Elias laughs softly. “My sister’s obsessed with the idea of you being an American frat boy, and my brother keeps watching videos of our matches on YouTube.”
“Your sister’s going to be disappointed. You should bring Nate home, she’d be impressed by him.”
Something flickers across his face. He smothers it, but I already saw it.
“What’s wrong?”
He stops and faces me. “I know you had a crush on Nate.”
I freeze. “Who told you?”
“No one did. I guessed it the second I saw you looking at him at that sorority party.”
“Elias, I?—”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I just want to know one thing.”
I nod.
“Do you still have feelings for him?”
I answer quickly and honestly. “No. I don’t. And to be honest, I think my feelings for Nate were always friendship-based. I think I liked the idea of having a boyfriend and Nate was someone I cared about deeply as a friend and the person closest to me at the time.”
“You don’t have to say that. I’ll understand if you had feelings for him before you met me. It’s not something I can be angry about. A little jealous, maybe.” He smiles.
“I know. I can’t say for certain either way, but I really do think if we ever got together, it would have been weird. You know like when Ross and Rachel kiss for the first time onFriendsand keep laughing?”
“Don’t they end up together in the end?”
“Yeah, but personally, I think they had zero chemistry.”
“Don’t tell me you shipped her with Joey?”
“God no, that was practically incest!”
He laughs and tugs me closer, pulling me into a bear hug.
“Mmm,” I purr like a kitten, smiling to myself over Elias’ animal-based nicknames for me. “If I’m sparrow, you’re eagle.”
He laughs. “Eagle? That’s not a thing.”
“I don’t get it.” I raise my head, catching a view of him from below.
“You should call me whatever comes naturally to you.”
I groan. “You know I always call you baby, but it’s not as cute as your names for me.”
“Yes, it is. Because it’s whatyoucall me.”
My phone buzzeswhen we get to the hotel.
Sleepover party in Nate’s room.
I snort.
“What?”
“Wanna take part in one last hurrah before graduation?”
