Page 108 of Puppy Love

“I don’t have sex with you, Hayden.”

He nods, staying quiet for a moment.

“Well,” he says, finally shifting his car into gear and pulling out of the parking lot. “I still don’t see how it isn’t platonic. I mean—” He glances at me then back to the road. “Isn’t freaking out about it the thing that makes it not platonic?”

“If you weren’t driving right now, Hayden, I would smack you.”

He chuckles, a bright smile stretching across his face. “You don’t believe in violence,” he says. “That’s why you’re so…” He gestures to me. “You.”

I roll my eyes and let them land on the passenger side window. The snow is coming down rather heavily, giant thick flakes floating through the air. It’s beautiful, really. Colored lights illuminating the town around us as we drive carefully through.

“Why do you say that?” I ask, quieter than I mean to. “That I’m the one making it not platonic?”

Hayden adjusts his grip on the steering wheel but continues to stare forward.

“Because,” he says, even softer than I, “If you weren’t scared that you felt something more, you wouldn’t try so hard to prove you don’t.”

I stare out the window, my eyes attaching to different objects, following them as we pass until they’re out of view. Then, I find another. And then another. Hayden’s wrong. I’m trying to prove I don’t have feelings for Violet because I actually don’t. Because friends can be as close as lovers, and I can’t risk falling into another toxic dependency with someone. Another trauma-bond.

“Can you help me?” I ask finally. “With the present? I mean, you probably know more about Violet than I do, but if you don’t want to you don't have to.”

“I want to.”

He takes one hand off the wheel to squeeze my arm for a moment, before placing it back on.

Ididn’t know the Enchanted Emporium existed until Hayden pulled up to it. I frown, looking over at him.

“What is this?” I ask. He taps a small brown stone that hangs over his rearview mirror. It clicks.

“Oh, she got you too?” I tease.

I don’t think Violet’s belief in crystals is absurd. Everyone needs something to believe in, it’s part of survival. Honestly, I find it much more believable than I find a man coming back from the dead or a sea splitting down the center at the command of some bearded guy. That isn’t to say I believe in crystals, though.

But that doesn’t matter. Violet believes in it, and that’s quite enough for me.

“It’s helpful,” Hayden claims, rubbing his thumb over the top of it.

We walk through the emporium, dark green walls engulfing us, black bookshelf accents throughout. There’s incense burning somewhere, I can smell it. And a fat tabby cat is stretched out on the nook in the front window, soaking in the last bits of sunlight left.

“Hi, welcome in,” a blue-haired employee says. They give us a smile as they approach.

“I’m Ruby. Are you looking for anything specific today, or just browsing?”

“Just browsi—”

“She needs a crystal for her boss, who she is also in love with,” Hayden cuts in. My cheeks turn red, and my gaze snaps over to him in a very intended glare. Here he goes again with this “love” shit. I am not in love with Violet. Not even close. I look back to Ruby sheepishly.

“That’s not—”

But they’ve already turned around, motioning for us to follow.

“I have a couple options over here,” they say, completely unfazed. I shoot Hayden another glare, my jaw clenching.

“Hayden, I am going to kill you,” I mutter through gritted teeth.

He chuckles, throwing a large hand over my shoulder. “It would be a good way to go.”

We approach a wooden table, various crystals of a spectrum of colors strewn throughout. Ruby turns around, gesturing with their hands as they talk.

---