So, over the limit or not—and I very much hoped it was a not by now—I climbed in Ainsley’s car, double-checked my vision and balance, and set off. A minute in and I was fairly sure my reflexes were up to their usual standards. That, plus the fact that the calculator predicted I should’ve been at zero somewhere around sunrise, made me relax a little. Although next time I felt I might just ask Ainsley or Mom to play pickup and drop-off to save me the headache.

It was pretty rare that I hung out at Brooke’s house—she usually drove over to visit me. Rare enough that I’d forgotten the route from hers to mine took me right past Brougham’s. It wasn’t until I was on his street, trying to figure out where I recognized all the fancy town houses and mansions from, that I realized where I was.

When I drove past Brougham’s house-mansion, I slowed down to admire it again instinctively. The first thing I noticed wasn’t the aesthetic, however. It was a figure sitting on the porch, leaning against one of the columns with their legs drawn up to their chest. Brougham.

Now, Brougham and I hadn’t exactly spent much time together lately, and you couldn’t count last night as a hangout sesh. Not to mention that the night on the Mickey Wheel was the first time we’d ever actually been around each other without bickering, and it was probably just a fluke. All in all, me stopping to check in on him was probably super weird, and I should definitely not do it.

But honestly, I just … couldn’t justify driving past without at least slowing down to make sure everything was fine. When I was younger, I was the kind of kid who spent hours fishing ladybugs out of the pool so they didn’t drown, and who invited the kids sitting alone to play, and who went door-to-door knocking if I found a stray dog to reunite it with its owner. It just didn’t sit right with me to ignore someone who might need help.

So, like the creep I was, I pulled to the curb and rolled my window down. Luckily, the sheet of rain was falling on an angle against the passenger side so I stayed dry, but even still a gust of air much too cold for California entered the car. Nope, nope, nope. It was a sign I needed to leave, right?