almost two years ago, when he'd walked out of the MC and never came back.

Kai looked pale in the lights and the reflection. His hands were in front of him, and I could tell he was anxious.

Good.

"Look, all I want to do is talk."

I didn't mean to snort, but it happened just as I straightened. I was still so short, I had a clear view of me from the waist up. The front of the costume had a sweetheart-neckline in the center of my chest, the dark fabric covering everything important—no beads on mine or Lisa's costumes because they got caught on everything—with lace overlapping everything else, but ending a few inches above my wrist so that the lace wouldn't get in the way of my grip. I loved it. When Nayeon had told me her idea for Dracula, I couldn't have picked a better costume design. Lisa had agreed.

Kai's dumbass took that sound for the opposite of what it was—an invitation—and kept on yapping his mouth. "After all the time we were together, you owe me, Jennie."

And, there it was. The three words he had no business using. The same three words that just like that had me seeing red and hoping Lisa would forgive me for breaking my word to her.

But I could tell her that it was because of her, and because of what we'd agreed on, that I didn't punch my ex in the balls from the get-go. If that wasn't an achievement, I didn't know what was. She would get it.

That's what I was going to tell myself as I turned around slowly on the balls of my feet and looked up at the man who I had wasted so much of my time on. Tall but not as tall as Lisa, and with shoulders that weren't as broad, with light brown hair and an almost tan complexion, handsome, sure… he was just like how I remembered him. It had been almost two years, after all.

Little fucking bitch.

"I don't owe you shit," I said up to him, sounding so calm I was honest to God proud of myself.

This buttfuck sighed as he ran a hand through his short hair and said, "Give me a break, Jen. We have history—"

Yep, I went from seeing red to seeing fucking magenta. "Yeah, that history ended the day I heard about you pairing up with Momo from someone who had read an article about it online."

He flinched. Kai hesitated. Then he seemed to shake it off as he demanded, "What else was I supposed to do?" He shook his head, swallowed hard, and steeled his shoulders.

But it was pointless because he'd already pissed me off.

He wasn't about to try and guilt trip me or intimidate my ass. "You could have told me like a normal human being that respected the person who had stuck with them for three years?" I snapped, barely managing not to yell at the reminder of what he had done to me. "I tried calling you, Kai, calling you and calling you, and you not once picked up, you fucker," I spat. "You didn't have the balls to warn me or explain shit, not once over the last two years."

"It's not—"

I gave him a look that I knew was my crazy expression. "If you fucking say that's not what it's like, I will punch you right now, on the dick, as hard as I can."

He shut his mouth, because he knew I would.

But he'd broken this dam, and now he was going to have to live with it.

"I gave you three years of my life, Kai. Three. You were my partner, I would have done almost anything for you, and you treated me like a piece of shit. You just ran away and did what you wanted to do, without telling me. Don't tell me I owe you anything. I don't. I don't owe you a single fucking thing," I hissed at him, pointing my finger at him because there was no way I could keep my hand from doing something when all it really wanted to do was form a ball and break his nose or his dick.

"You make it seem like I could have just… told you. Like it would have been that easy," he replied, his hand still caught in his hair, his expression twisted.

I blinked. "Yeah, it would have been that easy. Hey, Jennie, I quit. I'm going to pair up with someone you can't stand. Good luck," I mocked, shaking my head. "Done."

His laughter held a sharp edge. "That's not how it would have gone, and you know it. You would've yelled at me, called me a quitter, a bitch, a pussy, all those things and more. You know you would have. You wouldn't have let me leave that easily."

You promised Lisa you wouldn't do this. You promised.

And I had.

And that's why I kept my hand at my side, still.

"Yeah, I would have. I would have done all of those things. We both know that. But you're an idiot for not understanding why. I would have given you a hard time because we were in it together. Because we were a team, and I wouldn't just give up on you like it was nothing. But you're a grown-ass man that makes his own decisions. I wouldn't have tied you up and forced you to stay. Give me a fucking break."

The moment the words were out of my mouth, I was genuinely surprised by them. I don't even think I had ever thought that way before. Much less felt that way.

But I had.

He'd hurt me, and I wanted him to know. I wanted him to know that I had cared about him. And I wasn't above wanting him to know that I would have fought for him.

But that was two years ago.

One year ago, I would have wanted to beat the shit out of him. I would have been too prideful to ever admit any of this. But I wasn't. Not anymore. At this point, all I wanted was to get this horrible guilt and anger I'd been suffering with off my chest. I wanted it out of my life. Out of me.

I wanted to move on. Maybe I already had. Mostly.

I still wanted to beat his ass, but I'd settle for making him regret the day he'd met me. The only way to do that was to kick the shit out of him and Momo on the ice. And I would. Lisa and I would.

"I cared about you too, Jennie," he said, making me roll my eyes. "I still care about you. When I heard about your sprain, I was worried. I wanted to call you, but… I couldn't."

Yeah, he got another eye roll for that shitty lie. "Okay."

"You don't understand…."

I raised my hands at my sides and let them fall right back down. "Okay, Kai. Tell me. Right now. What is it you want me to hear, huh? That you left me because you wanted a better chance at winning?"

This man gulped again, dragging his hand down his face and over the white and blue spandex bodysuit costume he had on. "Why do you always turn shit around? I miss you, Jen. I've picked up the phone to call you at least a dozen times…."

All I wanted was for him to shut. The. Fuck. Up.

"Honest to God, cross my heart and hope to die, I don't want to talk to you anymore. Or ever again. Whatever you thought you felt, whatever excuses you've talked yourself into believing to justify the way you treated me… live with it. Deal with it. If you know me half as well as you think you do, you know I'm not ever going to forgive you."

"Jennie, I—"

"Nope. Don't even bother. If you see my mom, run the other way. If you see me, turn around and pretend that you don't," I said to him, sounding oddly calm. "I would have forgiven you if you'd talked to me first. I would have forgiven you for saying all that shit you did about finding a partner you can 'really work with.' And I could have forgiven you eventually for shoving me out of your life. But I'm not going to. I'm not that good of a person." I swept my eyes to the side, giving him my best blank expression and said, "You better go. I have shit to do, and I don't want you as an audience."

Kai Jongin blinked. I'd swear maybe even his chin wobbled a little bit. But in that way that was his, he glanced away and sighed, pressing his lips together. "Jennie, look—"

"Just go."

"I just want to tell you—"

"I don't care," I said, giving him my back again.

He was so full of shit. Ugh.

"Do you even know why I never called you back any of those times you'd leave me voice mails cussing me out right after? Or that time you called me drunk months later, yelling at me?"

"I don't know, and I don't really care," I told him, my voice even, almost robotic as I looked past him toward the door and prayed, prayed that Lisa was coming.

He frowned so deeply lines formed across his forehead. Those brown eyes sliced away from me before they came back. "Jennie, it was because Lisa called me a week afterward and said she would 'fuck me up' if I ever contacted you again."

The hell did he just say?

"Stop looking at me like you think I'm lying. I'm not. She called me and said that if I knew what was good for me, I would leave you alone, but if I didn't, she was going to fuck me up so bad I would regret the day I ever decided to skate pairs."

Lisa.

Lisa had said that? Done that? But that had been a year before we'd paired up, weeks after we'd flipped each other off in a hallway, I was pretty sure.

Lisa had done that?

"I also said that I'd destroy you. You missed that part," a familiar voice piped up, making both of us turn to find Lisa peeking her head inside the room, the door barely cracked, hair perfectly gelled into place, her face shaved clean, everything about her bright and sparkling. And she was smiling. And holding red roses.

I loved her.

Goddamn I had no idea what the hell had happened or why it had happened, but I loved her so much in that moment, my heart could have burst.

"But Jennie can too. She's so small and cute, it's deceiving how strong she is. And it's weird how mad she can get. She's like a little Gremlin; you better not put any water on her because she'll go crazy," she went on, smiling at me with affection as she stepped into the room fully, showing off her matching black costume. "But you should know that."

Kai looked between Lisa and me for a moment before taking a step to the side, away from me.

"I—"

"She's my partner now, Kai, and she's going to keep being my partner. And you know what? I'm not real good with sharing, so it might be a good idea if you got out of here before all those things I had warned you about come true," Lisa cut her off, as she came to stand at my side.

Lisa didn't touch me. She didn't need to. I knew she was there, and she knew I knew that.

That was the thing with us. We understood each other. We knew the length and depth of our trust and loyalty. And that meant more than any empty-ass words ever would.

"Don't you have something you need to go do?" Lisa asked with a deceptively lazy blink.

Kai sighed, then took a step back. He glanced at me over his shoulder, his lingering look might have made me feel bad if I hadn't wanted to kill him, before he headed toward the exit. He'd barely opened the door when Lisa's fingers slipped through mine.

"You handled that better than I would have expected," she said, not even lowering her voice considering Kai wasn't out of the room yet.

I peeked up at her. "You think?"

Her nod was so enthusiastic, it made me almost laugh. "Yeah. Coach Lee and I thought you'd at least slap him."

"You told me not to." Damn it.

"No, I told you to wait until after this was over. I didn't think he'd actually come up to you and try and talk to you. He doesn't know you at all, does he?" Lisa snickered. "Dumbass. I bet he has no clue how close he was to dying. I could hear it in your voice, and once I saw your face, I was honestly worried you were going to do some John Wick shit with the comb I left on the counter."

I couldn't help but bust out laughing. I couldn't remember ever laughing before a competition. Ever. Not once.

The tug she gave my hand made me look at her as I kept on laughing.

"You good?" she asked, pressing our joined hands against her hip.

I nodded, and once I'd stopped laughing and still had a smile on my face, I narrowed my eyes on her. "Did you really call him and tell him not to contact me ever again?"

That was the thing about Lisa. She didn't bullshit. Not ever. I didn't think she was even capable of being embarrassed either. Because there was no hesitation as she responded. "Yes."

"Why?"

Her body didn't move from its spot beside me, her hand didn't let go of mine either as she said, "Because Rosé called and told me what happened. She asked if there was anything I could do. If I knew anyone else that you could pair up with."

This low-level hum began in my ears, but I made myself ask, "Then what happened?"

"I told her I didn't. Then I called him and told him how it was going to be, I was that pissed," she explained easily.

I felt like a dumb, pathetic girl asking for reassurances, but I didn't care enough to let it stop me. "You were mad for me?"

"No shit, Sherlock. The idea of you being upset over that waste of breath pissed me off. You deserved better." She smiled and pressed our hands tight against her side. "If you were going to cry for anyone, it was going to be me."

"You're an idiot."

"I know."

But then Lisa moved her body. She moved it to face mine, to stand in front of me, forcing me to tip my head back just enough so I could look at her eyes, the bouquet between us. Slowly, taking her time, her forehead dropped to mine. "Do you regret what happened?"

I looked right into those brown eyes and told her, "It was the best thing that could have happened to me."

"Me too, Jen."

And this… this thing that I knew was love bubbled up inside of me, and I knew it was a stupid idea. I knew I needed to shut the fuck up. But as I looked into those beautiful eyes and held that hand that had been there to hold me up so many times, I reminded myself that I was nobody's bitch.

Not even my own.

"Lisaya," I started to say, oddly not nervous, so close her breath touched my lips. "I don't expect anything from you, and I don't want to make this weird, but I want you to know—"

Her "Shut up" caught me off guard.

I blinked. "Don't tell me to shut up. I want to tell you something."

She suddenly dropped our hands, smiled, and took a step away. "I got something for you."

"You got me flowers?" I asked.

She shook her head as she set them on the counter beside me. "No, they're from Rosé."

I smiled at the thought of her sending flowers. I'd have to send her a text later to say thank you.

"I did get you something, and someone else sent you something too."

I couldn't help but narrow my eyes. "Who?"

Lisa smiled. "Patty."

"Who is Patty?"

Her smile drooped. "That teenager at the MC you stood up for. The one who looks just like you and is really outgoing?"

"Oh." Her. I hadn't realized we looked alike. "She sent me something?" Why?

"A card."

Huh. "She didn't have to do that."

"No, she didn't, but she found me the day before we left and begged me to give it to you," she said. "But I got you something too. It's not the souls of everyone that has ever pissed you off, but…."

That had me shutting my mouth. For all of a second.

"I was going to give it to you after, but I think I should give it to you now."

I pressed my lips together and asked slowly, "What is it?" as she turned to her giant rolling suitcase and dug her hand into large pocket on the outside of it.

"I thought we were past you thinking I'm going to randomly kill you."

"I don't think we'll ever be past that."

Lisa laughed with her back to me. "My plan is to kill you after worlds. Get it right."

"I'll write it down in my calendar then. Thank you for the warning."

Her head shook as she yanked her hand out of the pocket, holding something wrapped in tissue paper and something else in a white envelope.

"I was kind of expecting a scorpion, but I don't think you'd put your own life in danger to kill me."

"Shut up, I'll put the card here for you to read later," she murmured again, amusement in her voice as she turned to face me. "Let me see your hand."

I held out my right hand, but she smacked it gently down. So I raised the other one. I watched as she set the tissue-paper-wrapped thing on the counter and took my wrist with both of her big hands. She tugged the sleeve of my costume up about three inches on my forearm, exposing the bracelet I always wore. I had tightened the leather straps on it that morning so I could wear it under my costume, like I normally did.

I didn't think much of it until her thumb brushed over the slim metal plate held on by the leather straps I'd had to replace once a year since I'd originally gotten it made when I was twelve at a fair. To Jennie. From your best friend, Jennie was engraved on it. My mom had rolled her eyes when she'd paid for it. I'd showed her the documentary about another figure skater I admired who had worn the same thing. She had been amazing for her time, competitive and had never given a single fuck what other people thought about her. I thought she had been the shit, but mostly, she thought she was the shit.

It had always been my reminder that I had to believe in myself.

And I'd been wearing it proudly since.

But Lisa's fingers went to the straps I had just retied, and she began undoing the tiny knot with those long, graceful fingers. I wanted to ask her what the hell she was doing and why she was taking it off, but… I trusted her. So, I kept my mouth shut as she pulled it off and set it on the counter beside the tissue-wrapped whatever it was.

Okay.

She grabbed the thing off the counter in the same move and opened the tissue paper, pulling out something that looked almost identical. A sliver of metal with a leather band around it. Except the leather was bright pink.

"I don't want you to get nervous tonight," she started to say as she held the bracelet in one hand, her eyes on me.

I switched back and forth between looking at her and the thing in her hand. "I'm not nervous."

She snickered. "Fine, you're not nervous. But I want you to know that regardless of what happens today and tomorrow, it doesn't matter, Meatball."

And that had me snapping my head up to look her in the eye. The fuck was she talking about? "Of course it matters."

"No, it doesn't," she insisted. "It's just a competition. If we win or lose, it doesn't change anything."

What the hell did she mean by anything?

Lisa took my hand with the one not holding the bracelet and rubbed her thumb over the back of my wrist. "I'm not going to be mad. I'm not going to be disappointed. I hope you're not either."

I watched her carefully but didn't say anything.

Her jaw moved, and her eyelids hung low over those spectacular eyes as she asked, "Will you?"

"Be disappointed if we don't win?"

I didn't like the nod she gave me.

But I thought about her words for one tiny moment. Would I be disappointed if I fucked up or if she fucked up and everything went to shit and we ended up in sixth place tonight and tomorrow? Would I be furious like I had been in the past?

"No." I wouldn't. "You'd be in sixth place with me. I wouldn't be alone. If I'm going to fail, at least we'd do it together," I whispered, this funny fucking feeling going over my body.

It felt like… it felt like relief. Like acceptance. And it was the second single most beautiful thing I had ever felt in my life.

Second to loving this idiot and my family.

And that had to be the right fucking answer she was looking for because the smile that came over her face was the best one she'd ever shared with me yet. "Give me back your wrist, you little shit," she ordered, beaming that smile that I wished with all my heart was mine and only mine.

And except for her dogs and her pig and her bunny, it might very well be.

So I gave her my wrist.

And I watched as she tied the pink leather straps together, tight but not too tight, and left the bracelet up high on my arm like I'd had the other one, in the perfect spot to be hidden by the sleeve of my costume. She'd barely finished the knot when I brought my forearm to my face and read the tiny inscription on the metal.

To Meatball

From your best friend, Lisa

And in the time it took me to read the metal plate about four times, Lisa had already tied my bracelet to her own wrist.

But it didn't fit under her sleeve.

And when she smiled at me, I knew she didn't even care.