Page 189 of The Hookup Situation
By the time I finish adjusting the dark wig with a crown, Blaire’s horn honks outside. She never comes to the door. Just three quick honks, one after another, like always.
My jeweled sandals click against the porch steps. As I slide into her passenger seat, I’m hit with the smell of sage and cinnamon and her ever-present incense.
“Have you been casting spells?” I ask.
“Maybe,” she admits, backing out of the driveway as I buckle. “Tell me why you’re wearing a mischievous look on your face.”
“No reason,” I reply, though my stomach twists.
As we drive, the town flashes by in orange lights and hay bales, kids in costumes darting across the open fields. Blaire drums her fingers against the steering wheel, her rings clanking as her spooky playlist streams on her radio. She’s side-eyeing me.
“So,” she says casually, “I pulled your daily card before you got into the Jeep.”
I glance over at her. “You did? And?”
She smirks. “Want to know what it was?”
“Actually, yes.” My voice comes out shakier than I want.
Her grin widens. “The Lovers.”
My pulse races as the words echo in my head.
The Lovers.Finally.
Blaire turns down Skyline Drive toward Hollow Manor, humming along to the radio.
“All right, spill it. What’s going on in that head of yours? Because you look like you’re about to be sick.”
I let out a laugh. “Tonight is the night.”
She arches a brow. “For?”
I exhale. “To decide if Nick and I will end tonight or if we’ll keep going as a couple. No more games. It was the deadline we gave our hookup situation.”
“Oh. I see.”
I nod. “At midnight, everything changes.”
Blaire whistles low. “That’s spicy. Very poetic.”
“Why?” I look at her, realizing she’s a fortune teller costume.
“There’s an old wives’ tale about lovers’ confessions on the first midnight after Halloween, when the veil between worlds is thin. Any couple brave enough to speak their true feelings under the moonlight will be bound together.Forever.Comparable to a fate sealed in candle wax.”
I roll my eyes. “Bound together? Sounds made it up.”
Blaire grins like the devil. “Maybe. But I guess we’ll see.”
She has me giggling. It’s something she’s always been able to do.
“You have nothing to worry about, Jules,” she says more gently. “That man is gone for you. Everyone sees it. He looks at you like you’re his past, present, and future.”
“Then why do I still think he might leave?” My throat tightens, and I glance out the window at the blur of porches decked out with hay bales and fake cobwebs.
“Because you’re in love.” She states. “When falling in love is intense, moving to the next step in the relationship is like jumping without a net. I don’t think you realize Nick’s already at the bottom with arms open, waiting to catch you.”
I turn to her. “You believe that?”
