Every compliment she received about her looks, from her mother’s friends, her pear-shaped grandmother, or even sketchy men who whistled at her on the street, Lolly appreciated. She drank up compliments like a camel, storing them up for later, because only she knew just how hard she had worked to get them. So when she caught the attention of Steven at SoulCycle one afternoon two years ago—his bike had been behind hers—she had never felt more glorious in her entire life.

“Damn girl, you rocked it today on those hills.” Those were the first words Steven had ever spoken to her. Well, that’s not true, because two weeks previously he had said, “Yo, wrong bike, Ponytail,” at which point Lolly was so embarrassed she almost fell trying to unclip her shoes and move over for him. To her, those words didn’t really count, because he would have said them to anyone, and so they shouldn’t count as his first words specifically to her.

Of course, she already knew who he was, noticing him months ago in class and carefully noting what times and teachers he preferred. She was a motivated exerciser already, but a little eye candy never hurt anyone, right? Steven was one of the best-looking guys at Collegiate—he was six feet tall, had an eight-pack from lacrosse and tennis, and looked like a studly mashup of John Cho and Ryan Gosling—and if that weren’t enough, he also had this New Year’s Eve party that was so notorious it made him famous throughout almost every high school in the tri-state area. Lolly, not knowing how she found the nerve, replied to his compliment by asking him if he wanted to stay for a double ride with her.

“Damn, you can do two classes in a row? Hashtag ballerbitch,” he responded. Steven had only been doing SoulCycle for the past three months and still couldn’t believe how difficult it was for him.

“I don’t do them all the time, but I’ve done a few. It’s easier than it sounds. It’s an endorphin thing, I think.” Lolly was sure her voice was shaking as she spoke to him, but luckily the music was loud enough to drown out any tremble in her tone. “Wanna try?” she added, praying this unbelievably cute boy in front of her said yes.

“Hellz yezz, let’s do it,” he said. Steven prided himself on being up for anything and everything, and he seized any opportunity to try something new if it gave him bragging rights. Also, he had just spent the last forty-five minutes staring at Lolly’s ass in the last class, so he was pretty gung-ho.