Page 116 of End Game

“And yet you’re here. Together.”

“We were in line at the pharmacy and ended up here. Nothing nefarious is going on.”

She narrows her eyes. “I didn’t say there was.”

“No, you were just thinking it,” I point out. I know her.

“Barrett.”

“What?”

“Is it…” She swallows. “Is it Johanna?”

“Is who?”

“The girl you have feelings for.”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“One thousand percent sure,” I tell her.

“But she’s pretty and she’s an athlete and she’s Chinese. She ticks all your boxes,” she says.

“Yeah, she’s all of that,” I agree.

“So? What’s the problem? How many female athletes are there of Chinese descent in our small school?”

“Enough.”

Diana scoffs. “Barrett. Are you seriously not going to tell me who she is?”

“Nope.”

“But I’ve met her.”

“Oh, you know her.”

She frowns. “I don’t know any other female athletes of Chinese descent.”

“You do. You know her.”

Open your eyes. I’m standing right here in front of you. Is it really that unfathomable that it’s her? Am I so far off her radar that it’s not even a possibility?

“I’m racking my brain, but I can’t think of who she is,” she says.

I take a sip of my drink. It’s lukewarm now.

“She must be pretty amazing,” Diana says, a bit sadly, “for you to want to keep this such a big secret.”

“It’s not that it’s a secret so much as I’m just obnoxiously pining for someone who doesn’t want me back,” I admit. “If she felt the same way, I’d tell you in a heartbeat. But I know her. She doesn’t want a relationship. She doesn’t even want to date me. If anything, she only likes the idea of me, and she’d get bored within a few weeks.” I swallow my fears, and then I add, “she has enough going on right now to worry about managing my feelings.”

“But you have feelings for her.”

“I do.”

“You want to be with her.”