The room was rapidly filling up, so we hurried up the stairs and into the first row. Our view of the projection screen was crystal clear, but instead of unpacking her backpack like her classmates, Shelly put it on the desk next to hers. “Saving a seat for someone?” I guessed.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “My friend—or kind of more than a friend.” Her cheeks pinkened a bit. “We’re not in a relationship yet. Right now, it’s just a situationship.”
I looked at her blankly. “What is a situationship?”
Shelly shrugged. “It’s like a casual, commitment-free relationship. We’re hanging out but not thinking too much about it.”
So you’re hooking up, I almost said.Literally just hooking up.
“It’s pretty much the end of the semester,” she added. “No point getting into something serious.”
Oh, but youwantto get serious, I suspected, because her thoughtless words did not match the thoughtfulness in her voice.You are head over heels for this—
“Shelly, hey,” someone said, and I turned to see Marco walking toward us. He smiled. “I see you brought a friend today!”
No way, I thought while at the same time also thinking,Of course.
Because who wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with Marco Álvarez? And who wouldn’t settle for a “situationship” when he avoided agreeing to be in a relationship?
(From Shelly’s tone, I was assuming Marco was the one dodging commitment.)
“Yeah,” Shelly said as she moved her backpack so Marco could sit down, “this is my shadow for the weekend. Her name is…”
She trailed off when Marco dropped into the desk next to mine. His hair was rumpled like he’d just woken up from a nap. “Mads,” he finished for his not-girlfriend. “Madeline Fisher-Michaels. She and I gowayback.”
Shelly’s brow pinched in confusion.
“We went to school together,” I explained.
“Elementary, middle, and high school,” Marco said with a winning grin. “I was always two steps ahead of her.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why do you act like that’s something to brag about? You’re two years older than me.” I shrugged. “No one cares.”
I mean, Shelly sort of did. About our seating arrangement, at least. She looked like a mix between an angry cat and a wounded kitten. Marco caught on quickly, giving me an on-purpose-or-maybe-not-on-purpose shoulder bump before switching to the spot Shelly had saved for him.
She lit up like an angel atop a Christmas tree.
“My dad is also his family’s maybe Realtor,” I said (Marco’sparents still hadn’t decided to list their house), “and we’re obsessed with Álvarez dining establishments.”
“Oh, I know!” Shelly exclaimed. “Ember & Ash is amazing, right?”
“Amazing,” I agreed. “Two Fish—their brunch place in Pennsylvania—is also incredible.”
“Then you must be over the moon we’re hosting the bridal shower there,” Marco said.
“Wait, what?” I leaned forward so I could see Marco across Shelly’s desk. “Katie’sbridal shower?”
He leaned forward, too. “Yes,Katie’sbridal shower. My mom’s worried that unless they rent out the entire space, Two Fish will be too small to accommodate the guest list.”
“Oh, don’t worry, they will.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and mumbled, “Seems like a present grab to me.”
Marco’s lips twitched. “Ididlook at their registry. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart.”
“Crate and Barrel?” Shelly guessed, trying to rejoin the conversation. For all I knew, she thought Katie was my sister. “Williams Sonoma?”
“Yes,” Marco and I said in tandem, right as the lights flickered. Introduction to Microeconomics was about to begin. “Plus Amazon.”
Katie had made sure to cover all the bases.
