Page 100 of Whispers of Wisteria

“It’s nice to meet you, Hailey.” My ears buzzed as I reached for her hand, covering her thin fingers with mine.

She was shaking, or maybe it was me. I wasn’t used to touching random people, but I had no choice.

“You’re very kind and smart,” I told her. I was slightly unnerved by how her attention remained fixated on my face, but shehadbrought him a shirt and offered herself to him, so I had to give her some credit—

She had good taste.

“And you’re pretty too,” I added.

Hailey’s cheeks dusted over in a blush. “T-thank you.”

“But you shouldn’t set yourself up for heartbreak,” I continued. “Why are you chasing after someone you can’t have? You’re better than this. All of you are.”

“But it’s Miles,” she offered in a shaky voice. “I thought that, maybe…”

“Miles has a great destiny.” I fought the urge to squeeze her hand. “It is inevitable that you can’t be together. But there are plenty of other fish in the sea.”

The soccer game had halted entirely, and Miles’s teammates watched intently.

“Like that guy there.” I inclined my head toward a random, sour-faced, spiky-haired player. I wasn’t sure what possessed me even to throw this out there, mainly because I was pretty sure this was the dude Miles had punched once, but I was getting a positive feeling from this match. “He seems nice.”

“Maybe,” she breathed, not even looking.

Okay… I pursed my lips. So perhaps my matchmaking skills needed some brushing up.

“And…” My thoughts scrambled to find another distraction. Somewhere else for her to focus her energy. “You don’t evenneeda boyfriend if you don’t want one.”

Her eyes widened. “I… don’t?”

Why did it sound like she’d never considered this before?

“Of course not,” I replied.

This was it! My fingers had stopped shaking now—I’d finally found something that resonated with her.

“Men are awful anyway,” I added. “Instead of wasting your time and energy, let them come to you while you live your best life.”

“But…” She still seemed doubtful. “What should I do all day?”

“Whatever you want! After your schoolwork, of course.” Lord knew I had plans. I still had to learn to ride in a sidecar and create my fighting empire, and skydiving was beginning to sound appealing—

Wait, maybe not skydiving. That seemed oddly foreboding.

“The important thing is never to let anyone tell you what to do.” I paused, waving dismissively in Miles’s direction. “But if you love Miles, you’ll let him go. You’re in college. It’s the time to work on you, have fun, and let Miles focus on his quest to make the world a better place.”

“I love you.” Hailey’s face was completely red, and as soon as she spoke, she pulled her hands back and covered her cheeks, dropping the shirt. “I mean”—She shook her head—“you’re totally right. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. It’s so obvious.”

“Soobvious!” Her friend, who’d been next to us the whole time, also stared at me with abject fascination.

As was the rest of the room.

My heart slammed as I backed away from the girls, swaying, and my stomach turned as the true horror of what just happened raced in circles in my head.

What the hell was that? My mind screamed, but in my heart, I knew.

I’d just given a cheesy speech to almost a million witnesses.

All without fainting.