“But when you do, it’s generally spectacularly awful.” This sort of teasing felt good, almost too good, like no time at all had passed and we were back to joking about the amusement-park trip the summer before freshman year.

“You might have a point,” Milo agreed before ending his turn. Alex, who was surprisingly bloodthirsty, took me out on her next turn despite my best plans to avoid defeat. That left her and Milo, who drew a card and frowned. “Heck.”

“You can’t bluff worth s—”

“Alex,” her mother warned, looking up from her crocheting.

“Sorry.” Alex’s smile didn’t dim one bit. “Come at me.”

And Milo did, losing in short order. “Heck. Good game.”

“Warned you,” I reminded him a short time later as we cleaned up the cards.

“That you did.”

“Jasper, are you coming for dinner? I’ve got chili in the slow cooker.” My mom already had her purse and coat, and she barely spared a glance for Milo.

“Uh.” I had been planning to do more card searching with Milo, but I didn’t want to admit that to her and risk a lecture later. “I have plans. And a test to study for. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Stop by tomorrow any time. I’ll have some leftovers for you in the fridge.”

“Thanks.” I gave her a fast kiss before she and April headed out.

“So…” Milo shuffled his feet. “Guess I’ll get changed. Good luck with your test.”

“Dork,” I teased, the light mood from earlier carrying over. “The plans are with you. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”

“Nah. We’re on.” Milo’s smile in that moment was close to perfect, warm and open and dangerous. Dangerous because it made me want in a way I hadn’t wanted in a very long time. With each interaction, Milo was wearing down my defenses, making me forget all the reasons why we couldn’t be friends—or anything else.

Chapter Sixteen

Milo

“Back to regular me.” Jasper’s smile seemed a little down as he met me in the bathroom after we finished changing. We stowed the costumes and headed to the hall.

“You sound sad about getting changed,” I teased him. We’d been in a light, good place all afternoon, and I wanted to keep it going.

“The Frog Wizard is more fun than me.” Jasper’s tone was still a little mournful, and I couldn’t tell how serious he was. I liked him in costume a lot more than I’d thought I would, but I also liked him like this, in his scruffy jeans and a sweatshirt with a twenty-sided die on it. I tried to decide how sincere a compliment to give him as we approached the cafeteria.

“I wouldn’t say that. You’re—”

Jasper cut me off as he pulled up short. “What’s that smell?”