I laughed. “It is boring, but it’s also kind of nice. You can work numbers to get the outcome you want, but numbers never lie. There’s a beautiful symmetry to it all.”

“Why didn’t you become an accountant, then?” he asked.

“No way,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s too much pressure.”

“But upper management is less pressure?” he asked, chuckling.

“Different kind of pressure, at least.” I shrugged. “You want to know the truth?”

“Always,” he said seriously, shooting me a sweet smile.

“I started out as an accounting major, but the professor who taught almost all the classes I needed to graduate with that degree spent every lecture discussing college sports.” I rolled my eyes. “I knew I’d never be able to pass with him teaching me.”

“That sucks.”

“It all turned out okay,” I replied. “I like what I’m studying, and I’ll have far more opportunities to use it. I could work anywhere.”

We’d made it almost all the way around the block, and I could see Hailey’s house ahead of us as it started to sprinkle rain.

“Crap,” Alex said, pulling the hood of his jacket over his head.

“I’m not running,” I told him as he sped up. I pulled my own hood over my hair. “With my luck, I’d slip and fall.”

“I’d catch you,” he replied just as he slipped on the grass. He waved his arms around frantically, barely catching his balance before he fell.

“I’ll take my chances walking,” I said, laughing as he turned wide eyes in my direction. “It’s safer.”

“Let’s forget that just happened,” he whispered conspiratorially in my ear, throwing an arm over my shoulders as we reached Sean and Hailey’s house.

“I don’t think I can do that,” I replied in mock seriousness.

The front door swung open as we started up the porch stairs, and I didn’t even have time to enjoy the arm around me before it slid off my shoulders as Hailey stuck her head outside.

“There you are! Where the heck have you been?”

Alex laughed under his breath as I was pulled into the surprisingly crowded house. In the time it had taken me and Alex to circle the block, at least fifteen people had arrived, and the music had been turned up so loud I could barely hear my friend.

More people poured in the front door a few minutes later, and before long the house was packed so full that there was barely any room to stand without touching someone else. I mingled, saying hello to classmates and their dates, but I considered the less crowded kitchen the prime real estate, considering the proximity to all the snacks Hailey and I had prepared.