Page 28 of Tempting Fate

I sit up a little straighter. “Do you want to?”

“Sorry?”

“Do you want to tell him no?”

Em bites his lower lip as he thinks. I want to hate him, hate Patch, but I can’t dredge up the feeling for either of them. I’m just… sad, maybe. Left out.

“No, I don’t.”

“Go out with him, then.”

“Jamie…”

“I mean it.” I make my voice as firm as I can. “I’m not upset, and I’m not going to be. If you want to go out with him, and he wants to go out with you, then you both should do that.”

“But—”

“Do you believe me, Em?”

He blinks like he can’t quite follow what I’m saying, and for a second, I’m kind of pleased to have him a little off-kilter. Not in a mean way. I just think it doesn’t happen very often.

“Yes, I do.”

“Okay. Then if you want to go out with him, please do it. I don’t want you to pass up on this because of me.”

“Will you be hurt if I do it?”

I weigh up the question. The truth is going to suck. I can’t lie to him when I’ve just asked him to believe me.

“Yeah. Maybe. For a little bit. But I will if you don’t do it because you don’t want to hurt me, too.”

“There’s no winning.”

I shrug. “I’ll be fine. I think… I think I have this idea of Patch, and I need to get over it. Over him.”

Em leans a little closer. His eyes are bright behind his glasses and for a second, I’m overwhelmed by the nearness of him. “What about me?”

“Maybe the same.” My heart beats so loudly in my ears. “We live together. We both know that’s a bad idea.”

Some expression crosses Em’s face—there and gone—and then he sits back, allowing me to breathe. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“I often am.”

He laughs. “We’ll be okay?”

“Of course. I need to get over myself, I think.”

Em’s gaze lingers. “You’re hard on yourself sometimes.”

“Are you not?”

The way he looks at me then—it would be so easy to fall in love with him. He recognises something inside me that I think few people ever have because we’re on this strange, similar wavelength.

But maybe I’m wrong. I thought Patch and I were on the same wavelength too.

I get to my feet. “Right. Time for bed. I’ve gotta get Nick some water.”

“Night,” Em says. He makes his way over to the stairs. “See you tomorrow.”