Page 64 of A Deception of Massive Proportion

Remi traced the outline of Hogwarts castle on her mug with her index finger. “I—I wanted to love him. I tried. But it never really took.”

“How can that be?”

“I don’t know. He just never gave me that feeling. You know. He was nice. But there were no sparks.”

“And you’re just saying somethingnow?” Brooke grunted and slapped the seat cushion. Her crush book made a crinkling noise and Remi cringed. Luckily, her sister didn’t notice.

“I thought maybe things would take off if we got more serious.”

“Honey,” Brooke said, giving her a flat look. “You should have told me. I feel like I pushed you into saying yes to him.”

“A little.” Her sister had been a bit aggressive about the whole dating and marrying thing. But that was part of Brooke’s charming personality.

“Now what are you going to do?”

“Drown my sorrows in hot chocolate.” She took a long swig of the cooling liquid.

“Are you really sure it’s over with Tavon?”

Remi nodded. They’d already talked. Tavon wasn’t even that broken up about it. Maybe he had continued to date her like he continued to change the oil in his car. And after dating for so long, you get married. It was just what people did. “I’m sure.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, leaning over. Her super-secret, super embarrassing crush book made another noise. Great. There was no way she didn’t hear that. Brooke lifted the cushion and pulled out the scrapbook. “What is this?”

Remi lunged for it, but Brooke held it high, and since Brooke got all the tall genes, Remi couldn’t grab it. “Give it.”

“No.”

Remi huffed and wiped at her Five Nights at Freddy’s t-shirt. “You made me spill my hot chocolate.”

Disgust wrinkled Brooke’s nose. “That’s okay. Looks like you were collecting stains on there anyway.”

In defense of her shirt, it was amazingly comfortable. The kind that you slipped into when all you want to do is curl up with a good book and forget life. So what if it had a few stains. They didn’t make the shirt any less comfortable.

Brooke flipped through Remi’s crush book, and heat crept up Remi’s ears. “It’s nothing,” Remi blurted out.

“Oh, it’s something all right.” Her sister gave her a sidelong glance. “Colton?” She kept flipping, a frown growing on her face. “This is some homage.”

“Just give it.”

Brooke’s gaze bounced from Remi to the book and back again. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what happened today, does it?”

A scoff flew from her throat, and Remi sank back down into her chair. She wasn’t going to acknowledge Brooke’s stupid question. It was incredibly unlikely that Remi would ever see Colton again. He was a famous movie star now. She was a low-rung computer programmer who worked from home.

“Oh, sweetie.” Brooke sat down and set the scrapbook on the seat next to her. “You’re still in love with him?”

Well, of course. He was her first crush. He’d been there for her during the worst time of her life. He was kind, and funny, and always knew what to do to cheer her up. And now he was a movie star. How could she not be in love with him?

Instead of saying any of that, Remi just scoffed again, but she couldn’t help the tickle in her throat, nor the embarrassing way her eyes teared up.

“Have you talked to him?”

Remi about swallowed her tongue. “Talkedto him? Are you kidding me?”

A look of compassion crossed Brooke’s features. “I thought you maybe still kept in touch.”

She waved a hand. “No. He’s a big-time actor now.”

“Remi,” Brooke said, staring at her. “You just left your fiancé at the altar because you’re still in love with Colton. You have to face it. You have a major hang-up. It’s not going to get better. You have to purge him from your system.”

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