Brian’s really branched out since this whole learning-to-cook thing took off, and I wake up from a sloppy midday nap to the smell of curry drifting over me. Curry actually sounds like a great idea since I haven’t eaten all day and only stumble out of the closet just after four, and really, I don’t even have to worry about him adding too many spices or anything since he’s only learning how to cook to live up to Maggie’s expectations.

As I step into the living room—hobbling a bit cause I’m still kind of out of it—Brian raises an eyebrow. I take a seat on one of the bar stools, and Brian says, “I thought you were supposed to be out looking for a job.”

I groan, resting my head on the counter. Through the hangover haze, I’d mostly forgotten about that. “I didn’t get very far.”

He shakes his head a little as he turns the stove off. “Do I want to know why?”

I shrug. “Probably not. Honestly, I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to find a job anyway.”

“Is this your way of asking me to get you that job at the summer camp?”

I actually hadn’t really thought about Brian’s offer since he first mentioned it, but now that he’s bringing it up again, it sounds like a pretty good idea. I mean, I’ll have my weekends free, and I won’t have to worry about transportation since Brian can drive me.

“Can you?” I ask.

He gives me one of those I knew it would come to this looks and says, “Yeah, probably. It would’ve been easier if you’d said something sooner, since we’re already halfway through orientation, but I can try.”

I’m kind of impressed he made it that easy considering I turned him down a week ago.

Then he turns to me, a wooden spoon pointed in my direction. “But anything you fuck up reflects on me, so you better be flawless, got it?”

That’s the response I’d been expecting. “I will,” I say. “Clean slate. Fresh start. I got you.”

Brian rolls his eyes, getting back to dinner.

“I invited Drew over later,” I say.

“Is that your date from the other night?”

I nod. I acknowledge that Brian’s only really getting half the story since he doesn’t know about Drew and me being not entirely real, but it’s not important. We’ll fall into place, and after the bonfire, I find it hard to believe he hasn’t started developing feelings for me yet. After all, we’ve been toying around the Trip for some time now, so it’s only a matter of time before we hit that out of the park too.

“Look, I don’t want to be the bad guy here—” he starts.

“Never stopped you before . . .”