tongue back inside my mouth. Looking down, I see that I’m covered in my dinner, and Warren’s dress shirt didn’t fare much better. My dress is crooked, my shoelaces are undone, and I don’t even want to know the state of my face or hair.
“Well, that was...fun?” I say hopefully.
Warren scoffs.
Blue and Harvey aren’t listening, since they’re locked in another heated debate, this time about mud wrestling.
“Oh, please. I was a champion in college. I could kick your scrawny white ass,” Blue tells him.
“Care to prove it?” Harvey challenges with a grin.
She shrugs, making one of the straps to her overalls flop down her arm. “Let’s go.”
“What, right now?” he asks, looking increasingly giddy.
“Yup. I know a place,” she says as she turns and starts walking away. “Unless you’re chickening out?” she tosses over her shoulder.
Harvey watches her with a bit of awe in his eyes before giving us a sheepish look and trailing after her.
I blink at her departing back as she heads down the sidewalk. I’m not about to interrupt a potential Love Match between the two of them or anything, but I’m pretty sure I just got dick-ditched. Not to mention, she just left with the wrong guy. Oh, well. At least someone got something out of tonight’s date.
I look over at Warren. “All in all, I’d say you earned a solid C tonight.”
He puts his hands in his pockets and looks down at me. “I’m getting graded now?”
“Well, yeah. How else am I supposed to show your improvement?”
He shakes his head. “You are an enigma.”
I’m fairly certain he doesn’t mean that as a compliment, but I’m going to take it as one anyway.
“And you aren’t as much of an asshole as you want everyone to think you are,” I reply.
Warren frowns at my declaration. “Yes, I am.”
I shake my head. “Nope. You helped me up, fed my flaming tongue some ice cream, and paid off the restaurant so I wouldn’t get into trouble. That’s the Warren Knight I knew was in there,” I tell him proudly.
He rubs the back of his neck like my compliments are embarrassing him. “Right. Well, I’d rather not have a repeat of tonight.”
I nod emphatically. “Same. The next time I come here, I’m definitely not going to point-order. Spicy foods are obviously not my thing.”
The smallest twitch of his lips happens at the corner. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Warren Knight wanted to smile.
“And what exactly is your thing?” he asks.
I tilt my head. “You know, that is an excellent question. I need to make a list.”
I may have a ticking clock, but I just realized what an excellent opportunity I have. I get to be alive again, so what better way to celebrate that for the next few weeks than by doing as many things as I can?
“List?”
I nod emphatically and start thinking of all the things I can do before going back to the Veil. I start listing off things in rapid succession. “I want to step into the ocean, pet a dog, crowd surf…”
“Crowd surf?”
“Definitely,” I say. “What else...Oh! I want to try a vibrator. I’ve heard they’re amazing.”
Warren opens his mouth like he wants to say something, but then closes it and tugs at his collar.
“Get a massage...take a pottery class,” I go on. “Go to a movie theater, oh, do a body shot! And go skinny dipping, jump in a bounce house, play poker, go to a roller derby, play a video game, and... umm…” I wrack my brain. “Hold a snake. That seems fun.”
He blinks at me for a few seconds like he’s waiting to see if I’m going to continue or not. “Is that it?”
“That’s all I can think of at the moment.”
He looks relieved. “That’s quite a list.”
“I know! It’s gonna be awesome. Do you have a list?”
He stares at me for a beat. “Like a bucket list? No.”
“You should, they’re fun,” I tell him with enthusiasm.
My very own live my second life to the fullest to-do list. I’ll be able to do so many things. My stomach flips in excitement at the thought.
Oh, wait.
That’s not excitement.
I look up at Warren in horror as I feel it.
My stomach clenching. My throat spasming.
Disaster is imminent.
Acidic, burning, vile fluid comes rushing up from my gut, and vomit suddenly starts spewing out of my mouth in an uncontrollable explosion.
Colorful chunks of vegan sandwich and a way too spicy Moroccan stew dish jump out of my throat like a damned jack popping out of