A scrawny kid with dark hair rolls his eyes before hopping to his feet and scurrying into the house.

I wouldn’t have guessed it from the front, but Freddie’s yard is massive, and the firepit sits somewhere near the middle. We all crowd around it—which probably isn’t the safest since I’m not sure how much everyone’s been drinking—and Jeff comes jogging back with a pack of matches.

Drew wraps his arm around my waist again, pulling me to him. It’s almost completely dark now, tiny stars blinking to life above us. The crowd cheers as Freddie tosses the match, and the pit lights up.

The heat startles me, and I jerk a step back, a smile already forming on my face at the solidness of Drew behind me.

He leans into me and asks, “Wanna take a selfie?”

I nod as he whips out his Galaxy and turns me around so the bonfire’s behind us. The flames amplify the shadows on our faces, but his camera still manages to filter the light just right. I smile as his finger hovers over the button, and just as he’s about to click it, his face turns, his lips catching mine.

He pulls away; my cheeks are flushed red. He looks down at his phone to inspect the picture. “Not bad,” he says, holding it up for me to see.

I mean, you can only see like a third of my face because of the angle of his head, but as far as cute-ass bonfire shots go, it’s definitely in the top ten.

“Send that to me,” I say. “I wanna post it on the Diary.”

He laughs, sticking his phone back in his pocket. “Fine, but no more Diary talk. You finished work for the night, so let’s have some fun.”

I smile. “I’m surprisingly okay with that.”

I don’t know how many drinks I have, but Sunday morning, I meet Drew at the bookstore as planned, except I literally feel like death. I had to rest my head against the cool window on the drive over just to keep from heaving all over Brian’s car, and now I’m standing with my head against the counter to stop the pounding.

It really was a great night, though. I didn’t keep track of how many times Drew and I kissed, but it was definitely more than the number of drinks I had. It was a little weird being around his friends since they’re a bit older and overwhelmingly white, but after an hour or so, everyone started to blur together into this big, harmonious group. Or maybe I was just drunk. I don’t really know.

“Noah?”

“Mmmmm.”

I jerk away as Drew’s hand creeps along my back. I hadn’t realized he was so close.

“You okay?” he asks.

I nod. “Just a headache.”