“It’s a safe thing, then.”

“The way I do it, it’s an acceptable risk.”

“Sure.”

“It’s about not getting greedy,” he said. “Every time you make a hundred dollars, you want to keep going.”

“Mm.”

“But you’re always playing against the temptation. That’s what’s so thrilling. That you can always be tempted.”

“To be greedy?”

“Yeah.”

“For sure.”

♒

Her parents lived a ten-minute drive from campus, but Lara assumed she was spending Christmas getting very high and watching slasher movies with Tess, who also didn’t have anywhere to go. Lara’s mother explained that it would probably be better if she didn’t come to the extended family gathering, but that she could come by later for a “private” Christmas dinner. Lara waited for her mother to text her when the “private” Christmas would be, and then soon enough it was the first of January.

Aaron texted her: Happy New Year!

She woke up on Tess’s couch, showered, and went home. She removed a pile of clothes from the chair by the window and curled up in it, going through her phone. Frost edged the exterior of her window. Outside, all you could see was a sloped shingle roof with steam curling and billowing out of a chimney pipe.

Winter break was another two weeks.

You’re not supposed to text this number except to make an appointment, she texted Aaron. Then she texted her friend Alexis, like she usually did in January, when she would come back from the East Coast.

hey, are you in town for break this yr?

She responded quickly: yes! i got in ln. want to get coffee or something?

oh you know I do. white table?

where else

friday?

down. 3 maybe?

Lara had been friends with Alexis in high school when they were both precocious and bullied, and Alexis had come out as a lesbian pretty immediately after leaving. It took Lara another year. When she posted about it on Facebook, Alexis texted oh my god bitch I fucking knew it and Lara had been too overwhelmed to respond for a week.

On Friday, Lara got there a little early and Alexis was already there, sitting in the corner with a copy of Franny and Zooey and a pot of tea. She was wearing a pink cable-knit sweater and earrings shaped like inverted triangles. Lara ordered drip coffee and sat down across from her. She looked up, smiled, and set her book aside.

“Hey, lady,” Alexis said.

“Hey yourself.”

“You look good.”

“Thank you,” Lara said. “I like your earrings. Are those pink triangles?”

“Well. Yes.”

“I like them. How’s the Salinger?” Lara said.

Alexis stuck the book in her bag. “I reread Nine Stories on the plane back,” she said. “I feel like I’m regressing.”

“Regressing?”

“You know. Whenever I’m in town I feel like a teenager. It’s almost as if nothing changed. I mean, I’m sure it’s different for you.”

“Maybe,” Lara said, sipping her coffee.

“This place might still be alive for you.”