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‘Anyway, the summer before I started high school, my mom randomly decided it was the summer of ABBA, so she exclusively played all the ABBA albums until the summer ended. And it was a good summer, so any time I hear an ABBA song, it always brings me back to that time in my life. You know, before life got complicated with high school,’ he said with playful sarcasm.

‘I always blasted ABBA in my room afterwards. When my parents got me this car as a graduation gift, I went ahead and bought the actual albums. So now, I choose to blast them in my car instead. Just me, ABBA, and the road ahead.’

‘How very poetic of you,’ I told him once he finished recounting his story. A corner of his mouth lifted, giving way to a small smile at my reply. ‘But why buy their albums instead of just playing it from your phone and connecting it to the car?’

‘That might have been my parents’ record-collecting influence. I don’t know,’ he trailed off. ‘There’s just something about having them physically, I guess. Does that make sense?’ he then added, struggling to put his thoughts into words.

‘No, I get it,’ I told him because I did. I might not be an album or a record collector, but I am a reader. And every reader knows there’s something magical about collecting books and creating your own mini library as your collection grows bigger.

‘I feel the same way about books. Don’t get me wrong, I like the convenience of eBooks, but there’s just something special about having them in your physical hold.

It’s like you’re willingly letting them take up space in your life, for nothing more than just your own happiness,’ I explained.

‘And I think that alone is a good enough of a reason as any.’

Other than the ABBA song that was playing from the speakers—one that I didn’t recognize—and the muffled hum of the car’s engine, the car was filled with silence. I looked over at Colton, silently hoping he wasn’t weirded out by what I had just said.

But I found him risking a glance my way, a genuine smile on his face when he broke the silence, and said, ‘You’re right. That’s exactly it.’

My pulse skyrocketed and I’m pretty sure I was blushing, for my face felt warmer than it did a few seconds ago.

I quickly looked away from him, trying my best to calm myself down, and willing the blush to go away.

The radio continued playing ABBA songs as Colton drove ahead, and my lips titled up recognizing the melody of ‘SOS’ as I recalled the scene of Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan singing it in the movie.

‘So, what’s your favourite ABBA song?’ I asked Colton.

‘That’s a fully loaded question.’

‘Why? You can’t seem to pick just one?’

‘Can you pick just one favourite book?’

‘Touché,’ I replied. ‘Okay then, what’s your favourite ABBA song at the moment?’

‘Hmm. I’m gonna go with “One Last Summer”,’ Colton answered after a moment.

‘Seriously?’ I exclaimed. ‘Don’t tell me it’s because summer just ended.’

‘In that case, I won’t tell you.’ A smile tugged on his lips.

I blew out a dramatic sigh, shaking my head in mocking disappointment. ‘Okay. Then what about your favourite ABBA song to sing? Like, if you were asked to sing one of their songs, what would it be?’

‘“Waterloo”, hands down,’ he answered with no hesitation. ‘But what about you? I know you said your ABBA song knowledge is limited, but I doubt you don’t have a favourite to sing to.’

I took a moment to pick one out of the few that I loved singing to, and then, I decided to just name them all.

‘I think it depends on what I’m feeling,’ I told him. ‘“Andante, Andante” is a good one if I’m feeling a bit sentimental. “The Winner Takes It All” is for when I want to belt. But honestly, I’d probably pick “Waterloo” as well if I just want to have fun.’

‘Glad to know we’re on the same page.’ He nodded, that small smile still ever-present on his face. ‘We’re here by the way.’

I looked out the window and saw he was right. I wouldn’t even have noticed that we were already on my street if it weren’t for him pointing it out and asking me where he could drop me off.

‘There’s a drop-off spot, just in front of the building.In front of that red car,’ I told him, pointing at the said vehicle.

Our street was filled with a variety of shops and restaurants.

Most of them were already closed for the night, except for a few restaurants that offered to serve alcoholic drinks until 2 a.m. All of them were packed with people wanting to make the best of their Saturday night and it seemed like the night was only getting started for them.

Colton stopped his car in front of my apartment building before unbuckling his seat belt and getting off. Confused, I watched him from the windshield, when he finally stopped at my side of the car and opened the door for me.

‘You didn’t have to do that, but thank you,’ I told him, climbing down from the car.

‘You’re welcome,’ Colton replied. ‘So, I’ll see you next Wednesday then?’

And that’s when I remembered.

Right .

I was supposed to tell him I couldn’t be his partner for ASL class the next time I saw him. Me running into him unexpectedly at the party and his offering to drive me home totally threw me off and made me forget all about it. But just as I was about to tell him my decision, I stopped myself.

This isn’t fair of me to do this to him.

I might’ve already given him a reasonable excuse on why we could’t be partners, and he seemed to have understood where I was coming from, but he did offer a solution on how we could make this work.

While I didn’t know him well enough to know if I could fully trust him to stay true to his words, the vulnerability he had shown me during the conversation we had in the car seemed a good enough indication that I could trust him to be a good partner.

And darn it, I liked talking to him, and I wanted more chances to talk to him again. Not that I would admit it out loud.

It was easy to get over my crush on him, when I had nothing to back up the infatuation with, other than the fact that he was cute, and a star athlete.

But now that I knew he liked listening to ABBA to the point that he voluntarily collected their albums, drove his drunk teammates home, and extended the same gesture towards me , brushing off this crush had gotten a tiny bit harder.

And the more time I spent with him, the higher the chances I had of tempting the curse.

But none of those reasons were his fault, and he shouldn’t have to bear the consequences because of me. Plus, the curse would have worked only if he actually reciprocated my crush, so I might have been a bit over my head to think that could happen.

‘Clara?’ Colton called out, snapping me out of my train of thought.

‘Oh, sorry,’ I said, getting out of my head. ‘Yeah, I’ll see you next Wednesday.’ Then, placing the puzzle that would change my entire semester, I added, ‘partner.’

I don’t know if Colton caught what I meant by that last word. But it seemed he did when a beaming smile lit up his entire face, his eyes crinkling with happiness.

‘I’ll see you in class then,’ he said. Momentarily pausing for dramatic effect, I assume, before he added ‘partner.’

We exchanged phone numbers, and I waved him goodbye on my way inside the building.

I went straight to the window of my apartment to catch a last glimpse of his car, just in time, to see him driving off.

I decided to stay there for a moment as I recalled what I had just done, and how I should move forward with my impulsive decision.

Crushes are a weird thing. I feel like most of the time, you tend to build up that person in your head with daydreams, only to have it crushed once you actually got to know them.

God knew I had my fair share of those, which is why it was fairly easy to brush off my crushes before.

But something told me this crush on Colton might be different, but maybe that was just the spark of hope burning in my heart.

Even so, I had to be careful in pursuing whatever it was, because crushes or not, Colton was a cliché love interest, and I had to make sure to protect myself from succumbing to the curse.

I made sure I texted Nina before starting my nightly routine.

As I took off my makeup for the night, something else occurred to me.

It usually took around five minutes from the track team’s house to get to our old apartment, ten in case of some traffic.

Considering how close that building was to our new one, my guess was it would’ve taken the same amount of time.

But the car ride with Colton seemed to be longer than usual, even though there wasn’t much traffic on the road.

That spark of hope—the rebel that she is—and my inner romantic self, unanimously decided that Colton had unintentionally driven slower to prolong our conversation.

I immediately pushed away those feelings. I must be more tired than I thought.

I tried reading a chapter of It Happened One Summer , the new romance book I had just started, but ultimately decided I couldn’t process any words, when a yawn escaped my mouth.

As my head hit the pillow, my mind started reliving the later events of the night on repeat when I finally drifted off to sleep, a smile present on my face.