Page 42 of For You I'd Mend
Poppy
I arrived at Karmatwenty minutes before my date with Aries. He’d texted not long after I left Marked to ask if I wanted to meet up. I didn’t hesitate. If I was the kind of person who kept track of New Year’s resolutions, I’d be kicking ass in all but one: Stop lusting after Theo Makris. Aries looked like every guy I’d ever dated, so I figured why not?
Lauren was wrong. I couldn’t accept that Theo and I would never be more than friends, but I also couldn’t cut him from my life, no matter how much it hurt. For one thing, Peace Falls was the size of a postage stamp. And if Theo was part of Rowan’s life, he’d be part of mine unless I limited my time with my sister and every other human I actually liked.
Which was why I stole Rowan’s baklava while she was in the shower and strutted my ass into Marked this morning. Theo didn’t want more. Fine. No sense letting my hurt fester until I saw him in class. I ripped the Band-Aid off my heart and got a date at the same time.
“She’s here,” Cammie shouted when I stepped inside.
Lauren burst through the stockroom door with a huge smile on her face. “Did you show her?”
“She hasn’t even shut the door yet,” Cammie said.
I pulled the door closed behind me and walked to the coffee bar. “What’s going on?” I asked.
Cammie and Lauren pointed up at the menu board along the back wall, which now advertised a lavender-vanilla macchiato called The Poppy. I put my hands over my face and burst into tears. The next thing I knew, Cammie and Lauren had dragged me into Lauren’s tiny office and plopped me in the desk chair.
“Here,” Lauren said, handing me a tissue. “Your eyeliner is running.”
“I hate you both,” I said, sniffling into the tissue. “I’m going on my first date in over a year, and you had to show me that. What did you think would happen?”
“Um, not this,” Cammie said, rubbing my back.
Lauren shrugged. “I figured it was 50/50 she’d cry.”
Cammie’s mouth fell open.
“Congratulations on tricking everyone into thinking you’re nice,” I said to Lauren.
Lauren smiled. “I am nice. I figured you still had some emotions to let out.”
“Maybe,” I sniffed. “But this isn’t the best time.”
“Oh, I think it is,” Lauren said. “Bet you’re not nervous about your date now.”
“I was never nervous about my date.”
Cammie nodded. “Which means you don’t really like him.”
“I don’t know if I like him or not. Isn’t that the point of a date?”
“Yeah, about that,” Cammie said hopping onto Lauren’s desk. She grabbed my hands, snotty tissue and all. “I did a little digging into Aries, and there are some things in his record you should know about.”
This time Lauren’s mouth fell open. “Cam, that’s—”
“Smart,” Cammie said, her kind blue eyes hardening. “I know you’re all about second chances, Lauren, and that’s great, but a woman should be aware of who she’s dealing with.”
“How did you even know I was going on a date with him?” I asked.
“I didn’t, but thanks for confirming. When he came in earlier, he said he was new in town, so I figured I needed to know about him. You can never be too careful. Plus, the name Aries sounded totally fake. It took a while, but I finally teased his full name out of him. Aaron Piro, by the way. Then I did a little research.”
“Spill it, bitch,” I said. “It took me ten minutes to do this eyeliner. No telling how long it will take to fix it.”
“Did you know he was just released from prison?” Cammie asked.
“I kind of figured since Theo said Max wanted the apartment to help someone, and that’s how Theo ended up there.”
Cammie nodded. “Aries is not like Theo. Let’s just put that on the table now.”
