“Let’s send a selfie to Amber and David,” Bo says. I get out my phone and we pose mischievously, showing off our full bags. The woman from up front walks toward us.
“Aww, happy Valentine’s Day, you two!” Bo and I both jump at the unexpected interaction. I have a bad habit of throwing my phone on the ground when I’m startled. The world slows down as it flies through the air.
“NO!” I snatch at it, but it’s no use. The sound when it hits the floor devastates all of us. Well, mostly me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” The woman picks up my phone for me—and the screen is cracked. Dammit.
“It’s okay,” I say, even though I’m screaming on the inside. I don’t want her to think of me as a kid who’s ditching school, so I put on my grown-up voice. “I could save the money from the phone bill anyways.”
She smiles. It’s working. “I just came over here to say, it’s so nice seeing young couples like you around here. How long have you been together?”
I glance at Bo for an answer. She looks like she’s about ready to run away screaming for the fourth time today, so I figure I’ll handle this one before she bolts.
“A year next month.” I give my sweetest smile, then grab Bo’s hand and start walking. My heart is racing, but I play it cool. Bo probably would have either stayed frozen there or run away if I hadn’t intervened. She is really not good at this whole secret-agent thing.
“Is this okay?” Bo whispers to me as we leave the store. Cheeks red, she looks down at our intertwined hands, and I realize how big a deal it is.
“Yeah,” I say, surprising myself at how I didn’t even have to think about it. “Better to stay in character. In case, like . . . she looks back at us, or something.”
Bo smiles her crooked smile at me, and we hold hands all the way through the parking lot.
Once we’re in the privacy of Bo’s car, we empty our bags to reveal the treasure. It’s supposed to be an appetizer before we eat at the mall, but it’s a decent amount of food and it’s actually pretty filling.
“Sorry about your phone. Does it still work?” Bo asks.
“Doubt it.” I get out my phone to show her. The screen is all kinds of messed-up colors. It almost looks pretty. Right now, though, I don’t even care that it’s broken. I won’t have to worry about my mom’s wrath until I get home. She’ll kill me for ditching, but that’s a problem for later. Now I’ll worry about how someone just assumed I was in a relationship with Bo and I didn’t self-destruct. She knew we were gay and it didn’t even bother me at all. It was just a stranger, but I felt seen. And I liked it.
“I didn’t even realize it was Valentine’s Day,” I say, even though I definitely did realize it. I immediately want to disappear into the seat, because I’m wearing heart earrings. Bo definitely knows I’m lying, but she doesn’t say anything. Part of me actually wonders if David and Amber ditched us on purpose just to set us up. Amber has been trying to get Bo a girlfriend forever. And since Jamie doesn’t exist . . . I wonder if Bo was in on it. Maybe this is all supposed to be a date?
“Yeah, that’s why I asked if it was okay with you that it was just us. I didn’t want to make it weird.” Okay, so not a date then. Just two friends not being weird.
“Oh, okay. Yeah, I don’t think it’s weird. I do birthday stuff on Valentine’s Day all the time.” Lie. I do birthday stuff on my birthday.
Bo smiles at me with just her eyes, and I swear we’re flirting right now. But maybe that’s just me.
Next stop is the arcade at the outlet mall on my side of town. It’s as close to my house as I’ve ever let Bo take me. It’s hard to focus on playing games when I’m overthinking whether or not this is a date. I mean, I know it’s not supposed to be a date. But I wonder if it feels like one to her. We do some date-like things. There’s a lot of laughing and playful arm touching. She wins me a bunch of prizes from the games she plays. It’s cheesy, but I have cosquillitas fluttering around in my belly the whole time. The day goes so fast with her.