Page 47 of sWitch

Prue held a hand to her chest. “I’m just looking out for everyone. They have a right to know you’re a liar and a cheat. Really, Fauna, why are you even here tonight? Do you really think someone like Remy would be interested in you for long?”

My heart twitched in momentary doubt. WhydidRemy even like me? I couldn’t be sure, but I knew without a doubt that shedid, and it was real. What I’d had with Trevor was fake. What I had with Remy was real.

“Have you logged on to V for Valin lately? Your little trick didn’t work,” I said, noticing the small twitch of her eye.

She crossed her arms. “Doesn’t matter. Do you really think I don’t have it saved to my phone? You really aren’t that smart, are you?”

“Oh, I am smart, Prue.” I gestured around the show. “The phone-free night? That was me. I’m not afraid of you anymore. I have real friends now, a girlfriend, and a group of people who accept me for who I am. People who aren’t gathering intel to use against me when I piss them off. Friends who would never strand me in a vulnerable situation and then use it to destroy me when I walked away. I hope you can heal, Prue. I hope you can experience and offer someone that kind of friendship someday. But from now on? You’re done fucking with me.”

My ex-friend huffed a breath, and something like sadness swept her gaze. Part of me wanted to feel sorry for her, forgive her…The other part knew an apology would never be offered, and even if it were, forgiveness wasn’t something I could give her, not after the damage she’d done. No, Prue’s punishment would be never having access to me again. I would be the background on her phone, the memories of a real friend lingering in her mind, but I would move on and forget her entirely, like a bad dream that slowly faded away the longer you were awake.

I’d offered Prue a safe morning, and all she had to give was a bad night. The nights that bled into mornings I’d spent playing that game I used to love, a game she turned into something hateful. All the school functions and events I’d avoided so I didn’t have to see her. The things I wanted to do but didn’t because I was afraid of being seen, afraid she’d knock me down… That was all over now.

A familiar arm wrapped around my shoulder as Remy gave my temple a sweaty kiss. “Hey, baby.” She looked Prue up and down. “Hey, Cruella. Here to steal some more kittens for a fur coat?”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing as Prue’s face contorted through the many stages of acceptance and defeat. “Whatever. This is so stupid,” she declared. “You two deserve each other.”

Remy swooped me in for a dip kiss, and I squealed as her lips met mine. “I agree with her about that,” Remy said into my lips. “And wow, you’re really hot when you’re telling that bitch off.”

“You caught that?”

“Just the last bit— but damn.” Remy looked around. “Where’d she go? Do it again, you clever, sly, pink little fox.”

I laughed. “I never want to think about her ever again, and now, I don’t have to.”

“Do I have to think about you and Trev scheming behind my back for the rest of my life? Phone-free show? Genius.”

I smiled. “Only the nicest little schemes, I promise.”

Remy was twenty-three and I was twenty-one, yet somehow, the rest of our lives didn’t sound so long or so bad when she said it. We fit. Prue was right about something; we were made for each other.

Remy kissed my cheek before returning to the stage for a crowd-demanded encore. Trevor and I screamed and cheered for the band, laughing, smiling, soaking in the noise and chaos that was the edgy Monroe twin. Somehow, within the hilarity and drama of fake dating one twin while falling for the other, I’d maintained a friendship with both.

Trevor felt like a brother. Remy felt like my soulmate. We were a trio now, and I knew they had my back and I had theirs.

I’d found acceptance from blue slushy spills and arcade games to nursing home break ins and all-nighter video-game-athons. Remy had spun into my life with covert cyber-sex andbanter…while simultaneously challenging my beliefs that I was too awkward, too weird, and too difficult to love. With her, I felt like being myself was perfect. Because she was perfect for me.

LEVEL 16

PLAYER ONE: REMY

I lied a little.

Just a little.

I’d heard the whole conversation Fauna had with Prue. Look, my set had just ended, I could blend into a crowd, and I sure as hell would protect my girl. But Fauna didn’t need protecting. She’d worked out a spy-level mission with Trevor, and they were damn cute when they conspired together. Images flashed through my mind of Christmas pranks in the big house: the mayhem they’d inflict on Watson, the drunken joy my mother would experience, the eye rolls from my father. When I married Fauna, they’d gain one hell of a daughter.

The morning after my show, Fauna left for her shift at the animal shelter. Trevor inspected the fridge like he always did, expecting it to somehow magically sprout more than just a mustard containers, beer, and an empty pickle jar. He reached in his pocket and tossed me a set of keys. “The car is fixed, by the way. You take it tonight; the guys are picking me up for the game.” He paused. “What are you up to?”

That was twin brother, I’m-too-cool-to-outright-ask-speak for, ‘Are you coming to my game? Did you remember?’

“I don’t really have any plans…” I leaned on the counter and peeled an orange. “You know, except for watching a bunch of dumb jocks kick a ball around.”

Trev’s shoulders relax slightly. “Thanks. At least the most important person in my family will be there.”

“And the best looking.”

He punched my arm just as a car honked its horn from the street below. “See you later.”

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