Last Year of Seventeen

er eyes are hard, determined. The kind of look that makes it d

ut I need her to know I wanted to put a stop to it, "–I was about to back out from the deal. The more I learned

say something. She wasn't expecting me to say anything remotely lik

Her words were tight and careful. Augus

g what he wants. I told her I agreed mainly because I was bored and I thought it would be arduous to try and break her. I told her what the deal was about. How I was supposed to make her fall in love with me so I can break up with

just saving my own as

, muffled sound rises from her throat. She was trying to ho

ter all. I didn't expect her to be the one breakin

, August. Some

r seen her smile much before. It was an unsettling sight seeing her be like this, but not un

s able to speak. Although every once in a w

at someone comes this far back anyway." She wipes

ded but I wanted to know what she thought of the

le to answer more coherently. "It's

love with me, or impossible f

to fall in love with you Hughes, I won't allow myself.

wer so I let it go. I don't think this is what she wanted to talk with me for. I also didn't wan

it. I'm

t it at that and we never have to speak with each other again. And we should have had. It could have spared both of us all the

to still d

nds and the last one privately, and that will be a story I will relay to them. On the fourth try, she will say yes, finally, but it's supposed to look as if she did it out of exasperation. This way, she won't look easy. Once this is established, we continue on wit

of course, that I can decide where we would do it. She doesn't care how embarrassing

right, "–basically, you want us to fake chase, fa

es

catch– you want to

she replied, "Bingo. W

ed to believe she was joking though, but her every feature sc

cht. And two h

ntorted in conf

to see him to understand. But I won't

we can't actu

but I stopped her from getting up and

did want to get to know her better. M

ng me a great service by getting me out of the monotony of my life. She said she didn't need that much. And she

teased. The air around us has somehow shifted. There

e wanted to say something entirely different, like a secret boiling over