Page 63 of Bewitched & Bewildered
“He’s always been an…” I want to insult him, but it dies on my tongue. “I guess we just didn’t get along. We met in high school.”
“And?”
“And he was always one-upping me in class.” And viceversa. “We both ran for class president, and of course, he won. He was more popular. It’s all a popularity contest.”
“You’re too old to hold a grudge about that.”
“It’s not about that. It’s about him opening a new apothecary when I was still mourning my mother.”
He claimed not to know about it, and I believe him now. Believing him does nothing to stop the bitterness. I cling to the sour feelings in hopes of ignoring everything else I feel for him.
The throbbing. The need.
“Was he mean to you?” Laurel frowns.
“No. Some of his friends were, but…”
Ozan stood up for me. I still remember him smacking his friends upside the head and telling them to shut up. He was annoying, but better than most of the brainless jocks I went to school with. Many are still in town; some even dare to act like we’re friends now.
I won’t lump Ozan in with them, no matter how much I dislike him. It’s always been different. He and I are on even ground.
“It sounds like he’s always liked you.” Laurel presses her lips together.
“That isnotthe case.” I hesitate. “He’s different now that he’s older. Maturity does that, I suppose.”
“So, what’s going on now?”
“Nothing,” I say. “I brought him a bliss potion, and there was a…mess. But it was nothing.”
“A bliss potion? You mean, the ones you sell forthree hundreddollars?” Her jaw drops. “I take it back. You’re intohim.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re blushing!”
“Laurel.” My voice is stern. “You need to stop scheming.I know what you did with the heater. That was out of line.”
“I didn’tdoanything.” She laughs. “You make it sound like I broke the heater or something!”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“Juni!” She pouts. “I didn’t. Iwouldn’t.”
“Fine, but you sent him over. That was enough.”
“He looks like a guy who knows his way around a tool belt.”
Is it possible for my face to grow hotter? I think it does.
“I suppose… he managed to fix it,” I say blandly.
“He definitely did. This place is nice and toasty. I can see why you had to thank him, but I’m sure he would have liked another form of gratitude…” She waggles her eyebrows.
“Laurel!”
“What? I’m talking about, like, cookies.”
I would have given him anything he asked for that day. I still remember his warm hands holding mine and his dark, piercing gaze…
