As Long as You Love Me (Previously Kiss and Tell)

Chapter 10 ♔ The Promise

My terrible life decision had allowed me the lay of the couch, as Maya took the armchair and Taylor the floor. The vantages were poetic, considering the armchair was the highest seat in the living room, where Maya spewed well meaning insults supposed to channel my brain back into moral pursuits. Meanwhile from the floor, Taylor was the devil on my shoulder encouraging my baser desires for revenge over four years of coming in second place.

As fun as it was for the conversation to carry over for hours, we all had quite a lot of work to do and eventually we transitioned into half hour blocks, alternating between working on our school assignments and more discussions. The pros and cons of having agreed with Gabe to stick to the deal again were near equal. Even if the cons pulled ahead, the fact of the matter was that we'd had the conversation again and agreed to proceed as though I'd never quit.

And when he hadn't believed me I pulled out the little contract we'd signed and stamped my thumbprint on it.

Whether Maya liked it or not, I was all in and I'd never felt more alive.

The angel on my shoulder sighed and paused from typing up her report. "How are we even friends? I shouldn't hang out with terrible people like y'all."

"You probably want to save our souls, that's why," Taylor responded without even glancing up.

"Maybe you're already lost," she murmured loud enough that we heard her crystal clear.

My fingers were a blur as I typed up some answers for a class. This semester was pretty easy, except for the design project, which had almost demotivated me. I had renewed energy now, though. Victory was not yet upon my lips but I could almost taste it. I was going to ace school, get my full time position and say goodbye to Gabriel Cabrera in the most spectacular fashion. A senior year to remember.

"There's nothing wrong with quitting twice," Maya continued, setting aside her laptop. This had become the universal sign that another lecture was coming and automatically Taylor and I also put ours to sleep. "In fact, in this particular case this is the right thing to do."

Taylor shrugged. "You know what they say, just because you can doesn't mean you should and all that."

I almost laughed but the way Maya's dark eyes blazed stopped me from doing that.

"Pretty sure this isn't the kind of situation that saying applies for." After one last sour glance at her, my roommate's attention fell back on me. "Think about it. You felt really bad after you said those shitty things to him and felt a lot better when you apologized, right? Imagine how terrible you'll feel after you succeed in breaking his heart."

My other friend snapped her fingers. "Ah hah! So you admit that Cata does stand a chance to succeed."

"Well, yeah. She's hot and Gabe's a man whore, he won't resist her for long." Maya said it like that was not the point at all, even though the words revealed brand new information for me. "In fact, this is where that saying applies. Just because Cata can break Gabe's heart, it doesn't mean she should. That kind of thing comes back around like a boomerang."

"You think I'm hot?" I asked, pointing at myself.

"Yes," Maya said while waving her hand. "And the sky is blue and the grass is green. Are you hearing what I'm saying?"

I'd spent the whole afternoon being a little shit and why stop now? So I replied with, "Wow, typically people say that Cora is the hot twin."

"You just need a little bit of makeup and some skimpy dresses to be on the same level." Taylor clapped her hands so hard the sound echoed in the living room. "This calls for a makeover!"