Catch My Fall | ✔

22. Glitter

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of Bell's hearty laughter. It freaked me out at first, waking up in a strange room to her cackle. Then I remembered where I was. Romeo's bedroom at his mom's house. The room he grew up in.

The room where he finally admitted his feelings for me.

Last night didn't feel real. But the pain in my chest reminded me it was. I could still feel his hand on my leg. See the sullen look on his face as he left the room. How did he think that would play out? Was I supposed to jump him right then and there? After three years of thinking he didn't see me as anything other than a friend?

I hated him.

But after I got changed and ready for the day, I smiled at both Bell and Romeo. They were in the kitchen, Bell's pantry door wide opened. Romeo had got an early start on cleaning it out. Boxes of cereal and soda and wholesale candy bars cluttered the counters. From what I could tell, Bell had a sweet tooth. Even now, she sat at the kitchen table, a tub of Red Vines in front of her at nine in the morning.

"Morning, Daya," she greeted me around a mouth full of candy. "I was just asking Jerome why you two drove down here so late? I was half asleep when you called. I would've said yes to anything if it meant I could go back to bed." She laughed again.

Romeo's eyes darted to me, slightly panicked, but I'd come prepared. "A scavenger hunt," I told her, pulling up the flyer on my phone after swiping away missed call notifications from my mom.

I know I said I'd tell her everything once she called. I would call her. After I met with Lamar. She'd just talk me out of it otherwise.

I came across the scavenger by sheer luck while I was stress cleaning last night after I read Lamar's email. The neon green flyer was tucked in with the junk mail I was about to toss out. I took it as a sign to go through with my plan. Why else would a perfectly good cover-up present itself?

"A Y2K themed scavenger hunt," Bell read from my phone. "It says here you must come dressed up." Her dark eyes took in my jeans and t-shirt. "That's not what you're wearing, is it? We can do better than that."

Before I could stop her, she was up the stairs, mumbling about a Juicy Couture tracksuit. Leaving Romeo and me alone.

"Breakfast?" He said, holding a box of Pop-Tarts out to me.

I guessed we were going to do what we did best. Pretending. Pretending the confession last night didn't happen. That I didn't yell at him. That our friendship wouldn't forever be changed. Fine by me.

We worked in silence, pulling things from the pantry and separating them into piles. Romeo had a bag off to the side full of things he planned to take with him to his dad's house. Occasionally, he'd hold something up for my opinion.

He did so now with a can of Vienna sausages. "Ew," I said, going back to checking the expiration date on a box of spaghetti noodles.

"Ew?" He repeated, sounding offended. "You ever have these with some hot sauce and crackers?"

I gave him a pointed look. "Ew."

He snuck the can into the bag, anyway. "What are we going to do?" He said after a pause.

I nearly dropped the arm full of frosting I had. Was he seriously bringing up last night?

"About the sperm donor, I mean."

After the frosting was safely on the counter, I turned to him. "We can go as soon as we're done with this."

We went back to emptying out the pantry. It was completely bare by the time Bell came back down, arms full of clothes. "I had to dig deep," she said, dropping the clothes on a chair. "But if you're going to dress like it's the early 2000s, then you're going to do it right."