“WHERE ARE YOU FROM?”

“Atlanta area. You?” Kael took a drink of his beer. And then another. I remembered that he said he was from Riverdale. Easier to say Atlanta, I supposed. I liked knowing that, as if I was in on one of his secrets.

Austin crossed his arms. “All over. Ft. Bragg, Texas, and a couple others. You know, army brat.”

Kael nodded. “Yeah. I can’t imagine, man.”

The doorbell rang. “Pizza? I hope so. I haven’t eaten all day,” Austin said, disappearing from the kitchen.

“Are you hungry?” I asked Kael.

“Kind of. You?”

I nodded.

“Shall we?” I gestured toward the living room.

He nodded, smiled at me, and tossed his beer into the trash.

“Do you want another one?” I asked, looking into my almost empty cup and debating on a refill.

“I’m good. One of us has to drive,” he said.

“Ah,” I said, biting on my lower lip. Kael’s shoulder brushed against mine. He was standing so close to me. “I can stay here.”

His eyes widened a little. “You can too. There’s plenty of room.”

We had stopped walking, but I couldn’t remember when. He was looking down at me and I was looking up at him. I remember the curve of his lashes shading his brown eyes. The way he smelled like cinnamon. For the first time, the scent didn’t remind me of anything except for him. My brain was short-circuiting, not connecting thought with my tongue.

“I mean, you don’t have to stay here. You can use my car, or an Uber. Whatever, I was just suggesting because I’m obviously not driving and your car—” Kael leaned toward me. I had to work hard to catch my breath.

“I’ll get another beer,” he told me in a whisper. He paused there, so close to my mouth, that the bottom of my stomach ached.

He moved away, casually, and grabbed for another beer. I swallowed, blinking.

Did I think he was going to kiss me?

I so did.

That had to be why I was breathing like I had just run up a flight of stairs.

I gathered myself as quickly as I could.

“Uh, yeah. Me too,” I said, voice hoarse and audibly awkward. I pulled open the freezer door to grab some ice. The cold air felt so good against my hot face. I let it roll over me for a few seconds before I filled up my cup.

Kael was waiting for me by the wall, sipping his new beer. My insides wouldn’t settle. Gah, he made me feel so on edge one second, yet so calm the next.

We were both quiet as we walked into the living room. There seemed to be the same number of people in the house—minus the two assholes—but the crowd felt dense now that everyone was crammed into the living room. It didn’t help that my heart was pounding in its cage, no matter how hard I tried to calm myself.

Austin was talking to the pizza delivery man. I watched as he handed over some cash, shoving a wad back into his pocket. As far as I knew, Austin had only been working a few hours a week at Kmart, which he supplemented by asking my dad for money here and there. My brother was never good with money. Even when he worked summer jobs, he’d spend his check the day he got it. I wasn’t much better, so I wasn’t judging, but where did that cash come from? It didn’t make sense.

“Kare! Grab some plates?” Austin yelled to me, passing out pizza boxes to the group.

I didn’t know what was going on, but my brain couldn’t handle any more tonight. I just wanted to have fun, to not worry about things that I couldn’t control. I had been trying that for years—maybe tonight would be the night that I actually followed through with it?