Page 30 of The One Where They Fall in Love

“What does that mean?” she replies, scrunching her face in surprise. She looks offended.

“It means that you’re always thinking of your next project, of what someone else needs. You don’t have to do that.” I say, flicking a gummy bug at her. I think she’s surprised that I remember her speech about supporting people, the one she gave me when she suggested being my New York tour guide.

Elle doesn’t say anything right away. I get the sense that people don’t tell her like it is very often. I want to say something like,“It’s annoying to have someone point out your bullshit, isn’t it?”but I don’t.

“I know I don’thaveto—”

“Do you?”

“Stop trying to change the subject. Eat the bugs!” she whines, pushing the bowl towards me. I groan internally at her insistence on talking about anything besides herself. She thinks she’s sly when she puts the focus on everyone else. But I’m starting to see through her.

“And what if I do eat the bugs?” I shiver at the thought. “What do I get?”

“I don’t know…” she muses. “You can come up with another form of public humiliation for me.”

I contemplate this for a moment. I’m not really sure how that is a “win” for me, but if I’ve learned anything in the past few weeks, it’s that resisting Elle’s schemes never works for long.

“I should mention that the main thing I don’t like about bugs is the buzzing, so this game doesn’t even really—”

“Yeah, uh huh, that’s great. Start with the cockroach,” she prompts. I pick up the gummy worm instead, side-eyeingher, and throw it in my mouth.

I should have swallowed it whole.

My stomach convulses as the candy crunches against my teeth, the texture so much worse than I imagined it would be.Oh myGod.Do not let me throw up in front of this woman.

I quickly swallow the worm and try to un-contort my face, to pretend like that wasn’t actually physically painful for me. When I make eye contact with Elle again, she raises her brows at me, a hint of a smile on her lips. She pushes the cockroach shaped candy at me. As soon as my front teeth crunch down on the exterior shell, I spit it right back out.

“Fuck it! Fuck it!” I shout, grabbing a napkin. Thor jumps as I propel myself from my chair.

Elle laughs hysterically, hunching over on the counter to steady herself, her face flushing red. Thor jumps up on her, just as amused by her laughter as I am, because it is the most infectious sound I’ve ever heard. Once I’ve gotten the disgusting candy out of my mouth, I realize that I’m smiling, just from looking at her.

Elle’s laugh is the best sound I’ve heard in a long time.

Nowthatis a dangerous thought.

Fifteen

Elle

“This game is totally rigged!” Henry shouts, throwing his hands up.

The white glow from the air hockey table illuminates his body and shows the defined muscles beneath his white t-shirt. It’s a really good look for him.

“Why do I get the feeling you were the kid that went way too hard in gym class?” I reply, retrieving the pucks from the middle of the table.

“I am neither going to confirm or deny if that’s true,” he says, leaning over the table. “Best out of three?”

“Let’s put some money on it, so I can get something out of this except just kicking your butt,” I joke. “Ten bucks if I win the next game.”

“It’s probably not the most gentlemanly thing to agree to taking money from a lady on a date, but my competitive nature is outweighing my manners right now.” His smile sparkles as he pulls out his wallet and places a ten-dollar bill on the table. “Winner gets to keep that.”

“Bring it on, Sanchez,” I say, slapping my own ten-dollar bill on the table and hitting the puck off to the side.

When Henry suggested we go to the arcade tonight, I was pretty surprised. I’ve never been on a “game” date before, and it made me excited to see if this night would show me that Henry is different from other guys.

And it’s true. Henryisdifferent. He makes me laugh. He’s playful. Our conversations flow naturally. I smile a lot when I am with him. Overall, he seems perfect on paper. Perfect forme. He checks all of the boxes on my imaginary checklist. But the whole time I am with him, I am making a mental pro/con list, and I hate myself for it. Henry deserves better than someone who is making a subconscious comparison in her head. Which is why when he walks me home that night, I give him a quick kiss on the cheek, and tell him I’ll text him tomorrow.

Because as much as Iwantto fall for him, I’m afraid my feet have already reached the ground somewhere else.