Ethan Cole didn't go outside the next day.
Not out of fear, but out of calculation. He'd spent the night researching marriage laws, engagement loopholes, and just how enforceable a public proposal was in the eyes of any functioning court system.
Turns out… not very.
Unless the other party was the daughter of a billionaire with an army of lawyers and a tendency to fund your dreams in exchange for implied compliance.
He stared blankly at his laptop. The cursor blinked on a document titled:
EXIT STRATEGY: WHY I AM NOT ACTUALLY ENGAGED
Footsteps padded across the front porch. Then a knock.
Not sharp. Not formal. Familiar.
He opened the door.
"Claire?"
Claire Monroe stood on his porch in a hoodie and jeans, a plastic container of cookies in one hand and a nervous smile on her face.
"Hey," she said. "I figured you might be in crisis."
He blinked. "You heard."
"Everyone heard. It's all over the class group chat. Also…" She held up her phone, where the video from the rooftop dare now had over 700,000 views on social media.
Someone had captioned it:"When the Ice Queen Says Yes 💍🔥 #PowerCouple #RealOrNot"
Ethan groaned.
Claire stepped inside. She'd been in this house hundreds of times before, but today, it felt like she belonged less.
"I brought cookies," she said, placing them on the table. "My mom says baked goods cure emotional blackmail."
Ethan sat on the couch. "It wasn't blackmail. It was… I don't know what it was."
Claire sat beside him. "You proposed to Isabella Wynn. The literal Ice Queen. Why?"
"It was a dare."
"That you followed through on," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Ethan. You're the guy who reads privacy policies before installing apps. And now you're accidentally engaged to the most intimidating girl in school?"
"She said yes before I could blink. And now her lawyer is calling my family."
Claire winced. "Yikes."
There was a moment of silence. The kind that was comfortable between them, but today felt heavier.
"So… is it real?" she asked quietly.
"I don't know," he admitted.
Claire looked away. "She's pretty."
"Cold."
"Smart."
"Dangerously."
Another pause.
"Do you like her?"
"I don't know her."
Claire nodded slowly. "Well… maybe now you will."
Ethan turned to look at her. She was smiling, but not quite. Something flickered behind her eyes—hurt, or regret, or something older.
"She's scary, Ethan. People don't talk to her. They talk around her."
"I know."
Claire stood, dusting off her jeans. "Just… be careful, okay? Girls like her don't usually say yes unless they already know the ending."
She started toward the door, then hesitated.
"You remember what you said in middle school? When I asked why you never dated anyone?"
Ethan frowned. "No."
"You said, 'I'm too busy building the future.'"
"That sounds like me."
Claire opened the door and looked back one last time.
"Well," she said softly, "Looks like your future just said yes."
Then she was gone.
Ethan stared at the door long after it closed.