This time, I can’t stop a groan from bubbling up in my throat. “Sometimes things just don’t work. People are complicated and the world is a hard place.”
Daniel’s fingers tangle in my hair and god, his fingertips feel so good massaging slow circles over my scalp. “It is, which is why we should stick together. I can’t speak for years from now, but what about tomorrow? Give me a chance for tomorrow. And then tomorrow, give me a chance for the tomorrow after that, and for tomorrow’s tomorrow and-”
“I get it.” I don’t want to laugh. I really don’t. This isn’t funny. We’re talking about heartbreak and accidental pregnancies and life altering decisions here.
“What about the earrings? There’s always the fact you were wearing them the night you met me and then you got pregnant. The odds were against that happening, you know. Condoms aren’t failproof, but they’re generally very reliable.”
“Are you saying it was the curse?” I try to pull away, but Daniel’s fingers smooth over my scalp again in those slow circles, calming me, petting me like a shy animal. Is that what he’s doing? Gentling me like a horse? I have to say, it feels pretty good.
“I don’t know anything about that. I’m just saying, we already beat the odds once. Maybe we can do it again.”
“That wasn’t the kind of odds we were supposed to beat.”
“No, but we did, and that’s pretty amazing. I know it’s a lot. A crazy shock. I’m still shocked. But if you’ll let me take you out tomorrow, or the day after, or whenever you’re free, maybe we can work on making it less of a shock. If you want me to come with you when you tell your family, I’d like to do that.”
“Oh my god. My family.” I know I’m doing something horrifying with my face. Fish lips or something. I can feel it. “My family is crazy. My brothers and my cousins are all older and quite protective. They actually ruined a lot of shit for me over the years, at least as far as men go.”
“I understand.”
“They’re huge. Monstrous sized.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a small guy myself.”
“Oh god. I’m not saying they’ll try and physically kick your ass if they found out that you knocked me up, but- uh- they might try and physically kick your ass, and you’ve already been kicked by a cactus, so that’s probably enough ass kicking- errr- dick and ball kicking too- for one week.”
Daniel’s lips tremble at the corners again, but he doesn’t let himself smile, probably because he thinks he shouldn’t for my sake. My stomach cramps, then flips, and that ice in my chest is getting smaller and smaller, I swear, in the tiniest increments, melting under Daniel’s easy charm and magnetism. Melting because his eyes are so dark and liquid, and because I know if he let himself smile, I’d see those dimples again, and just- just dimples.
“I don’t care that your family is crazy. Maybe we could invite everyone over to my place. My grandma and my brother, and your family too. We’d tell them all at once.”
“Well… If I do it that way, their significant others- who all met them through the curse- might temper things. I warn you though, my granny is not fit for polite company. I mean, she’s wild. She’s unbridled. She’s a firecracker of the first order.”
“Sounds perfect. She and my grandma are friends, you know?”
“What? N-no! I didn’t know that! I mean, I did know that you said that they were involved in organizing the ball together for charity, but I didn’t- do you think- do you think that they set the whole thing up just so we could meet?”
“Unlikely. Well, maybe, but no one pushed me in your direction.”
“And Granny didn’t demand I wear the cursed earrings. That was a bad lapse of judgement all on my own.”
“Sounds more like fate to me.”
“I don’t believe in that.”
“Well, I never believed in curses before now.”
“And I never believed in dick punching plants.”
Annnnd there it is. The smile that’s been trying to come out all this time finally dawns on Daniel’s face like the sun bursting into the sky in the morning, and yes, he’s just as beautiful and awe inspiring and every bit as gorgeously wonderful. Annnnnnnnd yes. Also… Dimples. Two of them. Perfect, adorable, twin dimples that make my heart go tripping over itself and send shivers up my spine and gentle the gnawing fear that’s taking a bite out of my stomach right now.
If I’m talking about the curse, then that means I believe that maybe Daniel could be my soulmate. Doesn’t that mean I should give him a chance? Do I really have a choice? Would the curse bring us back together, over and over again? Would it make it so we couldn’t escape each other? Or has it already? Because it’s also a plant punching prick of a thing?