We went back to soaking up the sun, but before long, my phone buzzed with a text from Alex.Just got out of my meeting with Penny, it said.We talked more about my salutatorian speech than the prank. She also asked how Taggart was doing under lock and key.
What did you say?I wrote back.
That he was just dandy, he said.Because you were visiting him.
My heart twisted and I started rolling up my towel. “I’ve gotta go,” I said to my friends. “Update me if anything interesting happens.” I nodded at a nearby circle of sophomores, who were currently theorizing that the Almanacs had somehow been swindled away during the day. Because howelsewould the Jester have gotten into the yearbook office?
My friends exchanged amused, knowing glances.
We’re not really back together, I almost said.It’s only an act.
Although after our “interview” with Penny last night, Tag and I’d fallen asleep on FaceTime together. We’d done that all the time while we were dating. Neither of us ever wanted to be the first to say good night.
Grundy House, or the senior guys’ dorm, looked like a converted Georgian manor: faded red brick with a side-gabled roof, four chimneys, and a symmetrical grid of tall, white-framed windows. I bypassed the front entrance and went straight for the first-floor corner room. Rather than transparent windowpanes, Tag and Alex’s were stained glass, so you couldn’t catch much movement inside their inner sanctum. I battled my way through the bushes to find a nondescript wooden stool waiting underneath the window.How convenient, I thought, shaking my head before climbing up to knock on the colored glass.
“I’m sorry,” Tag wearily called, “but per the order of Ames, I’m trying very hard not to connect with people right now.”
“Have you been rewatchingSchitt’s Creek?” I asked when he hoisted up the window, recognizing David’s famous line.
“Possibly,” he replied, unable to make eye contact. I blushed; he was checking me out in my bikini top and shorts. My friends and I had really committed to getting our vitamin D.
I licked my lips. “Possibly?”
Tag blinked and ran a hand through his hair before our eyes locked. Today’s sunshine brought out the green in his irises. “I’m halfway through season four,” he admitted.
“I see,” I commented as a cat leapt onto the windowsill. Black with white paws, she could only be the beloved but prohibited Stevie. Tag swept her into his arms to protect her from the outside world. “What do you guys do during room inspections?” I asked.
“We have a system,” he said and proceeded to explain. I smiled at the part where Stevie was temporarily smuggled out of the room in a laundry bag. “Anyway…” Tag kissed Stevie’s head before depositing her back on the floor, “What’s up? Has Daniel detonated yet?”
“Not quite,” I said. “I just wanted to see how you were doing.” My stomach stirred. “And, um, you know, maybe talk?” I pointed to the wide windowsill. “May I sit?”
Tag nodded and backed up a few steps so I had room to arrange myself on the ledge. My flip-flops fell to the ground, and by the time I’d found a comfortable position, he’d perched on the corner of his and Alex’s pool table. He took a deep breath. “Where should we start?”
Cheeks still warm, I helplessly shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s so much.”
“Yeah,” Tag agreed, rubbing his forehead. “Yeah, there is.”
Both of us were quiet for a moment before something struck me. “Alex mentioned you had a hypoglycemic attack last year,” I said. “What happened? Where was it? Here?”
“No,” he told me. “It wasn’t here; it was during spring break.”
My pulse pitched.Spring break.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, because spring break had been in March, and I hadn’t broken up with Tag until April. We were still together. Falling apart, definitely, but the thread hadn’t snapped. It had never truly snapped.
Tag shook his head. “It wasn’t a big deal. Alex was with me.”
“But he wasn’t the only one,” I said, a snakelike suspicion slithering up my spine. There had been a catch in his voice. “Blair was there, wasn’t she?”
“Yes,” Tag admitted. “She heard I was with Alex in New York and begged us to take the train to Greenwich and come to this party she was throwing.” He gave me a look. “Lily, nothing happened.”
Blood thumped through my ears. Tag had told me he and Alex had gone out one night, but I never imagined it involving a train ride to Connecticut. I’d assumed it was with one of Alex’s many city friends. “If nothing happened,” I said slowly, “then why did you hide it from me?”
Tag sighed. “Because I didn’t want you to read anything into it. It was just some stupid party. It didn’t mean anything, and while I thought about texting you that Blair had invited us, I know she’s not your favorite person, so—”
“Blair isfarfrom my favorite person,” I interrupted, stomach squirming. “Anyone who ‘inceptions’ people with insecurities and then ruins their relationships…” My eyes watered, thinking about how we might not have broken up if Blair hadn’t interfered. She’d successfully pulled Tag toward her while I unknowinglypushed him there myself. I blinked away tears. “I’m not talking about Blair, Tag,” I said. “I’m talking about your episode. If it wasn’t a big deal, why would telling me be a big deal?”
Tag took a breath. “Because it wasmorethan a big deal,” he said softly. “It was full-on hypoglycemia, and I ended up in the ER.”
