Page 70 of You Started It

“ ‘Taint’ isn’t the word I’d use. For more reasons than one,” he says before clearing his throat. “Your past relationships helpinformyour future ones. Unless—”

“Unless what?” I ask, feeling my eyes grow wide.

“Unless you continue to repeat the same pattern. Remember my artist phase?”

“You mean when you dated broke-ass ‘artists’ who sported man-buns, or beards, or a weird hybrid of both?”

Eli nods. “Yes. That’s an example of repeating patterns. Don’t do that.”

“But it’s not like you knew you kept falling for hot, broke-artist types.”

“Oh honey, I knew. I just didn’t care.” We laugh, and it feels good to not take everything so seriously for once. It’s why I lovebeing with Axel. We have fun. I don’t overanalyze or overthink everything when we’re together. At least I didn’t until Ben got in my head. “Listen. If you and Axel were really just faking it, the whole charade probably wouldn’t have lasted this long. There’s something thereandI think you owe it to both yourself and him to explore that.”

“I don’t always know how to approach uncomfortable conversations without…exploding?” I say, my cheeks burning at the admission.

“I know.” He smiles sympathetically. “And it’s not your fault. Your parents fought about everything, and you unconsciously picked up on that, but keeping it inside—all it does is give that little thing that’s bugging you space to grow and fester. You can break that cycle by forcing yourself to talk about the uncomfortable things.”

“Mom doesn’t like him,” I say, adding that item to my list of worries.

“She’s coming around. Your mother is a female chauvinist.”

“You mean a misandrist, and I agree.”

We laugh again and Eli grabs my hand. “You feel better?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Good. Because Axel couldn’t stop talking about how excited he was for your date tonight, and before you even try,” Eli says as I open my mouth to interrupt him, “I’m not telling you a thing!”

“You’re supposed to be Team Jamie.”

Eli leans in and kisses my forehead before rising. “I am. The truth is he didn’t tell me much. He knows I have a big mouth.” My uncle turns to leave but pauses and faces me again. “I don’t know much, but what I do know is there’s nothing fake about the way that boy’s face lights up when he talks about you. He’s a good one.”

I smile. Heisa good one.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Turn left here,” Axel gently prompts, riding shotgun in my car, once again.

I turn into a dark parking lot, per Axel’s instructions. “Am I parking?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I pull into a spot and turn off my car. There’s a sign in bright pink neon outside the small building. “Kit’s Karaoke Dive,” I read aloud. “This is the surprise?”

“This place is more than meets the eye,” he says, giving me little reassurance. “Kind of like me. Plus, this isn’t the only surprise I have in store tonight.” He gets out and comes over to my side, opening my door. He extends his hand like some sort of royal butler and I scrunch up my face. “Just play along,” he says.

“Fine.” I place my hand in his and allow him to guide me through the parking lot.

Once we walk into Kit’s, a muscular bouncer asks to see our IDs. He promptly stamps our hands with red ink once he’s verified that we are both way underage.

“It’s kind of cool that they let younger people in even if they can’t serve us drinks,” he says.

I follow Axel inside the dark bar. He points to an exit sign to show me that the restrooms are just below it. It’s such a small thing, but it means a lot to me.

Kit’s is crowded but Axel manages to find us a table by the stage. Loud nineties rock blasts over the speakers. Most of these people look closer to my mom and Eli’s age, possibly even older. Axel and I are by far the youngest ones here tonight.

“So,” I say, nodding while looking around, “karaoke. You like to sing too?”

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