I flushed and looked away, trailing a finger over a crack in the worn steps. Because just like when Alex had asked me that before, I didn’t really know what the answer was. All I knew was that from the moment I’d first touched Seb’s hand and sensed him so strongly, I’d felt so incredibly drawn to him – and each day that passed had brought us even closer. He was such a basic part of my life now; I could hardly imagine being without him. I went cold as I thought of my dream, and the flutter that had gone through me the night before.

My god, I wasn’t falling in love with Seb, was I?

I shook the idea away in a daze. No. I wasn’t. Because I was with Alex, and that’s all there was to it. I loved Seb as a friend – that was all.

My stomach had gone guiltily tense anyway. “What time is it?” I asked, praying that Seb hadn’t been picking up on any of that.

He pulled out my phone again. “A little after two.”

Still no text. My gaze met his. Seb’s eyes were concerned; beyond that, I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking. I was glad, given the direction my own thoughts had been taking.

And I’d see Alex in less than an hour now. Anticipation mixed with dread. The textless screen on my cellphone seemed louder than any shouting from the night before.

Soon after that, Seb and I walked through the park and headed home, taking the Metro. I sat on the hard plastic seat in the crowded subway car, staring at the signs in Spanish. Home. It was the only word that fitted for where we were going...yet right then, it didn’t feel like a home at all.

“Okay, here’s the layout,” said Alex.

We were all in the firing range, gathered around Kara’s map of the cathedral. Alex had one hand resting on the table, his dark hair hanging over his forehead. He tapped the cathedral’s altar on the map. “About halfway through the service, the preacher will ask if anyone wants to be blessed by the angels; probably only about a dozen people will go up. Willow, I don’t want you and Seb to be the first ones, or the last either. Let a few other people go up first.”

He glanced at me as he spoke; his voice was neutral, professional. Deep down, his blue-grey eyes held a flicker of something else – mostly they just looked as if I was a member of his team and he was giving me instructions. I nodded, trying to focus on what was being said instead of my rigid muscles. Every word, every action of Alex’s confirmed it: his cellphone had not been turned off, and my text had not just vanished into the ether somehow.