“Maybe we’ll always be different from normal,” I say, softly, clicking shut the clutch Dane bought for me as I hold her stare. “And that’s okay.”
Mom smiles softly, “When did you get so wise?”
I could say,When I moved to the city and lived with Aunt Ruby, but I have a feeling that, even with the progress we’ve made, she’s not quite ready to hear that yet.
Instead, I just shrug. Mom slides her arm into mine, and we leave the bathroom together, contentedly heading for the noisiest table in the restaurant.
Chapter 48
Lucy
New York City is muddy, riddled with heaps of dirty snow, but I’ve been getting out for a run each day. Nico has insisted I only do it in the gated community around his house, but I sometimes go with Julian around Central Park, or through the streets around Dane’s high-rise.
I’ve needed something to keep my mind off of constantly thinking about school, decisions, and when we’ll find the right architect for our forever home.
Now, I burst through the front door of Nico’s house, breathing hard, my music pumping through my ear buds. Normally, I’d drop down and yank off my shoes, head to the bathroom for a shower and bubble bath, but Dane, Nico, and Cole stand in the kitchen, staring at me with open expressions of trepidation.
Slowly, I take out one ear bud, rolling it between my fingers as I look them over, searching for clues.
“What is it?” I croak, heart picking up when I can’t figure it out. I’ve gotten pretty good at reading them recently.
Nico grins, Cole looks cautious, and Dane’s face is a hard, stony wall.
“They’re all here,” Cole says, pushing forward a stack of envelopes. My heart jumps into my throat, spins around, and bottoms out in my large intestine, twisting my stomach with a sudden quell of nausea and anxiety.
“Oh,” I wheeze, stumbling forward and reaching for them, the creamy envelopes cool under my skin. I’d asked Dane, who collects the mail, to wait until they all came in to give them to me. Of course, I could have just checked my email for the results, but it felt important enough to wait for the letters.
Now, I hold the stack in my hand, more sweat beading up along my hairline.
Cole jerks his chin, “Are you going to open them?”
“I can do it if you want,” Nico offers, grinning.
“Just get started,” Dane demands, his arms crossed. “Better to rip off the Band-Aid now.”
So, I do. I rip through each of the letters. The first two are rejections—RISD and MICA. Hands shaking, tears welling in the corners of my eyes, I work on the third one.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, staring down at the paper once it’s unfolded in my hands,we are happy to inform you… blurring as the tears fall and well up again. Looking up at the three men standing in front of me, I start to bounce involuntarily. “I got into Hunter!”
Nico lets out awhoop! Cole smiles, and Dane crosses to the other side of the counter, wrapping his arms around me and picking me clean up off my feet.
“We knew you could do it,” he says, and when he sets me down, Cole kisses me on the cheek, squeezing my wrist twice before letting go.
The rest of the letters are a mix of rejections, wait lists, and acceptances, but it doesn’t matter. Hunter was my top choice, and I got in. I’m practically floating, texting the family groupchat, then the one with Auntie and Julian—namedPudding’s Fan Group—to let them know, too.
But the guys have me putting my phone down before I can read any replies. It buzzes insistently from the counter, but I pay no attention as I’m lifted up, carried to the bedroom, a celebratory atmosphere hanging in the air as Dane kicks the door shut behind us.
After, when I’m naked and lying across Cole and Nico, Dane quietly picking up the wreck of the room around us, Nico clears his throat and says, “Well, this feels like as good a time as any to tell her.”
Dane pauses in picking up a throw pillow, and I feel Cole stiffen slightly beneath me. Raising my cheek from Nico’s chest, I ask, “Tell me what?”
Five minutes later, we’re dressed and in Dane’s office as he wakes up his computer and motions for me to sit in the large, spinning leather office chair.
I lower into it slowly, more nervous energy climbing my throat. With the highs and lows of this day, I already feel like I could use another run to work out the anxiety thrumming through me.
“Since you got into Hunter,” Dane says, his voice thick as he clicks around through folders I don’t quite understand. His organization is impossible to decode. “And we’re assuming that means you want to stay in the city…”
“Man, come on,” Nico laughs, snatching the mouse and opening a file. It’s unlike Dane to hesitate like this, and that only makes me more nervous. “She’s going to like it.”
