Everyone wants to be special.

I really don’t like that this happened, but the talk I had with Fernanda… kinda drained the lust out of me. I’d been looking forward to continuing where we left off with Mila and doing all sorts of other cool stuff with the others, but thinking of how I handled that previous situation left me in something of a downer mood.

When the party was over, Maria offered to drive my mom and Isabelle to the house, so I took the van and drove to Diana’s house with Alice, Mila and Grace. Sarah and Noelle were in Diana’s car.

We made the conscious decision to not talk about you-know-what until we were all together, and when we arrived at Diana’s house, it was the first thing we did.

I sank down on the couch and let out a heavy sigh. “So? Let it all out,” I told them.

“Noelle and Diana won the bet, for starters,” Sarah said. “They both guessed that you’d tell her about Frey before even trying anything else.”

“It was an educated guess,” Diana said. “He did the same with me, after all.”

“And let’s not forget I had to turn the tables on him and be the one to ask him out because he didn’t want to try to get me to accept being in a harem,” Noelle said.

“I just… Is it wrong to give someone all the relevant information before they make a decision on something so important?” I asked.

“It’s not wrong,” Grace agreed. “But it’s not the best opening move.”

“I know that, but what else could I have done?”

“Let’s just say I’m glad I’m not in your position,” Mila said, sitting next to me and kissing my cheek.

I sighed. “What did she say?”

“Not much,” Alice said. “We told her what we knew, how it felt, what we thought about it. It was kind of the same thing we did with Diana.”

“I didn’t think I’d be on this side of the conversation so soon,” Diana admitted.

“We tried to assure her that, as weird as it all sounds, it becomes normal fairly quickly,” Noelle said.

“At the end of the day, though, it’s still all up to her,” Sarah said.

“I do think that telling her about Frey is the right move,” Mila said. “Like, we talk about it like it’s normal now, so trying to hide it would be awkward. But the issue is that… Mmm, how do I put it? I know you didn’t mean it like this, but when you tell her that she can either accept your situation or not, it almost sounds like you don’t care if you end up going out with her or not.”

Oh.

Ooooooh. Is that what the disappointment I felt from her was about?

“I think I agree,” Alice said. “People fall in love for a number of reasons. Maybe they like musicians, maybe they like soft-spoken people, maybe they prefer them shorter or maybe they just like cute boys wearing glasses.” Alice smirked at me as she listed those traits. “But at the end of the day, what people like the most is when their partner makes them feel special, right?”

“Pretty much,” Mila agreed, then turned to me again. “If a girl believes you’ll be just fine with her saying no, then it’s likely that she will because she thinks you don’t value her enough.”

“Yeah, but that’s a whole other can of worms,” Sarah said, groaning. “Then you start getting the ones who want to see people beg, or those that feel insulted just because someone isn’t flirting with them 24/7. I think Mila’s onto something, but I also doubt that Fernanda is one of those.”

“So… You’re saying I should’ve tried to convince her regardless?” I asked.

“I wish we could say that,” Grace said. “But we don’t have the answer, either. For what it’s worth, I think that what you did was fine. Sure, it won’t win her over, but she has all the information to make her decision. If not now, then later.”

I groaned and shook my head. “Maybe it did come out as if I didn’t care either way.”

“Just give it time,” Diana said. “It’s not like we expected you to come back holding hands from there. You were upfront with her, told her where you stand and gave her time to think about it. Once she’s sorted out her thoughts you can talk again.”

“I agree. Sleeping on it helps,” Noelle said.

“Ugh, I had almost forgotten how awkward this all was, and I was happier that way!” I groaned.

“Yeah, can’t say I miss the early dating stages,” Sarah said. “Too many questions, rarely any actual satisfaction.”

“Wait, is this officially your longest relationship now?” Mila asked Sarah.

Sarah glanced up at the ceiling, counting in her head. “Yep, it is. Yours too, right Grace?”

“It has been for two months already,” Grace confirmed. “Diana?”

“Hey, it’s not even been half a year for me yet,” Diana said as she walked over to the bar. “But yes, it is. No one else has been able to put up with me for this long.”

“So you’d only dated idiots, got it,” Grace said, nodding in understanding.

“Your last relationship only lasted three months, right Alice?” Mila asked the blonde.

Alice nodded. “And I’d hardly call it a relationship. It was in name only.”

“Then Noelle and I are the only ones who didn’t have previous dating experience,” Mila said.

“Officially, but you did have stuff going on with one or two guys before, if only for a couple of days,” Grace said, smirking teasingly.

“Hey, you can’t call that experience! You can’t call that anything! Nothing happened beyond a few looks and a couple of ‘maybes,’” Mila adamantly argued.

“Maybes?” I asked.

“As in, ‘Maybe we could go on a date?’ and I answered ‘Yeah, maybe’ and they never got back to me,” Mila clarified.

“If you answered ‘maybe,’ then of course they didn’t get back to you,” Diana said.

“Yeah, that sounds like a polite no to me,” Noelle said.

“Wait, really?” Mila asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought I was being coy!”

“And the mystery of how Mila never got a boyfriend before Oliver has been resolved, everyone,” Alice said, giggling.

“Honestly, I’m still baffled and Oliver and Noelle didn’t get together earlier,” Sarah said. “I mean, sorry to say I’m thankful for it, but you guys had already met thanks to Isabelle and you would’ve hit it off even back then.”

“No, we wouldn’t have,” I told her. “I’ve said it before. We weren’t the same people we are now.”

“I do think it’s a healthier way to look at it,” Alice said, then giggled. “But yes, I’m also thankful you didn’t get together before. If you had, we wouldn’t be here.”

“How are you so sure?” Noelle asked.

“Come on, do you seriously see Oliver cheating on you?” Grace asked her.

The redhead chuckled. “No, I suppose he wouldn’t.”

“Glad we can finally admit none of this would've happened if not for Frey’s powers,” I said.

“She opened a door and we decided to walk in,” Sarah said with a shrug.

“Let’s hope Fernanda sees it that way, too.”

“Like I said, just give her time,” Diana said.

I could only hope she’d be willing to talk to me after this.

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