“Yes.”
“He’ll be here, I’m sure. But a word of warning—he’s not exactly my favorite person.”
I had sensed that from our last conversation about him. I tried to remember Rowan’s personality from the football game. He seemed nice enough, maybe a little hyper. Laila liked him a lot. “Why?”
“Let’s just say that when Trevor and I were together, Rowan didn’t want us to be. He constantly sabotaged our relationship. I think he was jealous.”
“Why?”
“He was mad I took Trevor away from guy dates.”
“I see.”
“So anyway, if my witchy-ness comes out around him, I’m sorry, I can’t help myself.”
I laughed. “I completely understand.”
We weren’t the first ones to arrive. Several cars were parked in front of his house, which was good. The more people, the less I had to talk. Stephanie had to park a few houses down. She cut the engine, smoothed her hair, straightened her skirt, reapplied her lip gloss, and then got out of the car. It was a lot of primping for someone who claimed to be over the person we were about to see.
We walked up the path, and the sun reflected off something in the tree, catching my eye. At first I thought it was a bird, but that made no sense considering birds weren’t metallic, and when I looked again, it was gone. Stephanie knocked on the door.
Trevor answered. “Hey, Stephanie,” he said, and then looked over at me, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. “Oh, Addison. Hi.”
My cheeks warmed. “I hope it’s okay that I came.”
“Of course.”
“I didn’t realize you two knew each other already,” Stephanie said, an edginess to her voice.
“We don’t, really,” I answered quickly. “We have a mutual acquaintance. Duke Rivers.”
“Come in.” He stepped aside, and we walked into the house. The smells of nutmeg and cinnamon hung in the air as Trevor led us down the stairs into a large rec room. The smells reminded me of the sorry attempt my dad and I had made at Thanksgiving dinner yesterday.
“Steph!” Rowan called out from where he sat in a beanbag. He did a back roll out of it and came rushing over. “Hey.”
He stuck his hand out to me. “I’m Rowan.”
I shook his hand. “Yeah, we met at a football game a couple weeks ago.”
He looked confused. I rolled my eyes, knowing he probably only remembered one thing about that night. “I was with my friend Laila.”
“Laila . . .” He trailed off, obviously coming up empty.
What the . . . ? Hadn’t he kissed Laila all night? I didn’t think that was easy to forget.
I tried to give Stephanie a look that would say, Maybe he is a little weird, but she had already slipped away. I assumed it was because she didn’t want to hang out with Rowan.
Trevor pointed. “We’re getting ready to start the movie. You can go get some food and then pick a seat.”
“Is there water somewhere?”
“There’s a fridge right outside that door, in the garage. It’s full of water and Coke and stuff.”
“Thanks.”
I walked into the garage, and the heavy door automatically shut behind me. I waited for the lights to come on with my movement but then remembered they didn’t have sensors here. It was pitch-black, and I couldn’t see a thing. I kneed a few solid objects before I finally thought to pull out my phone for the light. I found the wall and flipped on the switch. With the lights now on, and my phone out, I dialed Laila’s number.
“Are you dying without me?” she answered on the second ring.
“What have you done?”
“You’re going to have to give me a time range, because I’ve done a lot of things.”
“You Erased his memory, didn’t you?”
“How did you find out?”
“I just talked to him.”
She grunted. “I don’t believe he told you. Why were you talking to him, anyway?”
“Because he’s at this party. Wait, who are you talking about?” I asked at the same exact time she did.
“The fact that you have to ask, Laila, really scares me. How many memories have you Erased? I’m talking about Rowan.”
She gave a little laugh. “Oh yeah. Rowan. How is he?”
“Clueless. Who were you talking about?”
“Maybe Duke.”
“You Erased Duke’s memory?” I tried not to register the tiny bit of hope that sprang up inside me over that thought. If he couldn’t remember me, I didn’t have to feel like such a fool every time I saw him. Instead I concentrated on the overwhelming amount of indignation I felt about it.
“Just five minutes of them.”
“Why, Laila? Why would you do that to someone without their permission? That is so wrong on so many levels.”
“Duke deserved it. And as far as Rowan goes, it was the humane thing to do. I couldn’t leave his memories of kissing me intact, or he would’ve searched the world and come up empty. No girl would’ve ever lived up to me. It would’ve been tragic. This way he has a chance at happiness.”
“There is something very wrong with you.”
She laughed.
“Stop Erasing memories.”
“You’re no fun.”
“I better go. I’m at this lame party.”
Laila blew air between her lips. “You think all parties are lame.”