At minute two of the episode, the doll comes to life. Leo offers his hand. I push it away. When the doll opens its mouth to show a row of sharp metal teeth, I grab his whole arm.
“Don’t look.” Leo puts his free hand in front of my face.
I close my eyes when I hear the doll’s teeth gnashing together. Jay yelps in pain.
“Welp, I’m out.” I say.
“Wait. It’ll be over soon.” Leo pulls my head against his shoulder.
Leo’s hand stays cupped behind my head. The doll takes a few more bites out of Jay, based on the sounds coming from the TV. I wince every time she yelps in pain. At least until Leo’s thumb gently starts to stroke the skin behind my ear. I slowly melt into his shoulder even as the action continues to ratchet up on the screen. Leo’s thumb suddenly freezes, but he doesn’t push me away. He lets my forehead stay on his muscular shoulder. The soft cotton of Leo’s long-sleeved shirt brushes against my lips. In the low light, I can see Leo’s breathing quicken as Jay races against the clock to defeat the yōkai controlling the doll. Despite the horror going on in Jay’s world, my little bubble with Leo feels safe. It refills my well. Even if I couldn’t hear the creepy music swelling, I can feel the tension building in Leo’s body.
“KUSO!” Leo jumps so much at whatever happened on the screen that the top of his shoulder cracks me in the chin. “Sorry, Koty. You okay?”
I rub my thumb across my lower lip, which collided with my upper teeth. No blood comes off. “Yeah.”
I don’t let go of Leo, but I do watch Jay destroy the yōkai. Leo lets out a tired sigh and flops back like he’s the one who had to kitsunebi—Jay’s signature move—the yōkai himself. Leo turns his head to look at me. He tips his head to the side until our heads touch. If he rotated a little more, our lips would touch. My stomach is a knot of contradictions. I have no right to be in his bubble, but he’s also not pushing me away. It feels good, so we rest in comfortable silence.
“Koty?” Leo says as he reaches across my body.
I close my eyes expecting his lips on mine. Instead, I get a light in my face when Leo turns on my bedside table lamp instead. I wince.
“I am so weirded out right now.” Leo thankfully clarifies, “By the show. That episode was wild. Can we watch cat videos for a while to clear my brain?”
“Sure.” I look around my room for my phone. Then I realize I left it downstairs in the kitchen next to the refrigerator when I was getting the root beers out.
“Here, we can do it off the tablet.” Leo’s arm brushes against my chest as he reaches across me to grab the tablet off my bedside table. He colors. “Sorry.”
I have no words. At least ones that wouldn’t make things even more awkward between us. Leo pulls up YouTube but keeps it on the tablet instead of casting it to the TV. We both sit up. Side by side with less than a centimeter between us, but not touching.
“Awwww, that one looks like Maru,” I say to change the energy of the room.
We watch a good fifteen minutes’ worth of cat videos in the low light of my table lamp. I glance at Leo. His eyelids fight to stay open. Finally, his head falls to the right until it rests on my shoulder. A small snore escapes his lips. I push the hair off Leo’s forehead and lean over until my lips are a fraction of a millimeter above his skin.
“I love you,” I whisper.
I’m going to pretend whatever nonsense he mumbled back was, “I love you too.”
Just as I am beginning to nod off too, Mrs. Matsuda yells up the stairs, “Leo! It’s time for us to go.”
“Leo? Koty?” Mom says, and the sound of booted feet echoes up the stairs.
“Leo.” I gently shake him. “My mom is coming.”
“What time is it?” Leo, with his eyes barely open, wipes the side of his mouth with his hand. “Sorry, Lindsay.”
“Dude.” I shove him.
“I mean Dakota.”
Leo scoots off the end of my bed. He has his shoes back on by the time Mom cracks open my door after only one knock. Leo yawns and picks up the tray.
“Honey, you don’t have to do that,” Mom says to Leo.
“Habit.” Leo balances the tray on his shoulder so that he can slide his phone in his back pocket. In one swoop, he collects the empty root beer bottles and empty Twix bag and heads out the door.
“I’ll get the pizza box.” I jump off my bed.
Mom gives us a weird look. Maybe because Leo has bedhead? I race out of the room before Mom can ask why my bed is so disheveled and my pillows are all over the floor.
I follow Leo into the kitchen. My phone still sits face-up on the counter. Leo can see as well as I can that I have ten texts from Alex and three missed calls. Leo rinses out the root beer bottles before putting them in our recycling bin. He’s reaching for the pizza box when my phone goes off again.
“Shouldn’t you get that?” Leo says.
“I’ll call him back in a minute.” I don’t want to come out of my Leo Bubble. Not quite yet. For both of us.
“So, is Alex going to come at me now?” Leo whispers, half-serious.
“No, I told him we were hanging out.” My phone lights up with yet another message from Alex. “He’s got some family drama going on at home right now. That’s all. I’ll call him back in a sec.”
“We should get going,” Mrs. Matsuda says, and we follow the moms back to the front door.
They do their usual “we need to do this more often” speech as they hug each other.
When Mrs. Matsuda leans in to hug me next, she says in a stage whisper, “I like Lindsay, but I like my Koty-chan better. A lot better.”
“Mom!” Leo says.
“Oyasumi,” Good night. Still deep in the Leo Bubble, I don’t think twice about hugging him. A full, frontal hug this time.
Leo doesn’t hug me back. The bubble begins to dissipate as reality sets back in. Once he gets his mom out the door, Leo stops and turns around. He steps back into me.
“Oyasumi.”
Leo gives me a full, frontal hug back. That’s something that hasn’t happened in a long time. Something that makes the conflicted knots in my stomach even tighter.
As the Matsudas drive away, my phone goes off again.
“Dakota, it’s almost midnight,” Mom says. “Go to bed.”
ME
Mom is on me because it’s so late. Chat tomorrow right after school?
ALEX
Oh, okay. Sure.
ME
Night.
ALEX
Miss you. Night.
When I crawl into bed fifteen minutes later, I pull the pillow Leo was using closer to me. It smells like Leo’s shampoo mixed with chocolate. I wrap my arms around it and pretend like Leo is still here. Tomorrow can be complicated. Tonight, I’m going to stay in the Leo Bubble because it feels good here.
Chapter
21
Lindsay slides into her seat—my old seat—in Japanese class, interrupting Leo’s and my heated debate about the Top 5 worst yōkai. Leo drops me like a hot potato.
“You okay, babe?” Leo says to Lindsay, concern etching his face. “You didn’t answer any of my texts this morning.”
“Yeah, Mom and I had a big blow-up during breakfast, so that made both of us super late, but good news.” Lindsay laces her fingers through Leo’s. “We can have our date on Friday. Valentine’s Day is on.”
“Oh,” Leo says.
“It’s not on?”
“Maybe?” Leo pulls at the collar of his shirt with his free hand. “Bree, the lunchtime waitress, quit yesterday. She was the one who was supposed to work for me Friday night since Aurora will be in California with the winter drumline.”
“But it’s our first Valentine’s Day.”
“I’m sorry, Lindsay.”
“Why does this always have to be so hard?” Lindsay collapses over her desk with a dramatic sigh.
Leo’s plea telegraphs over the top of Lindsay’s back to me. Help me.
I shrug and shake my hea
d side to side.
“It’s going to be okay, babe.” Leo strokes her hair. “We’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day on Monday when I’m off.”
Lindsay looks up. “Do you know what I had to do to get Mom and Dad even to agree to Friday? We aren’t supposed to be going out at all, remember? So could you try a little harder on your end, please? I can’t do this by myself all the time.”
The bell rings, trapping me literally in a front-row seat to Leo and Lindsay’s teenaged soap opera.
I have never been so glad to see Iwate-sensei in my life.
“Minna,” Iwate-sensei says to get our attention. “Before we get started today, does anybody have their second installment for the Japan trip?”
Leo wisely takes the opening and bolts. After Jax turns in his check, Leo hands Iwate-sensei a bulging envelope with two hands and a small bow. Iwate-sensei says something serious to him that is way above everybody else’s language level before turning to us and dumbing it down.
“Mina-san, okane o motte konaide kudasai.” Iwate-sensei makes an X with her forearms while telling us not to bring cash like Leo did. She picks up Jax’s parents’ check and opens her hand to it. “Sensei ni chekku o kudasai.”
I pull my check out of my wallet as Leo sits back down.
“Have you ever done a cashier’s check?” Leo says. “My parents were … too busy to go to the bank with me yesterday.”
I presume he’s talking to me and not Lindsay who is still flopped over her desk between us. I shake my head.
Lindsay sits up. “I wish you weren’t going this year. It would have been more romantic going together senior year.”
“Yeah, I know, but I already made the deposit for this year’s trip. If you’d given me a heads-up sooner that you liked me, I wouldn’t have made the deposit,” Leo lies. Or maybe he’s not.
They are still problem-solving Valentine’s Day when I get back from paying Iwate-sensei.
“I bet you and Alex are doing something romantic for Valentine’s Day.” Lindsay’s voice has an edge to it.
“Yep, super romantic. Alex is modeling tuxes for me. And my parents. And Phil. And the entire crew. If we’re lucky, Alex and I might get to steal a romantic moment over corn dogs from Sonic on the way home. Woo.” Though this is a distinct possibility, I’m going to try a little harder now to make sure my first real Valentine’s Day does not go this way.
While Iwate-sensei finishes up the Japan trip prep, I send Alex a text.
ME
Sure you’re okay about Friday? It’s not exactly a romantic way to spend Valentine’s Day.
ALEX
Unconventional but memorable.
Lindsay only shuts up about Valentine’s Day when Iwate-sensei threatens her with detention. That adds lightning to the black clouds already thundering over her head. I bolt for the door as soon as the bell rings.
Leo slides in across from me at our lunch table a few minutes later with a sigh. “I’d like to thank you for, if not making me look good, at least not making me look as bad back there.”
“You’re welcome.” It comes out more as a question than a statement.
“So what are you doing for Valentine’s Day for real?”
“Why?” I pop open the box with my tuna sandwich in it.
Leo pulls out one of his sad PB&Js. “Because I want to steal your idea. Or at least put my own spin on it.”
“Hate to disappoint you, but Alex is going to Tucson for the weekend for his cousin’s wedding. Friday night corn dogs might be it.”
“We could team up and pretend that celebrating Valentine’s Day on the seventeenth is like the next big thing in Hollywood. We’re not late. We’re ahead of the curve. Yeah.”
“Alex has a game on Monday. And even if he didn’t, bringing your BFF on your Valentine’s Day date is a really bad idea.”
Leo lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Go back to your original date idea.” I flash back to the only part of my date with Jake Yong that didn’t completely suck. “The whole cook-for-her-and-then-look-at-stars thing. Throw in a single rose. Maybe some strawberry-flavored ice cream mochi to stay on theme. Boom. Valentine’s Day saved. There is one special thing that girls love. No, I can’t tell you. It would be breaking Girl Code.”
“What, Koty?” Leo leans in. “You’re allowed to share insider information with your BFF. I’m desperate here.”
I lean closer and look side to side before whispering, “Ojiichan’s garlic pickles.”
Leo flicks me in the head.
I laugh even harder. “Dude, I am absolutely the last person you should be taking dating advice from.”
Leo sits back and crosses his arms. “Yeah, but at least you get it—what it’s like working in the family business and all the social-life-killing baggage that comes with it. If Alex were in my shoes, you wouldn’t be mad at him for working on Friday. We’d celebrate on Matsuda Monday, and everybody would be happy. No drama or guilt trips necessary.”
Leo bites his bottom lip. He’s said too much. Way too much.
“If I were Alex,” Leo adds, dropping his eyes.
Because we always tell each other the truth, I go with, “Yeah, if you were Alex. But you’re not.”
“Yep, definitely not.”
The energy is so off at our table that when Lindsay arrives with her tray, she looks at me and then Leo.
“Did I miss something?” Lindsay sits down and wraps her arm around Leo’s back.
“No.” Leo’s lips brush against Lindsay’s temple.
“Don’t be baka, Leo. Of course she’d love it,” I say, and when Leo looks rightfully confused, I add, “Leo wants to come over to your house on Monday and make you dinner for a belated Valentine’s Day. I suggested that he cook for your whole family. That way, maybe they’d let you guys go stargazing or something after dinner for a little bit.”
Lindsay’s lower lip quivers. She throws her arms around Leo. “That would be the most romantic thing anybody has ever done for me.”
“You deserve it and a whole lot more.” As Leo hugs Lindsay back, he mouths “Thank you” over her shoulder to me.
I shrug.
“Wait until you see my gift for you!” Lindsay squeals.
“Gift?” Leo’s panicked look probably mirrors mine.
Nevaeh drops their tray of cheese pizza on the table with a thud and sits next to me. “Valentine’s Day is such a made-up, BS holiday.”
“So, your coffee date with Jax’s college friend went that badly?” I say.
Nevaeh scoffs. “I’m not looking for a hookup. I’m looking for a relationship.”
I put an arm around Nevaeh’s shoulders and give them a squeeze. “Hang in there, Nev. The perfect person is out there for you. Be patient.”
“Yeah, we can’t all have that perfect partner in their life since, you know, birth.” Nevaeh cuts their silver-lined eyes at me. “Some of us have to work harder than that.”
Chapter
22
I don’t know what other people learned in school on Friday, but I spent the whole day second-guessing my Valentine’s gift for Alex. Especially after Lindsay rolls into Japanese class with a giant gift basket for Leo. Like, you could cart a baby elephant around in that thing.
“Did I miss that today was your birthday?” I tease Leo.
Leo pulls at the collar of his shirt. “Wow, babe, this is…”
“Extra,” Jax says, and I silently agree with him.
“Hey, I brought chocolate for you guys too.” Lindsay pulls a box filled with Hershey’s Kisses out of her backpack and gets up to distribute them to our classmates.
“Movie tickets, some headphones, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and oh look, some Sour Patch Kids. Yum yum.” I poke through the basket as Leo turns redder and redder. “What’s in the tiny gift bag?”
“Dakota!” Lindsay yells from across the room. “That’s private!”
As Jax and I both crane our necks to see inside, Leo peeks into the tiny, sparkly red g
ift bag. He quickly closes the bag and puts it deep in his backpack.
“What did you buy Alex for Valentine’s Day?” Leo rolls up his sleeves, trying to release some heat before he spontaneously combusts.
“I didn’t.”
“I thought you guys were officially a thing.”
“Um, I think so. I don’t think Alex is dating anybody else at his school. Also, I didn’t buy him anything. I made it.”
“Of course you did.” After a beat, Leo adds, “How many power tools did it require?”
“Shut up.” But because he knows me so well, I add sheepishly, “Two. Three if you count the sanding drum attachment on the Dremel.”
“Do we get to see it, or is it private?”
I pull up the picture on my phone.
“Wow, Koty, that’s amazing.” Leo blows up the picture of the license-plate-sized sign I made that says SANTOS, #7, and the year in different-sized but coordinating fonts. I debated how to sign my work on the back for hours. Finally, I just signed my name like I do on all my fans’ requests. Well, unless someone sticks a body part in my face. That’s a hard no from me.
“Sugoi!” Iwate-sensei does a double-take when she sees the enormous basket on Lindsay’s desk. She picks up the tag that reads in size-72, glittery Papyrus font, I LOVE YOU, LEO!
So extra.
“Matsuda-san, you know that in Japan it is a newer custom that all men who receive chocolate on Valentine’s Day must reciprocate the gift on March 14 for White Day. Only, you must give a gift two to three times greater in value than what you received.” Iwate-sensei pats Leo on the shoulder. “Gambatte ne.”
I laugh at sensei wishing Leo good luck on that. Leo shakes his head.
* * *
Even though Nevaeh and I prod him at lunch before Lindsay arrives, Leo won’t tell us what’s in the bag.
“C’mon, we’re BFFs. I’m dying here,” I try again when we are alone after school.
Leo skateboards down the street with the ridiculous gift basket in his hands, but he won’t budge.
“I know. It’s a man thong,” I tease.
Leo stumbles off his skateboard. “First: Wrong. Second: Ew. Third: Nobody needs that visual.”
Faking Reality Page 19