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Avery bounded up the steps to Grace’s house, the dark blue siding triggering something oddly nostalgic in Theo’s chest. Itasca was probably the last place he ever thought he’d feel nostalgic about, but nevertheless, Grace’s parents’ colonial made him feel sentimental in a way that caught him entirely off guard.

He followed Avery into the house and then quickly held out his hands to catch her as Harper slammed into her and knocked her off balance. Harper was like a golden retriever if it became a person and that person had a pixie cut, hated beer, and only ever wanted to drink wine coolers, schnapps, or disgustingly flavored vodka. “Ohmygodhiiiiiiiiiiii,” she was squealing, her arms around Avery’s neck. “How bad was the snow?”

Theo brushed a few flakes from his hair and shrugged. “Could’ve been worse.”

Harper tackled him next, interrupting his attempt to take his jacket off. Theo submitted to her hug, half because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, and half because, well, he honestly had missed her. HarperTommyGraceandAvery (said all in one breath by every resident of Itasca, as if they were one being with four heads and three different sexual orientations) were very much a package deal and had been since Wiggle Time Preschool. As a result, Harper had always felt like more Avery’s friend than Theo’s, since he was the late addition, stapled on awkwardly to the side courtesy of Avery. But now, two and a half months into his freshman year of college, he suddenly felt a surge of genuine affection for Harper.

Christ. He’d been back in Itasca all of four minutes and he was already going soft.

“How’s Duluth?” he asked Harper as Avery was buried by Tommy and Grace, who had appeared as if conjured out of thin air by Harper’s shrieks.

Harper shrugged. “Weird, mostly. My roommate is really sweet, but she also, like, stays in and drinks hot chocolate and knits on a Friday night. She made me a kick-ass scarf, but I have to work hard at finding other people to hang out with.” A few of Harper’s messages to their group made more sense to him now—the ones with pictures of the red, orange, white, and pink striped scarf, and the ones that just said KNITTING ON A FRIDAY NIGHT over and over again. (Theo tended not to read many messages that Harper sent them on their PopTalk group chat, but they all knew that already. He just wasn’t very good at that part of friendship. That, or most other parts. Theo had long suspected he was allowed to get away with that because of Avery, and that, without her, he wouldn’t actually have any of his own friends.)

Grace and Tommy had finished smothering Avery with affection and now turned their laser-beam focus on him. Theo submitted to the hug, this time with Grace squished between him and Tommy and her long black hair smushed up against his chin, and once again his heart felt strangely full. Theo had been so sure that leaving Itasca in the dust was the right course of action that he hadn’t felt sad at all when he moved into his dorm room back in August. But maybe ten weeks of living with Sawyer, who always smelled like weed and slept so much during the day that he might as well be a vampire, had done more damage to Theo’s psyche than he realized. He realized he had been missing Grace’s sharp, deadpan humor, Harper’s good-natured chaos, and Tommy’s—well, Tommy. The relief he’d felt at seeing Avery that afternoon was normal to him, but even though he liked Harper, Tommy, and Grace and had missed them a little, he hadn’t anticipated feeling so swamped with emotion on seeing them again.

Usually, Theo would have rectified the situation by retreating into what Tommy called his “rebel without a cause” persona, but this time he gave in and hugged them back as hard as he could, a smile spreading across his face. Which they definitely noticed, because Tommy said What the fuck was that? to Grace with his blond eyebrows, to which she replied Who fucking knows? with hers. Tommy most resembled Harper in terms of physical appearance—more than once Harper had pretended to be his sister—and Tommy and Grace were the most likely to have silent conversations about their friends using only their facial expressions.

Harper finished stuffing their coats into an already bursting coat closet (“If we fill it up, it makes it harder for people to have sex in there,” Tommy explained knowledgably), and Grace led them all to the packed kitchen. Grace’s cousin Matt was pouring beers from the keg set square in the middle of Mrs. Park’s kitchen, the grey keg blending in with the bland grey faux-wood floor. Red plastic cups littered every flat surface available—except for the kitchen table, which was hosting a rather pathetic game of beer pong between four members of Itasca High’s marching band.

Avery made eye contact with Theo over the rim of her cup. Now? she seemed to ask. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, and Avery shifted until she was standing at his side. “So, uh, we have some news,” Avery said. Theo switched the cup to his left hand, dropping his right down so Avery could tangle her fingers with his.

“Oh holy shit,” Harper yelled, just as Tommy screamed whaaaaaat at the top of his lungs. It took Grace a second longer, as she’d been arguing with Matt about something, but at Harper’s and Tommy’s screeches, she whipped her head around.

“Oh. My. God,” Grace said, her eyes glued to their hands. The over-the-top reaction made Theo’s heart pound, even though he’d expected it.

Avery squeezed his hand comfortingly, as if she could feel his suddenly rapid pulse, and grinned broadly. “We didn’t want to say anything until we were sure,” she said.

“I knew it. I knew it. Didn’t I fucking call it?” Grace said insistently. “I called it like, the week Avery left.”

Tommy’s eyes darted to Theo’s and then immediately away. Theo internally steeled himself for Tommy’s resolve to break, but for once it held. He melted with relief—Tommy wasn’t going to reveal what Theo had told him over the summer.

“It’s still new,” Avery said, and then grinned in a way only Theo could read. She was nervous, he realized, which weirdly helped him feel less nervous. “Really new. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Harper already had her phone out. “How about June?”

“June for what?” Theo asked.

Avery rolled her eyes. “She’s planning our wedding.”

“I can’t help it. I’m knee-deep in plans for my cousin’s wedding, and it’s all I can think about.”

“I’m happy for you guys,” Tommy said finally.

Matt handed a beer to someone Theo vaguely recognized as a sophomore and frowned. “Happy for what?” Matt asked, and then his eyes got wide. “Oh shit, really? Finally?”

“Not sure I love all this finally business,” Avery muttered under her breath, and Theo snorted. He had expected that. He knew the whole town wondered exactly what he and Avery were to each other, and had been wondering for their entire friendship—but he hadn’t expected what came next.

Which was Matt booming, “Theo and Avery are dating!” so loudly over the music that everyone heard.

Everyone including Izzy, who had just stepped into the kitchen.

Chapter Five

Avery

Avery winced. Matt had the deep, loud voice of someone who worked in a machine shop all day, and was accustomed to shouting over the roar of engines and clang of metal. There was absolutely no doubt that Izzy had heard him, and even if they had lucked out and Izzy hadn’t, the resulting explosion from everyone else in the kitchen would have been enough of a clue.

Theo dropped her hand quickly, like he didn’t want to be seen touching her in front of Izzy. Avery’s heart twinged, but she told herself it was the guilt at the shock on Izzy’s face. Avery had assumed they would each have a chance to quietly tell their exes about their new “relationship,” but Matt had gone and shot that plan all to hell.