Page 77 of Should Our Stars Collide

“That you deserve to be loved.”

Yup. Not good. Very much un-good.

Gabe clearly doesn’t think so, his eyes going glassy. “Aww.”

“That’s pretty wholesome,” Ellis agrees.

Zeke beams. “Right?!”

Kieran swallows a scream and says instead, “This is such bullshit.”

Zeke sighs. For the first time, he seems a little remorseful. “Look, mate. I am sorry. This is not how I wanted things to go. I just wanted you to be happy. And to be fair, you never—I mean, the other you never said anything! Not a word for the whole two years. I thought you’d just changed your mind about Ash, or that the spell actually worked. It was quite shocking, to be honest.”

For once, Gabe agrees with him. “Definitely! I mean, you hated his guts.”

“For good reason,” Ellis chimes in.

“Hey,” Ash complains, looking at Ellis with betrayal.

“I mean, you are kind of a dick.”

“I’m starting to like you,” Kieran says. Maybe he’d jumped the gun when he decided to hate Ellis on principle since his brother is a monster.

“…Thanks?”

“Can we see the video?” Gabe asks.

Kieran pulls out his phone. Might be easier to let future Kieran lay it all out.

He listens to the video with one ear, at least until a part he completely forgot about starts playing. By the time he realizes, it’s too late.

“We get our ass railed on the regular, and you know what? We love it. It feels fucking good.”

Gabe recoils.“Ew.”

“You’re welcome,” Zeke says with a grin.

Ellis just looks uncomfortable and like he’d rather be anywhere else.

Kieran can relate. He hides his face in his palms.

“FYI, realizing you’re into dick is just the beginning. You’ll learn things that will be hard to believe and it’s okay to freak out. You will, because I did, but you’ll come around.”

“Oh. He doesn’t know,” Gabe says, exchanging a look with Ash.

“Obviously.”

“Know what?” Kieran asks.

“Let’s finish the video first,” Gabe says quickly.

Once the video stops playing, Kieran pockets his phone. “That’s pretty much the gist of it.”

By now Zeke looks at least slightly guilty, which is probably the best Kieran’s going to get. The bar is low. Possibly underground.

Everyone is silent for a while, just processing the information. Good luck: Kieran still hasn’t processed it and it’s been days.

Speaking of, they all look remarkably, well, undisturbed by the revelation that Zeke is the next Sabrina, and that time-travel is a thing. Sure, they were surprised at first, but they also accepted it way, wayeasier than any normal person would. Honestly, Kieranshouldbe grateful they’re taking it so well, but it’s sus, okay? Like there’s another shoe waiting to drop. Maybe both shoes. Possibly a boot. A whole freaking closet filled with skeletons about to pour out.