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“But in any case,” Grayson says, gesturing for quiet. “As I’m still your host, I’m going to need to politely ask you for a little more formality, here. We have a procedure onSecond-Chance Romance,and, Maya, I expect you to follow it.”

Let no one ever accuse Grayson of being slow to adapt to curveballs.

Maya looks confused, but then something must click, because she takes my other hand and we face each other.

“Skye,” she says, and I let out a sound that’s half groan, half giggle, as I realize what’s happening. “Long before we met, I’d already decided I couldn’t stand you. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t take much time actually knowing you to realize you were pretty difficult to hate. Actually, impossible to hate. You’re probably one of the best people I’ve ever met in my life.”

I think I must be approximately the shade of an eggplant right now, but I keep my chin straight as Maya continues.

“I… I’ve made some mistakes along the way. It took me longer than it should’ve to realize what you meant about… those mistakes. But I want to make it clear. You’re it, for me. Both of us have our own issues, god knows I have a lot of problems, but those problems… they used to seem really big. They were the center of my universe. But the way I feel about you is bigger than those problems. It drowns them out. Because I love you.”

My mouth drops open. Maya doesn’t pause.

“And the love I feel for you is bigger than hate, or bitterness, or any of those things that have dragged me down for way, way too long now. I’m not asking you to say it back. But I am asking if you’ll be my future.”

She watches me, and so does Grayson, and Jordy, and the crowd, and the cameras—which, I presume, are broadcasting my stunned face to viewers across continents.

Do I want to be Maya’s future?

Do I want her to be mine?

It’s not a question. Or, if it was, I answered it a long time ago. I simply wasn’t ready to admit it to myself.

I step forward to embrace her, and the crowd’s volume surges further still. I’ve missed the feeling of her against me. The smell of her, and how her body fits mine. The way the top of her head rests neatly beneath my chin.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, her breath tickling my collarbone.

“No,I’msorry. I was overdramatic, and I shouldn’t have made you do this.”

“You didn’t make me. I chose to.”

We pull apart, and my breath catches in my throat. “I love you, too, by the way.”

“I thought you didn’t do love.”

“There’s a lot of things I thought I didn’t do.”

Grayson is having a hard time getting the crowd to simmer down. Jordy, meanwhile, is sitting on the couch and glaring at us with a storm-cloud face.

He, I’m quite sure, is planning on murdering us when we get backstage.

I, for one, am eager to see him try. There’s six of us, and one of him.

THIRTY-NINEMaya

Isaac grabs me the second I walk off set and matches my pace, his voice low and urgent. “I swear, I didn’t know they were planning that with Jordy. Apparently they’ve had it lined up for a few days. Jordy was worried you’d tell everyone about the cheating, so he wanted to get his side out first. And Gwendolyn figured showing yours right after would be even better. Get people talking.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “Thanks for clearing that up.”

“If I’d known I would’ve tried to pull it.”

“We might need to finish this later,” I say as we reach the green room, because Jordy’s there waiting, red-faced and furious.

Skye’s joined the other girls, who are standing slightly apart from him, looking at him warily. Isaac steps away from me, but only moves a few steps away to stand with Violet. It’s obvious both of them are watching us in their peripheries—like everyone else in the room.

“Well,” Jordy says. “Everything falls into place, suddenly.”

It feels like the spot where I’m meant to sayI’m sorry.Problem is, I’m one million percent not, so I just wait for more.