“Stop this,” Kylie said.
Della ignored Kylie, lurched back, and yanked her finger out of the cold substance. She pretended to hand the carton to Miranda, but instead she threw it on the floor, and doing a vampire-speed polka dance, she stomped her boot heels in the Chunky Monkey until the witch would need a straw to slurp it up off the floor.
Miranda stood there, staring at the mess with fury in her large green eyes. “I skipped school to get that ice cream.”
Looking completely wacko, she held up her pinkie and it started to twitch.
“Stop this!” Kylie screamed.
“No. Let her do it!” Della put her face in Miranda’s. So close, her nose touched the witch’s. And that was kind of gross, because she had ice cream on it. At least she hoped it was ice cream and not …
“Don’t do it!” Kylie pulled Miranda back a step. “This could end so badly.”
Della held up her hand. “Stay out of it!” she told Kylie. “Let the witch turn me into a kangaroo, or give me pimples, I don’t care.”
Della glared back at Miranda. “You are my friend, damn it! And I’m not going to stand by and watch you eat yourself sick and get fat.”
“I don’t care if I get fat,” Miranda said.
“Well, I do!” Della snapped.
“You don’t understand,” Miranda sobbed.
“The hell I don’t!” Della said and suddenly tears filled her eyes. “Look, they left us! We didn’t want this. We didn’t ask for this. They should be the ones hurting, not us!”
“But I love—”
“I know you love him, but you don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve this! Steve and Perry basically told us the same thing—to figure out what we want. Well, damn it, that’s what you should do. You aren’t going to wallow around in this self-pity shit and get fat eating ice cream. You’re going to go on with your life and figure out what you want! And guess what? You just might figure out that you want better than Perry.”
“The vamp has a point,” Kylie said.
Miranda sniffled. “But I don’t want—”
“Look, I’m not saying go fall in love with someone else, but maybe flirt a little, open yourself up to the possibilities. You might even have fun.”
“Who am I going to flirt with? Everyone here knows that—”
“Well, flirt with someone who’s not here.”
“There’s no one I want to flirt with.”
And bam, Della remembered something she hadn’t told Miranda. About the warlock FRU agent who’d helped bury Chan. She had to search her brain for his name, but she found it. “How about Shawn Hanson?”
Miranda’s mouth dropped open. Then she slammed it shut. “You dirty little, blood-sucking vamp. You’ve been reading my diary?” The pinkie came back up. “I should, I should…”
“I haven’t read shit.” Della made a face. “But I would’ve if I’d known you had one. Where’s your diary? I’ll bet it’s got some good stuff in it.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Miranda snapped. “How else would you know about Shawn?”
“I know about him because I met him.”
“Liar!” she said, and looked at Kylie. “Turn vampire and check her heartbeat.”
Kylie shrugged. “I am vampire and she isn’t lying.”
Della smiled in victory. “Listen to the chameleon, she has a point.”
When Miranda didn’t say anything, Della continued. “Not only that, but when he said your name, he started polluting the air with all kinds of pheromones. The guy’s got a hard-on for you.”
“Now I know you’re lying.”
“I swear,” Della said.
Miranda made a face. “How would he even know you knew me? Where did you meet—?”
“He was helping out with Chan’s funeral. And he knew I knew you because everyone’s talking about the arrest and how you turned those five goons into kangaroos. He told me you were friends with his sister and that he’d always known you have more talent than you let people believe.”
Miranda’s eyes sparkled just a bit. “Everyone’s talking? Seriously, he really said that stuff about me being talented?”
Della made a gesture over her heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“And stick a needle in your eye if you’re lying?” Miranda asked.
“Yes, the needle, too,” Della said.
“And the pheromones … He really…?”
“I swear!”
Miranda dropped back into her chair. She sat there thinking for several seconds. Then her eyes lost the twinkle. “I still don’t want Shawn. I want Perry.”
“I know. But you can’t make yourself sick because Perry called it off until he comes back. Look at this time as a chance to make sure this is what you want. It’s hard. But darn it, go kiss a few toads and see if they turn into princes.”
Miranda folded her hands in her lap and then looked up at Della. “Are you going to do it?”
“I don’t know any toads,” Della said.
“No, I mean are you going to open yourself up and see if maybe Chase isn’t really a toad, but a prince?”
“I don’t think the Panty Perv is—”
“Stop right there!” Miranda stood back up and sent Della what some would call the stink eye—an evil glare. “You can’t destroy someone’s break-up ice cream, dish out advice, and then not follow it yourself.”
“The witch has a point,” Kylie said.
“Here’s another point,” Miranda added. “You haven’t called him the Panty Perv in a long time. Why is that?”
Because she’d stopped distrusting him so much, Della thought. And because he hadn’t said anything else about her panties, which was how he got the nickname in the first place. “Fine. I’ll follow my own advice.” In a way, she’d already been doing it. And maybe she should remember how much she’d distrusted Chase in the beginning, too.
“Pinkie promise.” Miranda held out her little finger.
Della locked pinkies with the witch, but she couldn’t help but wonder what the penalty was for breaking a pinkie promise. Yesterday, she’d let herself lean on the guy, today there’d be no leaning. Not until her doubts about the Panty Perv completely vanished.
“Say you promise,” Miranda repeated.