Like You Like Me ✔

15

Rachel helped Celia get seated before helping "me" pull up a chair. I stood behind Justin, channelling my inner statue; Connor watched from the yard looking like he was waiting for a bomb to go off.

Rachel was also looking a little pale as she pretended to walk away. "Okay, you two," she said. "Yell if you need me."

"We will," Justin and Celia replied together.

Good start. Here we go.

Celia smiled. "Do I smell pizza? As in the Greek pizza from Randy's?"

"Yeah," Justin chuckled. "Did I do alright?"

"How'd you know that was my favourite pizza and pizza place?" Celia tilted her head to the side.

My eyes went wide; I forgot to tell Justin about the pizza, and he wasn't responding.

"Hi?" Celia asked.

Rachel mouthed, "Do something!"

"Like what?!" I mouthed back.

Justin cleared his throat. "Rachel told me."

I held my breath.

"Oh, figures," Celia shrugged and reached for a slice. "So when you're not writing me love letters, what do you like to do in your spare time, Romeo?"

I almost exhaled but caught myself just before the clock hit zero.

Justin smiled. "I like reading, and I like to journal."

"That actually makes sense," Rachel replied and then laughed at herself when some of her pizza toppings fell on the table with a splat.

"Should we give Rachel a shout?"

"No, I'm good—ten-second rule, right?"

"Atta girl."

Celia beamed and gave a fake bow.

I couldn't help smiling. It was good to see her happy again.

I'd filled Justin in on my secret past times; the ones I kept hidden from the eyes of the high school world. So in a way, he was really the voice of Romeo. Celia loved talking to that guy. He was funny, had the same taste in music and also abided by the ten-second rule. Words flowed between them like a river coursing towards the sea.

Celia and Romeo were lovers who'd know each other from the jump. Time and circumstances had separated them. But now the walls were down, and they were free to be together again. Watching Justin talk like the guy of my journals felt like an out of body experience. My boy had mad skills for remembering details and delivering them like they were his own experiences.

Guess Rachel made a good call after all.

Then out of nowhere, it hit me that Celia did know Romeo. Maybe not as well as she'd know him when she was with that guy, but she'd copped a few glimpses. There were moments like signing in the car, watching Halifax shine from rocks and talking about nothing for hours while building our own virtual worlds: that was all Romeo.

"So," Celia smirked, "I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess that your real name isn't Romeo."

Justin took a sip of his pop. "I'd say that's right on the money."

Celia leaned back in the chair. "Then the ball's in my court, I guess."

"Sorry, I don't follow," he wrinkled his forehead.

"Well," she crossed her arms. "We could keep doing this or I could find out who the man behind the letters really is. But do I really want that? This has been kinda fun—maybe even perfect...." her voice trailed off. She shook her head. "But if these blindfolds come off, there's no going back. And that terrifies me."

"Maybe we could try one more date first," Justin said, trying to pull things back.

But it was time. I put my hand on Justin's shoulder, and he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Celia said, hearing the chair push back from the table.

I sat down. "Celia," I said softly. "It's me."

She froze. All the joy on her face sank like it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic.

"Celia, I—"

"No," she shook her head after cutting me off. "This can't be happening."

In a mix of shaky hands and pent up feelings, I said, "I didn't know how else to win you back."

She pulled the blindfold off and threw it on the table. "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I'm not something to win? That maybe I'm someone?"

In the glow of the lamp, the tear streaming down her face looked like a falling star. My heart was breaking.

"That came out wrong," I muttered.

"No, you said what you meant—just like last time."

I didn't mean what I said that night.

I rubbed the back of my head. "This was me trying to make up for that?"

"So that's it? That's why you went through all this trouble? To make yourself feel less guilty?"

"No, it's not like that," I groaned, rubbing my face. "I...just...I don't know," exhaled deeply.

Celia wiped the tear away using the sleeve of her jacket. "Well, thanks for the pizza, I guess."

She got up and stormed off; Rachel followed close behind. Anxiety had me frozen for a minute, but in one motion, I jumped up and ran after her.

"Celia, wait," I said, catching up to her as she reached for the handle.

"It's over Damian—I just wanna go home."

She got inside the car and slammed the door. The tires kicked up some gravel and dust as they drove away. I just stood there feeling like the Holy Roman Empire: hashtag absolutely destroyed. The clock had struck zero. The buzzer went off, and I missed my shot.

Connor came over as I walked back to the cottage. "Bro, I'm—"

"It's alright, man," I interrupted him. "Let's just get things cleaned up and head out."

The return drive was dead silent. By the time we got back to town, the fading light had become the dark of night. Justin dropped us off a Connor's, and I was going to walk from there just to clear my head, but my boy insisted on driving me home.

While I waited for C to grab his keys, I thanked Justin before he bounced.

"No worries, man," he said. "I'm sorry again."

"Don't sweat it, but thanks."

On the drive over to chez-moi, Connor looked a bit antsy. He was trying to play it cool, but I could tell something was bugging him. And just before we got to my street, he pulled over on the side of the road.

"What's up?" I asked.

Connor made a fist and put it up to his mouth. "Bro, I need to tell you something. But first, I invoke the Deck Rule."

My jaw got tight. The only time the Deck Rule got  invoked was when one of us had done something that deserved a knuckle to the nose. It was specifically for Bro Crimes and could only be used once a year.

However, once invoked, it could not be revoked.

"Approved," I said, gritting my teeth.

Connor took a long deep breath and then said, "Celia knew it was you the whole time."