Eventually I asked him what time it was. Paige and the girls would be looking for me.

“Not sure,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a clock in here.”

I reclasped my top before I sat up and looked outside—the sun was still high but I couldn’t be sure how much time had passed. “I have to go,” I said.

“Stay.”

“I can’t. Maybe I’ll see you later?”

“Promise me,” he said, an intensity in his voice, “or I’ll come find you.”

“All right,” I said. “Promise.”

He then grabbed me and kissed me on the forehead, his lips leaving a wet circle on my skin.

“You’re fascinating,” he said, the pupils of his eyes widening. “Do you know that?”

All I could do was smile. Nobody had ever called me fascinating. I had always suspected I was, and yet I had also felt, deep down, that it required a man’s endorsement in order to be true.

“I want you to have this,” he said, and from his pocket removed a silver bracelet. I recognized it as the bracelet all of the Preps wore, a simple chain with a silver heart that read: PLEASE RETURN TO TIFFANY & co, NEW YORK. I’d wanted one so badly the year before that my mother had finally caved and bought me one for my birthday. Upon closer inspection it read: PLEASE RETURN TO TIMOTHY & co, NEW JERSEY. Eventually it turned my wrist the color of an olive and a powerful rumor circulated that I was suffering from a highly contagious form of gangrene.

“Really?” I asked, knowing that this bracelet was the real deal— people like Tucker had no need for knockoffs.

“I bought it for my girlfriend but we broke up,” he said. “I want you to have it now.”

“Only if you really want.” I gave him my wrist and sat very still as he clasped the bracelet.

“There,” he said. “Looks better on you anyway.”

Outside, the girls were still on the lounge chairs. They’d turned over, so their backs were to the sun.

“What took you so long?” Paige asked, perhaps insinuating I’d gone number two. She opened her eyes but did not bother to sit up.

“Nothing—I just couldn’t find the bathroom right away.” I was delirious with joy and bewilderment, a touch of fear. What exactly had happened with Tucker? Nothing, technically, but also something, metaphorically. I was still unsure how I would reveal my secret—how I would tell Paige and the others that I’d seduced her brother, that I’d made him fall in love with me. That I was beautiful. And fascinating.

“You didn’t use the upstairs bathroom did you?” she asked.

“No,” I said, my heart skipping a beat.

“Why?”

“Just wondering. It doesn’t have a door.”

“Why not?” one of the Farhas asked.

“It’s my brother’s bathroom.”

“But why no door?” Sexanie asked.

There was a pause. I wanted to say, Because he’s brilliant and lovely and wants to share himself with the world, but Paige spoke first. “It’s my dad’s idea of a punishment. He caught Tucker doing coke again, so his big idea was to get rid of his doors. As if there aren’t a thousand other doors in the house.” She looked back to me and then, removing her sunglasses, narrowed her eyes onto my wrist. “What’s that?” she asked, gesturing to my hand.