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“Okay, don’t remind me of that.” She waves a hand with a slight chuckle, but then sighs.

“I didn’t want to mention it because I can handle myself. I don’t want you doing anything in my honor or something,” she explains.

I blink. “Since when have I ever done that? I know you can handle your problems. This is clearly bothering you, though.”

She purses her lips. “Alright. So…Dante Romano came up to me at the diner the other day while you were in the bathroom,” she says, setting her own food down and pausing the movie.

“What? Dante?” My brow furrows deeply. “What did he want?”

My stomach takes the brunt of the tension in the room, and I’m not interested in my food at all anymore.

“Well, that’s the weird part. I don’t really know…but I think he threatened me,” she admits.

My hands curl into fists and my heart slams against my ribcage. I’m not usually a violent person by any means, but the idea of someone like Dante threatening my girlfriend awakens a protective part of me.

“How? What did he say?” I ask. “Specifically, if you can remember.” I move closer to her and slowly put my hand over hers, trying to be comforting.

“He said that if I keep seeing you ‘more than just my feelings will get hurt.’ Something about it being obvious,” she explains. Her face is crinkled in confusion, but also annoyance. “I didn’t understand half of what he was saying. I’m pretty sure he was just messing with me.”

My heart jumps into my throat.

What does he mean?

What does he know?

What doIknow?

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I tell her. “He’s probably just playing with you…because of me. I ran into him, spilled coffee on him, and he threatened me, then flirted with me. The guy is mental.” I’m rambling and my face is hot.

Lena shakes her head. “You turning him down probably messed with his ego. Why didn’t you tell me that happened?”

I shrug, trying to ignore the desire to find Dante and ask him what his problem is.

“I told Nathan, and then I forgot about it. With all the homework, there are more important things to worry about,” I insist, even though I’m not sure why I didn’t tell her sooner.

Maybe for the same reason I initially lied to Nathan.

I swallow the lump in my throat.

“I’m going to talk to Dante. Normally I’d leave it alone, but he can’t threaten you like that,” I tell her.

She moves closer to me and puts a hand on my thigh. I tense.

“No, Ethan, don’t worry about it. He’s dangerous, and the last thing either of us needs to be thinking about right now. Exams are in a month and a half, and then we have to prepare for winter break.” Lena seems to sense my tension and moves her hand back to mine, thankfully removing it from my thigh.

I take a deep breath. “Right. Speaking of winter break…my mom really wants me to be there on Christmas. I told her about your situation and she suggested you come home with me. They want to meet you,” I tell her. Weirdly, I feel no anxiety as I bring this up to her. The idea of her meeting my parents is one that causes me no stress, no concern.

I expected to feel more nervous asking her about it. The way everyone else talks about bringing their partners home to meet their parents makes it seem like this should be more nerve-wracking.

But I feel the same way I do about Nathan being around my parents.

I push that feeling into the back of my mind.

“Really?” she asks, hesitating. “I suppose I could stay the first week with you and then take my flight to Angie’s from there. I haven’t booked anything yet. But…do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Flying from Hartland? Yeah, it’ll probably be cheaper. You’ll end up with a layover, like I would if I flew out there later on, but since you’re flying in the opposite direction the layover would be early in the day instead of near the end.” I grab my phone from the coffee table to check possible flights.

“No, not that…Ethan.” She takes my phone from my hand and sets it on the couch. “Do you think it’s a good idea for me to meet your parents when we’re still figuring things out? We haven’t really talked about the whole…asexuality thing again.”