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The words are out before anyone can decide for me.

Sydney’s eyebrows shoot up.

“To help clean,” I add.

Then a flurry of coats and goodbyes, Sydney hugging me and informing me I’m her favorite member of the band, don’t tell Luca, even though Luca looks really cute tonight.

Luca hangs back while the others spill onto the path.

“You sure you wanna stay?” he says.

“Yup. Unfinished business.” I look back towards the house.

He snorts. “You said you were cleaning. Apparently, college has made you a coward.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever. Keep Sydney away from tequila.”

“Changing the subject.”

“Get everyone home safely.”

His expression shifts. The performance drops away, leaving my actual friend beneath it.

“I’ve got them.”

“Thanks.”

Luca glances past me toward Bea. “Your life’s good here.”

The words catch me off guard.

“It’s temporary.”

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t good.”

He grips the back of my neck and pulls me into a quick, hard hug before I can object.

“Have fun, brother.”

He walks down the path calling, “Ladies, the night is young, I am rich and I was raised in Las Vegas. Let’s make some irresponsible decisions.”

And then nothing.

The house is suddenly, completely silent.

I’m standing in Bea’s front room while she’s in the kitchen doorway. The string lights are still up from Sydney’s birthday. There’s a half-eaten bowl of chips on the coffee table, four abandoned cups.

If I was a better man, I’d leave too.

“I should—” I gesture vaguely at the jacket. “I should probably head out. Catch them up. Or go home. Either.”

“You could,” she says.

“Yeah.”

“Or—” She stops.

She stops, and I watch the decision happen behind her eyes in real time. They get a mischievous sparkle, a glint in them.