I hopped out onto the sidewalk. “This place is so cute.” I could see through the windows that encircled the diner on the corner. The floors were black and white checkered and the booths were bright red. As we walked inside, it felt like we’d walked into a diner from the 60s. The smiley waitress guided us to a table. I slid into the booth and was surprised when Jacob slid in next to me.

I smiled up at him. “So what do you recommend?”

“Oh definitely a banana split.”

We placed our orders and Jacob laughed when the waitress walked away.

“Scar, it’s hardly a banana split if you only order chocolate ice cream with it.”

“What? Of course it is. A banana is still split in half on it.”

“That’s just a banana with chocolate ice cream.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Don’t be a barbarian and eat my extra chocolate ice cream when you run out after only one scoop.” I lightly nudge him with my shoulder.

He laughed and put his arm behind me on the back of the booth. He wasn’t touching me, but I could feel the heat radiating from his arm.

“I noticed you’re not wearing Axel’s jacket today,” he said.

I laughed awkwardly. “Yeah. I need to return that.”

“So there’s nothing going on between you two, right?”

I got why he was asking. But I really reeeeally didn’t want to talk about Axel right now. At the same time though, I also kind of needed to. If Jacob somehow found out about Operation Too Hot to Handle, specifically Phase Incest, he’d be so hurt. And I needed to be preemptive about this. I exhaled slowly.

“Oh no,” Jacob said. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“No, it’s not bad. Just...um...” My voice trailed off. “Look, I may have had a crush on Axel for a bit.”

“Just a bit, huh?” Jacob raised his eyebrow. “More like forever.”

I groaned. “Was it that obvious?”

“To everyone but him I think.”

This was mortifying. I hadn’t realized that everyone else knew. I was so pathetic. “I need to tell you something, but I need you to promise to just hear all of it before you react.”

“Okay...”

“At the start of this year, Sophie and I came up with Operation Too Hot to Handle.”

Jacob laughed. “You two and your operations. What was this one about?”

“It was about me changing up my look. You know.” I gestured to my face that wasn’t hidden beneath glasses.

“Trust me, I’ve noticed your new look.” He smiled.

And that just made my stomach twist with guilt. “The new look was to win over Axel. But it completely backfired.”

Jacob pulled his eyebrows together.