I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. I’d meant to artfully and gently persuade Shanti to head out before my aunt and uncle got home. But when I awoke the next morning, it was to the sound of Shanti slipping back into my bedroom after using the bathroom down the hall.

When I saw her, excitement rose in my chest… until I realized where I was, what time it was, and where she’d just been.

“Morning,” she whispered, sliding back into the sheets beside me and pecking me on the lips.

I pulled my head back and sat up, thankful I was wearing a T-shirt. Being naked right now would just feel too damn defenseless. “Did anyone see you?” I was sure my eyes and tone betrayed my panic.

She lifted herself on one elbow and considered me for a moment. “Um… yes—but it wasn’t a big deal, I promise. I’m sorry, I really had to pee, and I tried to be super quiet, but—”

Fuckity fuck. “Who saw you? My uncle or my aunt?” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and pulled on some sweatpants.

“Your aunt. She was really friendly, though.” Shanti’s eyes formed a mixture of concern and assurance. I could tell she was searching my face to read my response.

I crossed my room and leaned against my desk, gripping it with my hands. My mind flashed to last night—our kiss, Shanti’s soft waist—but I couldn’t think about that right now. “What’d she say?” I asked.

Shanti climbed out of my bed again and put her glasses on. “She just said hello and asked if I was a friend of yours.”

“And what’d you say?” I demanded. Some part of me felt like I might be overreacting, but in the glaring light of morning, everything seemed bare and immense—Shanti, our conversations last night, our time not talking—and I really didn’t want to give Priam or Vicki any reason to poke into any of that. I’d never had anyone sleep over before, so regardless of what happened last night—whether they knew the truth or not—they’d ask me a thousand questions that I didn’t have the answers to. I still wasn’t ready to upset the defined boundaries I’d established with them.… This current boundary breaking was more than enough to get my head around, and at the moment, I wasn’t doing a good job of it. Everything was happening too fast.

“I said yes, I was a friend of yours and just stayed over because we were studying late. She asked me if I was Anna, but I said no. I hope that’s okay. I didn’t really know what else to say. Sorry.”