The First to Die at the End

by Adam Silvera

“I was walking through the Square, and that Death-Cast presentation caught my eye—” “And then I did too!” “Do you want to tell the story of how I thought you were cute or do you want me to?” “Are you for real asking a storyteller if he wants to tell—” “Anyway, I saw you—” “But you didn’t say hi!” “Probably because I knew I wouldn’t get a word in!” I zip up my lips and hand Valentino the make-believe key. He clenches it in his fist. “Knowing my luck, I’ll probably lose it like my phone.” Valentino looks over his shoulder as if there’s a chance he’s going to find his iPhone on the ground just waiting for him. “I didn’t say hi because I didn’t know that was a thing that people actually do. But I’m really glad you did what I didn’t have the heart to do.” I want to snatch the key out of his hand so I could ask him if the pun was intended, or to rag on how he definitely doesn’t want my busted heart, but Valentino unlocks my lips with his own.