I turned—and froze again. Standing near the entrance were Aries and Percy.
"Hi, baby sista," Percy said, grinning like chaos in human form.
"What—why are you here?" I demanded. "I thought you were in London."
"Did you miss me and my handsome face?" he asked, striking a ridiculous pose.
Typical Percy. So annoying. He had officially ruined my date.
Aries' gaze dropped to where Keifer's hand still rested on my waist. His jaw tightened.
"Um… why is your hand on my sister's waist?" he asked, glaring.
I folded my arms. "Why are you holding hands with Ella?"
"Because we're dating," Aries said without missing a beat
Keifer leaned closer and murmured, just for me, "Still scared?"
I looked around: Percy overacting, Aries pretending not to smile, Ella's soft laughter,
section E and Mica trading comments, Freya quietly observing, Eman pretending he
wasn't fond of all this noise.
"Yeah," I said honestly. "But it kind of feels like the good kind of scary."
He brushed his thumb over my hand under the table. "Good. Because I'm not going
anywhere."
Percy pointed at us with his fork. "If you two start kissing again, I'm throwing this
spoon at the wall."
"Not the wall," Eman complained. "Use Aries instead."
Everyone laughed, the sound spilling into the warm air of the restaurant, and for the
first time, all the complicated pieces of my life—old drama, new love, annoying
brothers, friends—felt like they actually fit in the same room.