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“You’re about ten days too late, so I think I’ll be asking the questions here.”
He rubs a hand at the nape of his neck, expression suddenly sheepish. As much as I’d love to give him a piece of my mind, now is not the time. I glance over my shoulder, locking eyes with Angela. I tap my wrist in a silent question, and she holds up the timer on her phone. The groups have three more minutes to practice. I tell myself that’s the only reason why I’m letting Theo off the hook.
“You’re interrupting book club.” I cross my arms over my chest, daring him to judge me. But that seems to be the last thing on his mind as his smile spreads wider. When his eyes return to me, all my resolve melts under his gaze. I can’t be mad at him for being curious about a night I’ve been planning for weeks. “Why—” I’m about to ask him why he’s here but he interrupts before I can, feet bouncing up and down with… excitement?
“Is dressing up a requirement?” He reaches out to touch the red pom tied to the end of my braid. He’s far too smiley for the doomed thoughts roiling around in my brain. “Who are you supposed to be? You look cute.”
Cute. The word explodes into a burst of butterflies that take flight in my stomach. My shoulders deflate with the last of my paranoid thoughts. He wouldn’t call me cute if he was here to fake-dump me, right? Then why avoid me for over a week? I’m still mad at him, but I hand him a copy of Before the Dawn and point to the illustration of the protagonist on the cover. He takes the book from my hand to inspect it, brows furrowing as he turns it over for the synopsis. When he doesn’t find it, his eyes narrow in confusion. I take it back from him and open the book to the taped-in flap on the inside.
“The descriptions are on the inside for hardcovers,” I tell him.
“Sounds cool,” he says once he’s read what the book is about. “Is this the book club pick?”
I nod as an idea for a punishment suddenly occurs to me. If he came all this way just to dump me, he might as well make himself useful first. This ought to be good.
“Since you came all this way, you might as well help.” I take his hand and drag him back to the table. He complies easier than I expected him to, even under the curious stares of no less than fifteen teenagers.
“Angela, can you be our narrator?”
She looks Theo up and down as I pick up my copy of Before the Dawn. “Is the big guy joining us?”
“What exactly are we—”
“Found it!” I exclaim over Theo’s question. I’m flipped to page three hundred in the book, the first page of chapter fifty-seven. Andy’s favorite scene, and mine. I hand Theo a spare copy and tell him what page to turn to.
“You’re playing the part of Enrique,” I tell him. “And be dramatic. I’ve spent months gaining your trust, so you’re shocked and betrayed when I pull a knife on you.”
His eyes widen in alarm, but even so there’s a hint of amusement glittering in them. “Et tu, Brute?”
I can’t help the laugh that escapes from my diaphragm.
“Are we going to practice first?” Theo asks.
“What fun would that be?” I flash my most devious smile. “Besides, we’re out of time.”
We call the small groups’ attention back to the front, and then we’re the first group to reenact the scene. Theo’s voice is wobbly at first, but gains momentum as he mirrors my dramatic performance. He tries to take a step back when I hold up Angela’s bottle of hair serum in place of a dagger, eyes widening in alarm, but a chair blocks him from going any farther. I stand on the tips of my toes as I hold the fake dagger to his throat, not quite touching his skin.
“The rumors were true, I see,” he says, eyes scanning me warily. “I was a fool to trust you wouldn’t turn on me.”
“Not so fun playing the fool, is it?” The final scene in Before the Dawn is a reversal for Sofia, whose parents were killed by Enrique’s soldiers when they were promised protection. This is the moment she’s spent the whole book planning, but in the end she can’t do it. She cares about Enrique too much to kill him.
It’s a reversal for Theo and me too, except I feel more like Enrique in this scene. I let myself believe I was safe from him, nearly trusted him not to hurt me. But I can’t blame him, no matter how easy he made it to forget what we really are. That’s not a mistake I’m going to make again. If we’re not already over, that is.
I dig the bottle into his neck, and he feigns a pained wince. His glittering eyes tell me he’s enjoying this far more than I expected him to. He turns his head slightly down to check for his next line.
“You’re no fool, Sofia.” His free arm wraps around my waist, pulling me closer to his body, but not crushing me to him like he would if he were alone. “We both know what you’re really afraid of.”
A whoosh of air, and then the book drops from Theo’s hand as he dips my body, his large hands on my back securing me in place. His face hovers over mine before it closes the distance, his lips landing on my cheek in a chaste kiss, because the book kiss isn’t exactly what I’d call safe-for-work
material.
There’s a distinct cry from the audience I recognize as Andy’s voice, and then everyone else joins in cheering and clapping. Once I’m upright, Theo and I hold hands as we bow to the crowd.
As the first group of teens rise for their performance, Erica finds a chair for Theo to sit in. He scrapes the chair next to mine, so close I can barely breathe. Angela eyes us a few times between performances with a raised brow. I shake my head each time we lock eyes.
After the meeting, we announce next month’s choices and remind them to vote in our social media polls each week. I also let them know about the library blog to check out in case they want to read something else in the meantime.
“Oh, and don’t forget to come dressed as your favorite book character next month!” I say.
