Jace stops appraising the room and gives me his full attention. “Do you want to come?” he asks me seriously.

“Well, yes—” I start.

“Then you’re coming,” Jace declares. “I wouldn’t have invited you if I didn’t want you to, okay?”

I nod.

“Now, where’s your stuff?”

I gesture to the two suitcases sitting in a pile on the rug.

“You know break is only five days, right?” Jace eyes the stack dubiously.

“You didn’t give me enough time to decide, so I just packed anything I thought I might want.”

Jace chuckles. “Why do I feel like there would still be this many bags even if I’d given you days to pack?”

I don’t deign that with a response, because he’s right.

Jace grabs the suitcases while I toss a few more odds and ends into my tote bag.

Droplets of water fall from my hair occasionally, the strands still damp from my hasty shower. I twist them back in a messy bun. Taking a final glance around the room, I decide that I have everything I might need. “Let’s go.”

We leave my room and begin walking down the long, carpeted hallway. We pass a few girls, and each one looks at Jace in shock.

I’m pretty certain one of them actually takes a photo on her phone.

We enter the lobby, then emerge outside. One girl is just approaching the entrance with her parents, and her mouth gapes when Jace holds the door for the trio with his foot. She stammers out a thank you, and her parents eye Jace curiously.

“You could have just waited in the car,” I grumble as we head for the parking lot.

“Embarrassed to be seen with me, Viv?” Jace teases.

“Yes,” I retort.

He smiles at that. “You would have had to carry these by yourself if I had.” He lifts the two heavy bags he’s carrying.

“Beats having my entire dorm gossiping about you.”

We approach a faded red truck with rusted fenders, and Jace tosses my luggage in the back before climbing into the cab.

“Now I believe you live on a farm,” I tell him as I open the passenger door and hoist myself up. “This truck looks like it’s been to the county fair one too many times.”

Jace bursts out laughing. “The county fair? Did you see that in a movie about the Midwest, or something?”

“Maybe,” I admit. “Does that mean you’ve never been to a county fair?”

“No comment.”

“I’m going to take that as a yes.”

Jace starts his truck with a deafening roar that quiets to a dull thrum after a few seconds. I eye the vibrating dashboard dubiously.

“How reliable is this thing?”

“It gets me where I need to go about eighty percent of the time.”

“Great. And the other twenty?” I ask skeptically.

“Don’t worry, things are completely under control.”

We pull out of the near-empty parking lot. The radio plays softly in the background as I take off my leather boots and down jacket. I pull my long legs underneath me to sit cross-legged on the worn leather seat. We pass through downtown Lincoln. The small storefronts all boast window displays decorated with an assortment of vibrant fall leaves and cut-out turkeys.