The next morning, I woke up to the sound of Bell's hearty laughter. It freaked me out at first, waking up in a strange room to her cackle. Then I remembered where I was. Romeo's bedroom at his mom's house. The room he grew up in.

The room where he finally admitted his feelings for me.

Last night didn't feel real. But the pain in my chest reminded me it was. I could still feel his hand on my leg. See the sullen look on his face as he left the room. How did he think that would play out? Was I supposed to jump him right then and there? After three years of thinking he didn't see me as anything other than a friend?

I hated him.

But after I got changed and ready for the day, I smiled at both Bell and Romeo. They were in the kitchen, Bell's pantry door wide opened. Romeo had got an early start on cleaning it out. Boxes of cereal and soda and wholesale candy bars cluttered the counters. From what I could tell, Bell had a sweet tooth. Even now, she sat at the kitchen table, a tub of Red Vines in front of her at nine in the morning.

"Morning, Daya," she greeted me around a mouth full of candy. "I was just asking Jerome why you two drove down here so late? I was half asleep when you called. I would've said yes to anything if it meant I could go back to bed." She laughed again.

Romeo's eyes darted to me, slightly panicked, but I'd come prepared. "A scavenger hunt," I told her, pulling up the flyer on my phone after swiping away missed call notifications from my mom.

I know I said I'd tell her everything once she called. I would call her. After I met with Lamar. She'd just talk me out of it otherwise.

I came across the scavenger by sheer luck while I was stress cleaning last night after I read Lamar's email. The neon green flyer was tucked in with the junk mail I was about to toss out. I took it as a sign to go through with my plan. Why else would a perfectly good cover-up present itself?

"A Y2K themed scavenger hunt," Bell read from my phone. "It says here you must come dressed up." Her dark eyes took in my jeans and t-shirt. "That's not what you're wearing, is it? We can do better than that."

Before I could stop her, she was up the stairs, mumbling about a Juicy Couture tracksuit. Leaving Romeo and me alone.

"Breakfast?" He said, holding a box of Pop-Tarts out to me.

I guessed we were going to do what we did best. Pretending. Pretending the confession last night didn't happen. That I didn't yell at him. That our friendship wouldn't forever be changed. Fine by me.

We worked in silence, pulling things from the pantry and separating them into piles. Romeo had a bag off to the side full of things he planned to take with him to his dad's house. Occasionally, he'd hold something up for my opinion.

He did so now with a can of Vienna sausages. "Ew," I said, going back to checking the expiration date on a box of spaghetti noodles.

"Ew?" He repeated, sounding offended. "You ever have these with some hot sauce and crackers?"

I gave him a pointed look. "Ew."

He snuck the can into the bag, anyway. "What are we going to do?" He said after a pause.

I nearly dropped the arm full of frosting I had. Was he seriously bringing up last night?

"About the sperm donor, I mean."

After the frosting was safely on the counter, I turned to him. "We can go as soon as we're done with this."

We went back to emptying out the pantry. It was completely bare by the time Bell came back down, arms full of clothes. "I had to dig deep," she said, dropping the clothes on a chair. "But if you're going to dress like it's the early 2000s, then you're going to do it right."

She handed Romeo a pair of jean shorts and a blinding white t-shirt. Both items looked three times his size. For me, she held up a hot pink velour tracksuit.

Bell looked so happy to be helping us out, I felt guilty about us not actually going to the scavenger hunt. But to keep our cover, I accepted the clothes. "Thanks, Bell," I said, draping the items over my arm. "We separated everything and threw the expired things away. What did you want us to do with the rest?"

She waved her hands in the air like she was shooing away dust. "Oh, forget that," she said. "The scavenger hunt starts in two hours and there's still a lot to be done about your look. Jerome, baby, you can finish up here while I fix up Daya."

"Bell, that's not necessary--" my pleas were ignored as she ushered me up the stairs. But not before I caught the amused smirk on Romeo's face.

I was beginning to think Bell was in the early stages of becoming a hoarder. Like the garage and the pantry, her room was full of...stuff. She had a drawer full of unused make-up, boxes upon boxes of shoes, clothes still in shopping bags. It was like she robbed a mall.

She told me to take a seat at her vanity, where rows and rows of perfume were lined up across the surface. She placed her hands on my shoulders, catching my eye in the mirror.

When she didn't say anything, I got a sinking feeling in my gut that our little lie was about to be exposed.

"I overheard you last night."

Not what I was expecting. Knowing she heard me yelling at her son seemed to be a million times worse. "Oh."

She dug through the make-up drawer, pulling out way more than I've ever used in my life. I only just figured out the art of eyeliner. Bell seemed to know what she was doing, though.

"Trust me," she said, arranging her supplies on the vanity. "I know how frustrating the Hayward men can be. With Charles, it was the complaining. Everything was wrong if he had a say. Rashad likes to fight with any and everyone. He always had to talk back. Always had to have the last word. And Jerome, he's my baby. Always will be."

A warm smile spread across her face. I heard parents weren't supposed to pick a favorite child, but I had a feeling Romeo was hers.

She dabbed something on my face before continuing. "He has a big heart. Wants everyone around him to be comfortable and happy. That's why, back when he was in elementary school, he didn't eat at school for an entire year."

My curiosity got the better if me. "Why not?"

"Rashad," she said simply. "He stole Jerome's lunch money every day. Of course, Jerome didn't tell us this. We found out when we caught Rashad in the act." She shook her head as she swiped silver eyeshadow on my eyelids. "Even though he went hungry every day, he didn't tell us his brother was stealing his money. He didn't want Rashad to get in trouble."

Have I mentioned how much I absolutely hated Rashad?

"At that time, Charles and I were on the brink of divorce," she said. "We fought. A lot. Sometimes about Rashad doing so poorly in school and constantly being in trouble. In Jerome's mind, if he didn't tell on Rashad, then Charles and I wouldn't have anything to fight about."

My heart hurt at the thought of Romeo thinking he could save his parent's marriage by not ratting out his brother.

"Obviously, that wasn't the case," she told me. "But that's what Jerome does. He'll tear himself apart to make sure those around him are happy."

Bell went quiet again as she focused on doing my make-up. I let her words tumble around in my head, trying to understand what it meant. What did her story have to do with what I said last night?

Maybe it was a warning. Her way of letting me know that if I hurt her "baby" I'd be the next thing stuffed in her pantry.

She didn't explain the connection to me as she finished up my face. When she was done, she turned me to face the mirror. All I saw was shimmery eyeshadow and mega glossy lips. It was slightly horrifying. Was this really the trend back then?

Bell smiled triumphantly at her handiwork. I pretended I didn't want to immediately wipe my face clean and smiled back.

"Oh!" she gasped, reaching into the drawer once more. "We can't forget the glitter."

The what?

What Bell perceived as the popular trends in the early 2000s didn't match up to what all the stores were selling as the Y2K aesthetic. The make-up, the pink velour tracksuit, the glitter on every bit of my exposed skin--it was a lot.

But I wouldn't be alone in my humiliation. Romeo had changed as well. I found him up in his room. The white shirt he wore swallowed him up and the shorts he had on were so long they looked more like gauchos.

"Looks roomy." I bit down so hard on my lip to keep from laughing that I almost drew blood.

He gave me a bored look, then did a double take. My breath caught in my throat as he stared. He coughed, turning away. "You're going to blind someone with all that glitter."

I glanced down at myself. "I think that's the point."

We said bye to Bell and she wished us luck with the scavenger hunt we wouldn't be attending. It wasn't until we were in the car that I realized I was going to meet Lamar dressed like Paris Hilton (the blonde woman that Bell used as a reference for my make-up).

"I look ridiculous," I mumbled as Romeo pulled out the driveway.

"We both do."

"You're not meeting your sperm donor for the first time ever."

After a pause, he said. "You don't have to go see him."

"I want to," I said, programming Lamar's address into the gps.

"Why?"

"I told you why."

"I just mean," he said, turning onto the freeway like the automated voice instructed. "Sneaking out the house to see a man you never met in the middle of the night--that's not really you."

I let out a short laugh. "And you're the expert on me?"

"Not an expert," he said. "But you're afraid of everything. Storms, bugs, Barbie dolls--I thought going to see a stranger fresh out of prison would be on the list. I think there's something else going on and Lamar is an excuse."

Crossing my arms over my middle, I turned to him. "An excuse for what?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking," he said. "Is this really about Indy or is something else going on?"

His questions made my skin feel too tight. "Is this about last night?" I shot back. "If you're trying to talk me out of seeing him so that you don't have to drive me around, whatever. Just drop me off the first chance you get and I'll figure out how to get there myself."

"Forget I said anything."

"It's what I'm best at," I mumbled, leaning my head against the window.

● ● ●

We were off the freeway and driving through neighborhoods of houses coated in fading, chipped paint. The closer we got to Lamar's place, the stronger my urge to tell Romeo to turn the car around grew. He was right. Going to see a strange man was a dumb idea.

But it was more than that. It was going to see a strange man whose DNA made up half of me. A man who knew I existed and wanted no part in my life.

As much as I tried not to let it, his rejection was embedded in me. It made me second guess all men in my life. Which hadn't been many because guys usually kept their distance. Like I radiated some sort of vibe that let them know I wasn't worth the trouble.

But Andre didn't stay away. Neither did Romeo. Still, there was a voice at the back of my skull telling me Andre was in it for the chase, a kiss, and he got it. Romeo just didn't want to share and if Andre wasn't in the picture, he would've kept his feeling to himself. Neither of them wanted me.

A hand enclosed mine. I turned to Romeo, his eyes flicking between me and the road ahead. "You're bleeding."

I looked down at the hand he held. A small amount of blood was smeared on my thumb. I must've been scraping at the polish without realizing and got my actual skin by mistake.

Pulling my hand out of his, I wiped away the blood and sat up to take in our surroundings. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost," he said, eyes lingering on me longer now that were at a stoplight. "You sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah," I said, pulling my sleeves over my hands. We were so close. And I wasn't leaving without answers.