He came back.
Three years later, he came back.
I step into the elevator. And then I extend a hand to hold the door. “Okay.”
It’s a silent ride to the ground floor. I’m embarrassed about sprinting out of the Walkers’ apartment, about how oddly I acted in the hallway. And that’s after I fell into the pool, shouted obscenities through Blitz Brews, and laid bare the sob story that is my past.
Honestly, I can’t believe this boy still wants to share space with me.
As we pass through the courtyard, I raise a question I’m not entirely sure I want answered. “How weird do you think I am?”
He replies without deliberation. “Exceptionally weird. But I’m weird too, so it’s cool.”
I smile. “My sister knows your dad.”
“Really? How?”
“I don’t know. They’re just…acquainted.”
He steps ahead of me and opens the door of the west tower. The lobby is cooler than the night outside, and my overheated face welcomes the artificially chilled air. I pause in front of the elevator’s silver doors, not wanting to be stuck in a small box while discussing what had to have been a casual smash between my sister and his dad.
Henry’s side-eye has become intense. “Acquainted how?”
I cringe.
He makes the leap.“Oh.”
“The day you got into town—that morning—your dad was at our apartment. It was early. He was drinking our coffee.”
He tilts his head, amused. “Howdarehe?”
I grin despite myself. “He’d obviously slept over. Which is fine. Whatever. They’re adults. Tati’s responsible to a fault. I’m sure they were safe and—are you laughing at me?”
He is. He’s cracking up.
“You think this is funny?!”
“No.No,” he says, fighting for composure. When he can’t manage it, he gives in to laughter. “Actually, yeah. It is funny. It’s fucking hysterical. Here we are trying to set them up, and they’re already boning.”
“They’re notboning.”
He’s still snickering. Watching him doubled over, nose pink with sunburn, makes me laugh too.
He’s right. Thisisfunny.
“I’m pretty sure it was only the one time,” I say once my giggles have subsided. “Tati was embarrassed when I called her out.”
“Embarrassed? But my dad’s the stud of the Towers. Just ask him.”
I give him a sympathetic smile. How are he and Davis even related?
Okay, but Icanappreciate their physical resemblance: wavy hair, cleft chins, tall frames, broad shoulders. The way they smile with charming self-deprecation. But their personalities seem to be an absolute contradiction.
“I’m glad he came home when he did,” I tell Henry, who’s leaning against the wall, gazing down at me. “Who knows when we would’ve connected the dots otherwise? Can you imagine if we’d set them up not knowing they’d already shared a bed?” I glance at my phone, and yeah, it’s getting late. I press the elevator button; Tati’s going to go apeshit if I don’t walk into the apartment in the next two minutes. “Looks like my sister will be in my face all summer. And you’d better invest in some sunblock, my friend.”
“Hang on,” Henry says. “Tati and Davis have hung out before—that means they’ve got chemistry. All they need now is a nudge into something more.”
“That feels…icky,” I say, watching the elevator’s illuminated numbers count down.
