“Your father’s an ass,” Lucy said. “But this, well, congratulations on finally sinking lower than him.”

They stood still, Lucy waiting for Gavin to respond. They weren’t ever really a thing, but they also weren’t nothing. The Gavin she’d held in her arms as his voice trembled wasn’t this Gavin. She thought she was a good judge of character, but the truth was she didn’t know which Gavin was the true Gavin—and feared the answer was both.

A sharp knock made Lucy turn around. The door swung open and in strode Ryan Thompson. The music stopped, Solo cups disappeared behind backs, and Lucy’s heart pounded. Her mom’s voice echoed in her head—the words not mattering; all that mattered was the tone she’d be using if Lucy appeared back on their doorstep, kicked out of ValleyStart. It’d be the same tone she’d used when she found out Lucy was wait-listed.

“So this is where my minions are,” Ryan said. “But right now, I only need one. Lucy, would you mind?”

He crossed back into the hallway, holding the door open for her. She swallowed and stepped forward. By her second step, she wasn’t alone. Delia was on one side of her and Maddie the other.

Lucy hadn’t had a lump in her throat this big since she’d opened the Stanford email. “I’ll be fine,” she whispered, but they remained by her side until she reached the doorway.

*   *   *

“It was all my idea,” Lucy said when Ryan had shut the door behind them. “No one else’s.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Ryan’s flip-flops clicked as he moved closer to her. “You are one hundred percent Lit and Lit is one hundred percent you. Couldn’t have come from anyone else’s pretty little head. Which is what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“You . . . my . . . what?”

“You being the face of Lit, literally.” He raised an eyebrow. “Though I think this discussion might go better with a beverage. I’m parched.”

“Uh, sure, we’ve got some LaCroix—”

“Zuckerberg swill?” He screwed up his lips. “Yeah, I’ll pass on the bubble gum–flavored seltzer financed by that poseur.” He relaxed his tight shoulders. “But I wouldn’t say no to something stronger. . . .”

Relief washed over Lucy, and she agreed to meet Ryan on the balcony at the end of the hall. Adrenaline still coursing through her, she ducked inside the common room and filled two Solo cups with beer from the tap. From across the room, Maddie caught her eye and lifted a hand in the air as if to ask what’s going on. Lucy gave her a reassuring nod and hurried back to Ryan.

“Sorry to crash the party,” Ryan said after taking a long swig.

“It’s not a party.”