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“Nothe ice in his cup ominously “I have to erase the et I ever met you…Jake”

“I repeat… about?”

“I’ about coffee! And Topher”

“Shh” I glanced at the neighboring table again, then leaned forward “Toffee?”

“Topher, you…you, scoundrel! We were sitting over there…in the corner” He pointed at the far side of the coffee shop “You ith a pretty girl with long blonde hair And you kissed her”

The vague description could have been Katie, so that partelse did

“Okay?”

“You ignored Topher You broke his heart, which he couldn’t care less about now that he’s happily attached to a hunky ex-football player At the time, he didn’t feel that way You hurt him And in my book, if you mess with rily

“Wait a second I didn’t—whoa” I squinted warily when he popped the top off his drink and rounded the table “What are you doing? Don’t even think about—”

Too late

He poured the icy coffee remnants of his drink over my head

“That was for Topher And me Good-bye…Jake the snake”

He nailedon his heels andout of the coffee shop to the sound of thunderous applause

Yep The whole da, and cheers while I sat there, in a state of utter shock, with ice cubes onfrom my hair

3

Blake

My first thought was that I’d narrowly escaped befriending a completely bonkerscold

I shot to rabbed a handful of napkins froar station near the front door, aware of a dozen or more pairs of eyes onYet as teers that what they’d witnessed had to be the result of a wild case of mistaken identity, my brain tripped over the name “Topher” It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it

Topher Topher

I swiped atat me as I pushed the door open and stepped outside Topher

I glanced right, then left, and—

Oh