Page 40 of The Neighbor Wager

“So you, what, you break her into cubes, all Picasso like, and you suddenly get it?”

“That was the idea.”

Interesting. “Did it work?”

“It offered a million insights. The symmetry of her face. The golden ratio in her figure. The way the light bounced off her hair.” He looks to Alice again. “But it didn’t help me understand why I want to be with her.”

“Do you understand now?”

“That was high school. I’m an adult now.”

It’s not an answer. It’s not an acknowledgment he still wants her—or a denial. But there’s no need for him to deny it. It’s obvious. “She’s not interested in you,” I say, tired of dancing around the obvious. “Not the way you’re interested in her.”

“And what way is that?”

“You think you love her,” I say. “But you don’t. You have a crush. And they call it a crush for a reason.” Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Or to be effective. So here goes. “Because when you realize the other person doesn’t return your feelings, you’re crushed.”

He gives me a look I don’t quite know how to interpret. “And you know her feelings?”

“She’s my sister,” I say.

“I suppose you know everything.”

“Most things,” I say.

“What do you know about love?” He finishes his drink.

“It’s not love. It’s a crush. And it’s not love on her side, either. It’s attraction. She loves her boyfriend.”

“They’re still together?”

Did Lexi tell him she was breaking up with Jake? Is that what they were whispering about before?

They’re just on a break, though. They’ll be together again soon.

He notices my lack of an answer. Takes it as ayes.

“She might have feelings for you. They’re not love.” My eyes dip to his broad shoulders. “Don’t pretend you didn’t do the whole muscle makeover thing on purpose.”

He lets out a dry laugh. “I don’t pretend.”

“So you understand—”

“I have a conventional appeal now, yes,” he says.

“That’s what Lexi wants, what she’s always wanted.”

“And you know what she needs?” he asks in a tone that screamsit’s a trap.

I say, “Yes,” anyway.

He stares at me, victory in his dark eyes. “Do you believe in love?”

“What?” What the hell does that have to do with anything?

“It’s a yes or no question.”

“Love is a chemical reaction in your brain. Dopamine and serotonin and oxytocin and vasopressin. There’s nothing to believe in or not believe in.” Seriously, why do people even debate things like this? There’s science to explain it.

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