Page 43 of Stupid for Cupid
I reach up and play with the ends of Felicity’s hair, watching her take in this information. Her mouth forms into a thin line as her face settles into a look of pure determination.
“You were right,” Felicity says. “I was unlovable.”
“That’s not—”
“I mean, I had made myself unlovable. Or seem unlovable. Whatever. I wasn’t open to it and, quite frankly, I thought you were full of shit.”
I snort out a laugh.
“When you ‘shot’ me with the arrow,”—she uses air quotes here—“it gave me an excuse to let my walls down. I just didn’t know they were built that high, and that strong.”
Felicity exhales. “And I really,reallywanted to build that app. But I think it’s because I needed to be right. I needed to prove to myself—and to the world—that my broken heart didn’t actually affect me, in the end.”
She looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “It would have been a lie.”
I swipe at a wet cheek with my knuckle.
Felicity continues. “And when I really think about it, I don’t want to create something that could, like, end the world.”
I flinch. “About that…”
When the Fates witnessed my last conversation with Felicity, they must have felt sorry for me, because they confessed something that made my head spin.
“Theymade it up?” Felicity shouts, jumping up from her spot on the couch. “Allof it?” she asks.
“Yep,” I say. “Turns out it was one big lie.”
This is the part I didn’t want to have to explain, because the scheme is so ridiculous, yet so predictable, that even I have trouble accepting it.
“My mother put them up to it,” I say with a shrug, trying to keep my cool. “History repeats itself. She somehow found out I was going to meetyouand fall madly in love, and—”
Felicity plops back down onto the couch. “Madly in love?” she says so quietly I almost miss it.
Why does she think I’m here? Just for a good time?
“Yes,” is all I say, and she swallows. I leave it at that for now—it’s not the time to push.
After a moment, Felicity says, “I don’t think I ever want to meet your mother.”
This gets a laugh out of me. “Gods no. I’m keeping her far, far away from you. Don’t worry about that—I worked out something with the Fates that should keep her off our backs.”
Felicity lies back and rests her legs in my lap, hand going to her forehead. “This has…been a lot for me. All of it.” She holds my gaze. “I can’t pretend like any of this is normal, or like nothing happened. You still lied to me—and this is still really fucking confusing.”
I nod. “I wouldn’t expect you to pretend. I just want you to give me—us—another chance.”
Very gently, I pick her legs up and set her feet on the floor. Then I face forward and hold my arm out at an awkward angle,pretending I’m holding a beer.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
“Starting over,” I say. “Back to square one.”
Felicity must catch my meaning, because she does the same: faces forward, as if sitting at a bar.
I turn to her and smile. “Sorry to bother you…”
“You’re not bothering me,” she says. “Not at all.”
“Good—because you’re the most captivating woman I’ve ever seen, and I was wondering if I could take you out sometime?”
“Sure.” Felicity’s eyes twinkle in the low light of her apartment. “If the Fates allow.”
