Page 31 of Scrap Metal & Love Reforged

Yeah, right.

Things had never gone that easily for me, and I didn’t expect this to be any better. I skimmed over the wine list and the collection of cheap beers, making me think of Seth.

I couldn’t stop thinking about him, no matter how hard I tried—which was probably a sure sign I was in love. Absolutely besotted. And God knew why. I didn’t really have any qualities that Seth would like, or so I thought, anyway.

Maybe I ought to ask.

Because if a man like him sawsomethingin me, there must surely be something there. Maybe I was too hard on myself, and had been, for a really long time.

Chapter Twelve

Seth

The problem with lying is it always catches up with you. I wasn't stupid enough to think I could hide from Troy forever. The longer I pretended I wasn'tGodofdiscord, the sooner I'd be caught—and the harder the truth would be to tell.

For now, he was my friend online and we were getting closer in person. If Itoldhim the truth, I'd risk what we'd built. Troy didn't trust easily.

I sighed into a long sip of my caramel Frappuccino, whipped cream and sugar pretending they could gloss over my doubts.

Troy peered at me over the counter. Almost five, both of us killing time until close. “You sure you want to hang around? Seems boring,” he said.

I shrugged and leaned back in my hard plastic chair. “It could be worse,” I replied. “This isn’t so bad.”

I spun my phone between my fingers, myDiscordapp open. Brazen, even if Troy couldn’t see from where he sat. A paranoid shiver crawled up, urging me to tell him everything.

Tempting—but no.

No matter when I tell Troy, he'll feel betrayed.

I was stuck in an impossible situation and almost wished I didn't know Troy was the guy I'd been talking to online.

I was terrible for lying, but my intentions were good. Wasn’t that enough?

“So how is your art going?”

I was genuinely curious, but maybe if I took the conversation away from me, I wouldn’t feel so guilty. I could make up for being dishonest. If only for a little while.

Troy brightened, a light coming to his eyes and face. “Very well,” he said. “I submitted just this morning, actually. Do you want to see?”

I stood, stretched, and draped myself over the counter. Troy didn’t notice. The moment I’d stood, he’d buried his face in his phone. Now, he turned the screen to me, so I could see.

I delicately took the device, wincing a little at the cracked screen. Like most people, I’d had my share of phone drops, but I’d never had to actually keep a broken phone for very long. I carefully made the picture bigger. It was a beautiful piece, vaguely resembling a stream of snowflakes or stars, all different colors of metal. The paint along the base was a dark black that lightened as it rose, exposing the different colors of metal.

It was beautiful—museum quality. And it must’ve taken forever for Troy to gather all that metal, to cut and twist it into all those intricate shapes. He had real talent, impressive, underappreciated talent. And while I knew that lots of people were talented and didn’t receive their due, it was different when it was someone I knew.

My chest ached. “This isgorgeous,” I muttered. “You should be proud.”

“You don’t have to say that just because we’re—uh, you know—friends. You can tell me. It’s just okay; I know.”

But as Troy said that, his face grew defensive, as if he was preparing himself for my inevitable pseudo-insult.

I shook my head and shrugged. “It’s gorgeous, and if you don’t win that contest, the judges have no taste. This is in the bag.”

Troy’s face lost some of its harshness. “You really think so?” he asked. “Damn. I thought it was okay. I mean, I didn’t have nearly as much time as I wanted to finish it.”

I arched an eyebrow and handed back his phone. “You should apply for a grant or a fellowship. I’m sure there are programs that would let you take—I don’t know—time off work to work on things like this.”

Troy rubbed the back of his neck. “That would be nice, but I doubt it’ll happen. I mean, I’ve looked into those sorts of things before. They’re super competitive. But that’s what I’m trying to do with this competition. I could use the cash.”