What the hell was I supposed to do about that kiss?

With the second talisman safe in our hands once again, all I could think about was if it was responsible for that God-awful momentary connection. I didn't like Dominic. At all. Everyone knew that.

There obviously had to be some sort of paranormal explanation for it. And that was exactly why I had to keep the second silver talisman, which was definitely magical too, away from Dominic. I was even willing to give it up to the official next-in-line, Sierra, if it meant that it wouldn't cause me and Dominic any more trouble with its kissy nonsense.

And the worst part of it was that I didn't hate the kiss in the moment. But now that the magic had faded and I had the capacity to see through it, I hated it more than anything. And I was sure Dominic felt just as violated as I did.

Before Dominic and I headed our separate ways after a long, silent trip back to Tillamook, I paused.

"What?" he asked. "And if you're thinking about that, you can't say it. We already agreed on it."

I shook my head. "That? You really need to stop obsessing over me. That's ancient history at this point."

It wasn't history at all, but I couldn't afford to let him know that it was still in my mind. The feeling of his grip on my waist, the way that we were the only ones in the world, it was all so fresh, and I hated what it did to me.

I had built a persona that didn't care about a damn thing. And when I thought that the talisman was going to make that work out in my favor for once, it shattered that version of me like a million bottles of glass.

"Then what? You're obviously thinking about something," Dominic said.

"I want the talisman back. It was super nice of you to help me get it back from Butterfly, but I promised Sierra that it was hers if I didn't want it anymore. And it's probably for the best too. I don't want there to be any more connections between the two talismans, especially when one is in your possession."

He raised his eyebrows. "So you were thinking about it."

"Oh my god, Dominic. It doesn't matter. I just don't want it to ever happen again if that's okay with your ego."

He didn't reply to that. Instead, he held out the silver talisman to me.

"Thank you," I muttered and took it. There wasn't anyone on the planet who could irritate me like he could, and he knew it.

Nothing surrounding the kiss was real. It was all an ah-ha! moment for two pieces of metal that loved to ruin lives.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow in class?" he asked.

"Don't count on it," I said before heading back to my dorm.

Even though I was almost certain Sierra was over Dominic, I couldn't tell her about what happened at Butterfly's. And Jack couldn't know either. For some reason, he thought that we could be something more than friends, even though I wasn't capable of that.

I unlocked the door to my dorm room and sat down on my bed. Sierra was gone, probably in class, and Jack lived a floor away.

Then I really was alone with my thoughts on this.

Damn.

Of course, any plan of secrecy hadn't stopped the talisman from making me blab about everything else going on, so why would this be any different? I'd probably accidentally mention it to the first person to walk through my dorm room door.

After everything that happened—the heart attack, the unfortunate reunion with my mother, the passing of Dr. Reed's nephew—why was a stupid kiss that meant nothing the main event running my mind?

Some bitch I was.

"Sierra?" someone asked while knocking from the other side of the door. Jack.

"She's not here right now. It's only me," I said. "It's unlocked."

Jack opened up the door and peeked inside. "I was just about to head to my next class, but I just wanted to say hi. So, hi."

I put on a smile. He deserved it, really. "Hi."

So far, so good with keeping my mouth shut.

Was that a jinx? Probably.

But before he could head off to class, I held up my hand. "Wait, Jack. I want to show you something else."

"Will this take long? I really don't want to be late," he said.

"Oh, shut up, you nerd. Dominic and I went and got our silver talisman back, and Butterfly is never gonna know," I said.

"You got it back? How?"

"We just went in there, took it, and replaced it with a non-magical one that Dominic got made. We didn't even break anything. It was—" I was going to say super excellent, but that description didn't fit the experience completely. "It was wild."

"So what does this one do? Is it as sketchy as the gold one?"

I shook my head. "Butterfly seems to think that this one has a kinder energy to it. I don't know what that means, but I told Sierra she could have it."

He smiled. "I can't believe I'm condoning stealing, but—"

"It's not stealing."

"Lindsay, it's definitely stealing. But I kinda want to see what energy Butterfly was talking about, so I'm not even going to say anything about how you got it back in your hands."

I paused for a moment. Even if I didn't like how I got it back too, the important thing was that I did. The silver was ours, and if I had to mess with my feelings for a moment to accomplish that, then that was what I had to do.

I bit my cheek. Nope. That was stupid. It didn't even make sense.

"So I guess we just need to find the bronze one, and then we'll have the whole set." He laughed. "I really should get going to class, though."

"Do you have to?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, I have to. I have to identify six cnidarian fossils to the genus level in class today."

"What does that even mean?"

He smiled and shook his head. "I'll explain it to you later. If you want, you can come to my rehearsal tonight. It'll piss Harvey off, but it's more fun when you're there."

I nodded. "I don't have anything better to do."

"You don't have anything that you should be working on even though we wasted the whole weekend in Sherwood and at Dr. Reed's?"

I shook my head.

Jack let out a sigh and shut the door behind him on his way out.

As far as I knew, I really didn't have any urgent homework or exams or presentations, but there was a very large probability that my lack of attention was responsible for that. But with Jack gone, I was all by myself again, and even though I was used to that in a lot of ways, there had to be someone I could bother.

Why didn't I have more friends? Then I could keep myself distracted by someone whenever I wanted.

With Dr. Reed grieving, Sierra and Jack in class, and Dominic out of mind, everyone I knew around campus was occupied.

"God, this sucks. Is this why people study? Because they don't have friends?" I asked myself. "And now I'm talking to myself. This is a new low for me."

What even was there to do besides open up my ASL book and look at the pictures? I bought it with my money, not my parents', after all.

Of course, I had no idea what they were doing in class, so I started at the beginning chapter.

Occupations.

I chuckled to myself. Chances were that I wasn't going to be an anthropologist even if I made it through two and a half more years of school. I was most likely going to end up at Butterfly's Potions and Magic and Fun and More Magic for a while. At least she seemed really nice.

I went back to the book. Chef required knowing about weird foods from classy places, engineer was way too difficult, nurse required way too much patience and tolerance for bodily fluids, so maybe Butterfly's Magic wasn't a bad place to end up.

I wasn't going to learn the vocab from the chapter any time soon (even though I definitely should have already known it), so I set the book down. That was way too much information, considering I could barely make it through the ASL alphabet.

Well, I could always try this class again next semester, even though witnessing my professor's heart attack should have definitely given me a passing grade. I was too traumatized to do well. It wasn't my fault.

I bit my cheek again. It was a little my fault.

***

"Ugh, you again? We never get any good rehearsing done when you're around," Harvey said as I walked into his garage with Jack.

"Ah, yes, because I am very distracting with the way I mind my own business most of the time," I said.

"What? Is that really what you think of yourself?"

I took my spot next to the space heater. It was already heating up the cool Oregon evening air. "Yep."

Jack laughed. I wasn't sure if that meant that he was on my side or Harvey's.

"So what are you guys working on tonight?" I asked, but no one answered me. The guys were already getting their instruments out of their cases.

I didn't get the rock scene, whether it was Jack's geology classes or his band, but if he tolerated me, then I could put up with just about anything for him.

"Do you guys have a gig or anything coming up soon? Anything cool on the horizon?" I asked.

"Nothing," Harvey said. "Trailfest really screwed us, you know?"

"And I'm sure that's somehow my fault too," I mumbled to myself. "Well, you could always try to switch it up. Jack can sing. It'll give you a different vibe."

"You're doing a great job of minding your own business," Harvey said again.

I looked over at Jack, who threw his guitar strap over his shoulder. Didn't he have anything to say?

"I'm trying to help, so I don't know why you don't like me. I'm literally your only fan," I said.

Harvey paused adjusting the microphone. It wasn't even plugged into anything. "It's because I don't trust you. You're up to something, and Jack may or may not know, but you're definitely doing something to screw us over."

"What?" I was definitely doing things that weren't related to the band, but talentless Harvey and the other two guys who still hadn't introduced themselves to me after a year were the least of my concerns. I pretty much only cared for Jack.

"Dude, she's harmless to everyone but herself," Jack said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, but no one acknowledged that point again. Had Jack just conveniently forgotten the lives I already ruined with the talisman?

Instead, Harvey talked over me. "It's just weird that you do so much for her when she's not even your girlfriend."

"Have you ever had a friend ever?" I asked. "I'm not about to explain friendship to you. If two-year-olds can figure it out, so can you."

"No, he's right. It's weird," one of the other bandmates said. I didn't even know they could talk. I didn't even know they could hear me.

"Then I'll just leave. I'm not trying to sabotage your imaginary careers if that's what you're concerned about," I said.

I wasn't sure where any of this was coming from, even though I definitely thought Harvey needed to take a seat and let Jack be the shiny new leader of the band. But did I really seem motivated enough to care that much about what happened to any of them? No. Not at all.

I warmed my hands at the heater for one last moment before I headed out the door. I would have to walk back to campus, and although it wasn't too far, it was still a little dark out and chilly.

A car sat parked on the side of the road, and if I hadn't just spent four hours in that car in the morning, I would have been a little more scared by it.

"Oh my god," I muttered. "I really need you to somehow figure out how to stop stalking me, Dominic."

"Don't you think I would if I could?" he replied.

But I didn't let that stop me from getting back in and telling him to take me back to campus away from Harvey and his conspiracy theory. It wasn't safe for someone like me to walk alone in the evening. Someone exactly like Dominic could follow me.

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Hello, and thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry that I was a slacker and didn't feel like writing, so I posted this on Friday to make up for it.

So for today's question, what is the best gift someone could possibly give you?

For me, the best gift ever would be millions and millions of dollars so I could just do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I would love that more than anything.