Damn, I just told on myself, didn’t I? Now how am I supposed to explain knowing her brother’s name? I guess I could make up a different Cole. But what other Cole would know how she’s been? Even if I could get my mouth to slow down and be cool long enough to formulate a lie, that one wouldn’t even make sense.

She lets go of my hand and grabs a round, gold pendant hanging from her necklace. She slides it back and forth slowly along her chain, eyeing me curiously.

Sweat rolls from under my arm, down my side, and I unzip the jacket to my warm-ups. “Yeah, your brother,” I say, pushing the words past the knot at the back of my throat screaming, Don’t mess this up!

“You know him?” she says, looking confused—pale, bare lips clasped tight, every freckle sprinkled on and around her nose giving me the eye.

“No, I started following him on IG after you passed out a few weeks ago. Wait, it wasn’t a few weeks. Feels like it, though. Feels like forever. When was it, again?”

“Saturday before last,” she says, studying my face.

“Saturday before last, yeah . . . after you passed out,” I repeat like a bumbling fool and look down, feeling my face go long and soft. If Carli’s still reading me, she can definitely see how scared I am.

“So, you’re basically telling me you’ve been stalking me on my brother’s Instagram?”

Shit. I will every muscle in my face to go stiff. Now she probably thinks I’m pissed, but it’s better than her seeing how many hours I’ve spent staring at her face on the Internet. I can’t have her thinking I’m some type of weirdo. I can’t lose her like this. I swear I can’t. Just thinking about it is making my throat swell up, making my insides turn black.

My face accidentally slips into softness again, and I can feel her eyes—a warm glow—looking around inside of me.

CARLI

Everything in me wants to kiss him. Not because his lips look about as delicious as delicious gets (and they do!), but because everything I’ve been feeling for him, I can see he’s been feeling for me, too.

Plus, his nervousness is about the cutest, most kissable thing in the world. He’d better be glad I’m not selfish. If I was, I wouldn’t even think about putting him at ease. “Kidding . . . kidding. You wanted to check on me?” I say, letting go of my necklace. “That’s sweet.”

He lets out a long sigh. “Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he says, looking up, his wide mouth cracking a small smile. But the rest of his face is still long, like it hasn’t gotten over me playing around.