"It's true. Vittoria told me. Their tummies can't handle it." She licks her cone, considering this tragedy. "So I'm gonna eat extra. For Princess Bun-Bun. Because she can't have any."
Nora chokes on her ice cream. Vittoria snorts so hard she nearly drops her cone.
And I laugh too.
Lily grins, pleased with herself for making the adults lose it.
"She's going to be trouble when she's older," Vittoria says, wiping her eyes. "I love it."
"She already is trouble," I admit. "The good kind."
We finish our ice cream while Lily tells us about the dragon story and the boy who sat next to her who smelled like cheese and how Princess Bun-Bun the Second is definitely going to be best friends with the real Princess Bun-Bun back home.
Home. She called the compound home.
Something twists in my chest. Fear, maybe. Or hope. I can't tell the difference anymore.
"We should do this again," Nora says as we gather our bags. "Next week, maybe."
"Yes!" Vittoria claps her hands. "Girls' day. Make it a thing."
They're both looking at me. Waiting.
They only hang out with you because you're sleeping with Nico. Because circumstances forced you together. Because they feel obligated.
But that's Jack's voice again. Not mine.
Maybe they do feel obligated. Maybe this whole thing falls apart when I'm no longer living under Sartori protection.
But maybe it doesn't.
"I'd like that," I say. And I mean it.
Vittoria beams. Nora nods, satisfied.
Lily reaches for my hand, sticky with strawberry ice cream, and I take it without hesitation.
Socialize more. I add it to my mental list, right under buy more medical textbooks and stop letting Jack live in your head.
Small steps. But they're mine.
Nico
Steam curls through the bathroom doorway like an invitation I didn't ask for but can't refuse.
I find her at the vanity, wrapped in one of my white towels, her damp hair twisted between her fingers as she works it into some kind of braid. The mirror reflects her concentration—brow furrowed, bottom lip caught between her teeth, completely unaware I'm watching.
Fucking beautiful.
Beautiful in a way that makes my chest ache, makes my hands curl into fists at my sides because I want to touch her so badly it physically hurts.
Water droplets cling to her shoulders. Her skin is flushed pink from the heat. She hums something under her breath.
I could stand here forever. Just watching. Just existing in the same space as her.
She turns, catches my reflection, and her hands still in her hair. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough." I push off the doorframe, step into the bathroom. "How was shopping?"
