Back to normal?

They began driving back toward Maisie’s house in silence.

“So, anyway,” Brad finally broke the silence, “Are you actually considering going out with this guy tonight? You know he’s just trying to get in your pants.”

“Like he’s the first one who’s tried,” she laughed.

“Tried, or succeeded?” Brad pressed.

“Tried. What do you take me for?” she shot back.

“Do you want to test that theory?” he replied.

Maisie suddenly grew serious. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I now have a way to get the real truth out of you. So the question is — are you a virgin?” He was clearly serious, but he also tried to infuse the question with enough playfulness to keep the mood light.

“Yes, dammit, use the curse if you really have to know.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re actually telling me to use it?”

“Well… there’s more to it than I was hoping to get into too quickly, but… you kind of have to use it occasionally.” Maisie was almost whispering.

Brad sat there stunned. He’d of course been running through all the possibilities in his head since he found out about the curse — but hearing her ask him to use it? That was something he hadn’t expected.

“Well,” Brad finally said, “How about we save the hard talk for dinner? For now, Maisie, tell me honestly — are you a virgin?”

Maisie laughed softly, her eyes crinkling with a warmth Brad had never seen from her. “Yes. I don’t need a stupid curse to be honest with you… mostly.”

“Mostly? Huh? Alright, fair enough. Anyway — about this guy. You just made dinner plans with me. Don’t you think you should cancel on him?”

“Hey now, I didn’t agree to anything yet, mister,” she snapped back.

“Well, the alternative is I come with you and you can tell both of us everything. I’m sure… whatever his name is… would love to hear about it too.”

Maisie understood the implications. She was also starting to feel a little nervous — this was a side of Brad she’d never seen before. He was usually pretty laid back, always pretending he had other plans when she had things she wanted to do without him. In the last few hours, this Brad had gained a new sense of confidence — and she wasn’t sure what that meant for her. She decided to push her luck, trying to mitigate that confidence.

“Brad, I hear what you’re saying — but let me have some harmless fun tonight. We can talk tomorrow. I’ll tell you everything I know… which, admittedly, isn’t much. Is that alright?”

Brad considered ordering her to do what he wanted — but decided he had all the time in the world to experiment and see how far he was willing to take this. The best thing to do for now was keep her happy.

“Alright,” he said, putting on his best fake-dad voice. “But I expect you home by 8:30. Understood?”

Maisie laughed — completely forgetting for a moment the position she was now in — and said, “Sir, yes sir! 11:30 on the dot!”

“That’s not what I…” she cut him off, “No take-backs!” and hopped out of the car.

“Damn,” Brad thought.

He’d been so focused on their conversation, he hadn’t realized they’d already pulled up to the house — despite him being the one driving. He put the car back in drive and headed home.

It took about twenty minutes to get home. When he walked in, he saw his phone on the table. He hadn’t realized he’d left it — but he picked it up, swiped through a bunch of annoying spam emails, app notifications, and missed spam calls — but one text caught his eye.

It was from Maisie’s older sister, Holly — and it was ominous as all hell. “We need to talk. Tonight. Meet me at the waffle house at 7. I’m buying.”

“Well shit, I can only imagine what this is about,” Brad muttered to himself.

Brad knew Holly pretty well. After all, he’d known her as long as Maisie — she was just old enough to never be in the same school as them, and once they started high school, she’d gone off to college. He’d actually forgotten she’d moved back home last month.

He glanced at the clock — only 5:30. He decided to load up his PS2 and play Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. It was the one game he’d ever been able to get Maisie interested in.

He got to the waffle house at 6:45. He hated being late. He found a booth and ordered a water while he waited. His mind was racing: Was she coming here to kill him? Congratulate him? Do the good ol’ “you mess with my sister, I’ll end you” routine? The only thing he knew was — it wasn’t a coincidence that Holly wanted to meet him alone the same day as the bombshell from Maisie. He just hoped Maisie had painted him as a decent guy with everything. He glanced at the front door when he heard the bell — and saw Holly. He stood up and waved, and she came and sat down. She sat down, looked him straight in the eye, and said…