Their simultaneous appearance made me even more uncomfortable. I tried to slip past them unnoticed, but Evander was already striding toward me. I moved left; he moved left. I moved right; he followed. The strong smell of alcohol hit my nose. Evander held a half-empty beer bottle, clearly drunk and unsteady.

Just as I was about to tell him to move aside, he suddenly hugged me. "Sorry, Zoe, but I love you," he mumbled. After a brief pause, he continued, "Let's pretend none of this ever happened and go back to the way things were, okay? I'll love you twice as much."

My mind went blank. I couldn't even dare...