You could almost see them swooning. I smiled to myself. If only they knew the truth. “Of course!” Chloe said, talking really fast. “We have everything! Do you want, like, a snack or pizza or—”

“Can you make me cookies?” Merit said. “Or brownies or something?”

I knew for sure that he didn’t want those. We had just had Grace’s cookies, a.k.a. the best cookies in the world. Anything else would pale in comparison. But he was buying me twenty minutes, and I was grateful. As they walked toward the kitchen, he glanced back over his shoulder and winked at me.

Ben visibly rolled his eyes, and I glared at him. “Ben! Honestly! Five minutes and it’s back to that already?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. I took his hand and led him out the door to Chloe’s porch. It was dark, but I didn’t bother to turn on the light.

We stood, leaning over the railing. I was looking at the stars, but I could feel Ben looking at me. And it made everything inside of me feel like hot liquid. I had thought about what I would say to him on the ride over here, how I would explain that the other night I was torn, but now I had had time to think and on and on. But now that we were here, I didn’t want to break the silence.

“Ben!” I gasped, pointing as a shooting star streaked across the sky. It was so dark here on the beach, the sky was so full of stars, that it wasn’t uncommon to see them. But it was still magical, and at this particular moment it felt like a sign, like God or the Universe or some unknowable, unnamed force in the cosmos had set all this up so that I could see how I truly felt.

I turned toward Ben, and he turned toward me. “You have to close your eyes and make a wish!” I said, with the same enthusiasm Brenna or Jamie or Audrey would have. I felt giddy.

He closed his eyes, smiling, and as soon as he did, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him, gently at first, then longer. He wrapped his hands around my back, and I realized that I was glad I hadn’t done all that talking. There was nothing to talk about. Ben was my best friend, and it felt right that now he would become something more.

I knew right away as I kissed him that this was going to work; maybe this was what we should have been doing all along. I let him go, but he kept his arms around my waist. “My wish came true,” he whispered.

I laughed. “Mine too.”