Page 14 of Eastern Lights

I arched an eyebrow and stood. “I’m confused.”

“I know, I know, and you’re going to think I’m crazy—which, maybe I am—but here’s the deal: You can’t bang your way out of a heartbreak. That’s not how love works. Love isn’t a physical connection; it’s an emotional one. Plus, after breakups, people replay the good memories over the bad in their minds and start thinking they somehow failed, when, in reality, the bad probably always outweighed the good. You simply held the good tight in your grip because it was few and far between in the end. Otherwise, the good would’ve been enough to keep you together.”

I hated that he was speaking facts. Over the past weeks, all I’d done was replay all the good times Mario and I had together. My mind was stuck on a loop of moments that meant the world to me in my past relationship.

There were only a handful of good memories, yet I simply played them on repeat, making them feel bigger than they already were. Mario was a master at doing the bare minimum, and I celebrated that fact as if he was a god. It wasn’t his fault he gave me mediocre love. It was my fault for accepting it.

“So what’s your point?” I asked.

“Do you believe in destiny?”

I chuckled. “Don’t tell me you do.”

“I think everything happens for a reason, even if the reasoning isn’t clear as day right away. Maybe that’s why we met tonight, Red, because we were meant to. Maybe I had to get socked in the eye and whipped with a lasso because we were supposed to cross paths so I could help you get over your ex.”

“How?”

“The best way to get over a love is to find a stronger connection with another person. So, I present to you, your Halloween love story.” He took a bow as if he was making any sense at all.

I stood still, confused as ever. “Am I missing something?”

“Clearly, because you’re looking at me as if I’m having a mental breakdown—which, I mean, is probably accurate.” He cleared his throat and stood taller as he smoothed his hands over his chest. “I’m asking you to fall in love with me.”

I snickered. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Give me the chance to make you fall in love with me before the sun comes up in the next”—he glanced down at his phone—“five hours or so. It’s just past midnight. Give me those hours to make you fall in love with me. Then we’ll end the love story on a good note. No tragic heartbreak, no hard moments or relationship struggles. No cheating or scandals. Just two people who fell in love, then life or, in our case, morning made them say their goodbyes.”

“You really think two people can fall in love within five hours?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged and held his hand out toward me. “Want to try?”

I should’ve said no. I should’ve laughed off his crazy idea and ended the night right there on the rooftop, but I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to be alone. But most of all, I wanted more time with Captain, even if only a few more hours. Even if there wasn’t a real chance of me falling in love with him but just a chance of more time to feel happy.

Happy.

I felt happy.

I hadn’t even known how much I’d missed happiness until it found me that night.

So, I did what any insane girl would’ve done. I took his hand and agreed to the idea of falling in love within the next five hours.

He clasped my fingers with his and pulled me in close to him. It was the closest we’d stood since meeting, and the way he looked down into my eyes caused the butterflies to intensify. He had to be well over six-foot-two as he hovered over my five-foot-eight frame—and that was with heels. The way he looked at me made me feel important, as if he was going to give this crazy plan of his all that he had.

“Knock, knock,” he said, with the goofiest grin known to mankind.

“Who’s there?”

“Will you fall in love with?”

“Will you fall in love with who?”

“Me.”

3

Aaliyah

I wasn’t completelysure I wasn’t suffering from a mental breakdown seeing how I agreed to fall in love with a superhero for the remainder of the night. The whole situation seemed bizarre in the best kind of way. Potentially falling in love with someone in such a short timeframe sent a certain excitement coursing through me.

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