Page 65 of All the way home

Lucas just smiles knowingly.

Okay, that’s fair. The most consistent piece of social feedback she’s received in her life boils down to a single sentence: I thought you hated me before we were friends. Kieran calls it her resting murder face, a phrase she considers decisively distasteful.

“I had to work up the courage to talk to you for weeks.”

Fighting the urge to snort, Rena shakes her head. That first time they’d talked, out on the balcony, she’d been surprised he even knew she existed. Based on how he’d acted when they’d run into each other before, she’d not realized he’d seen past Harper’s luminous curls and long eyelashes to even notice she was there.

“I would admire you from a distance,” Lucas continues, almost wistfully. “And then we would go our separate ways, and I would spend the rest of my life thinking about the pretty girl at the airport as the one that got away.”

For a moment, Rena squints. Then, just to be sure, she says, “You’re exaggerating.”

Lucas laughs. “Yes.”

She startles when he leans over to kiss her cheek, up near her temple.

“You’re cute,” he says, and kisses her cheek a second time.

Wrinkling her nose, Rena laughs. “Really. Cute?”

“Stately,” he adds. “Regal. Is that better?”

Rena pauses to consider. “Yes.”

“Good.” He nods briskly. “Regal, then.”

She eats her soup regally.

Lucas practically inhales his and then scrolls through Instagram while he waits for her. Not that Rena minds. Quiet is always nice, and it gives her time to think.

What would happen if she and Lucas met here today?

She’s not sure.

Probably nothing, if only because as a rule she doesn’t do “chatting.”

It’s strange to think about the person she’d been when she’d met Lucas in ninth grade. Not sure of anything, least of all the future.

Except for one thing.

“One day,” Kieran had said, from down on her bedroom floor, where he was painting his fingernails a crisp, glossy black. “One day we’re going to move out together, and it’s going to be awesome.”

“Why would it be awesome?”

“Think about it. No parents. No rules.” As though he caught the thread of her objection before she’d even voiced it, he adjusted. “Well, obviously, Rena Rules can stay.”

Satisfied, she turned over onto her side to peer at him. “I don’t really think our parents’ rules are that bad. Also, don’t get nail polish on my carpet.”

“I’m so glad you reminded me, I was just about to paint the floor.”

Rena rolled her eyes.

Kieran blew his hair out of his face. At that point, he’d sported an atrocious set of scarlet highlights across his fringe. Fortunately, the eyeliner phase hadn’t lasted. “Are you kidding, though? Come on. Don’t you ever think about freedom? I mean, like, total freedom?”

After a moment to consider, she shook her head. “No. I don’t.”

“I don’t understand how we’re related.”

“Left and right,” she reminded him. “I am excited to try out independence, though.”