“OH MY GOD, are you serious?” Violet shrieked, bounding back over clutching an assortment of cans she dumped unceremoniously onto the coffee table. “That’s amazing! Are you into performance art? I heard Lucius Scott is going to be doing something new soon. Do you know him too?”
Theo blinked at her. “Uh…actually, yeah, I do?”
“Holy shit.You’re so cool.” Violet leaned forward with deepinterest. “I really want to see your stuff, you know. You’re almost impossible to Google. I only found, like, one article about you from a while back, and the pictures of your paintings in it weren’t high quality. Surely you have a portfolio or something?”
Theo rolled his lips together. And then he raised an eyebrow.
That was an idea if ever she’d seen him have one.
His eyes glittered with deep mischief.
“What was it you do again, Violet?”
It was her turn to recoil and blink in surprise. “I studied fashion design and work at a department store’s corporate offices. Why?”
“Oh.Perfect.” From the way his head tilted, he must have been struggling to hide a smirk. “You know what? I need a favor. Do you think you could help me with something?”
She hummed with wary interest. “Maybe. What is it?”
“Well, I was thinking…” Theo trailed off and chewed on his bottom lip. “Tell you what: give me your phone. I’ll text it to you.”
“OHO!” Violet ripped it out of her pocket and shoved it at him with glee. “Secret favors? Intrigue? You know I’m already in.Give me your number.”
“Sure thing.”
“It’s gonna cost you, though.”
“I expected nothing less.”
“Oh no,” Audrey groaned, burying her face in her hand as Theo typed his number into Violet’s contacts. “Maybe this was a mistake. I never should have introduced you two.”
“Can’t take it back now.”
The smugness dripped from her roommate’s voice.
“But anyway, as I was saying—should I grab us snacks? Are you hungry? And OH, THEO, what did you think of—”
His fingers twitched and tightened in Audrey’s after he passed the phone back to Violet, and he leaned down and buried his face inher shoulder when her roommate darted back over to the kitchen, an endless stream of art-world gossip tumbling from her lips while she gathered chips from the cupboard.
But no matter how many times Audrey saw him reach for his pocket, he still didn’t replace his mask for the entire hour he stayed.
Twenty-One
The sound ofthe crowd in the auditorium rumbled backstage.
It vibrated through Audrey’s feet, her chest, her fingertips, the low-grade hum of thousands of people talking punctuated by cheers rising periodically higher for someone as they crossed the stage.
Air horns.
Shrill whistles.
Whooping screams and enthusiastic catcalls.
The cries of big families, large friend groups, every proud supporter here and celebrating as the graduates crossed the stage and left school behind for good, off to pursue new lives and careers on fresh horizons.
It had been a few weeks since Theo’s reconciliation with his mom. They were actively going to therapy, but he’d scheduled those extra sessions in the mornings while Audrey worked, so she saw him a little less at the café than usual—a huge departure from their routine earlier in the fall. But that was all right.
Because these days, she spent all her free time with him.
