“No problem,” I said, speaking to John even though my eyes were zeroed in on Levi. He’d gotten up with the others and was approaching the counter.

Elodie came up behind him, reaching for her purse, but Levi waved her off. “Nah, I’ve got it,” he said, shooting me a crooked smile as he put a five-dollar bill on the counter.

He was paying for her now?

Seething inside, I returned his change in unsmiling, stoic silence.

“Babe, please tell Levi he has to come with us,” said Elodie in a wheedling tone. “Cary and John are making a whole day of it, and this guy refuses to come.”

Words stuttered on my tongue. I couldn’t move my suddenly dry lips. My eyes flicked to Levi. If he said yes, if he left with Elodie … I would crumple. Swift, merciless realization made me open my eyes to what was happening right in front of me. Something I couldn’t do and that Levi could. Was this what a long-distance relationship would be like? One of us always being left out of things the other person enjoyed, and trying to fake being happy for them anyway?

I couldn’t do this, I knew it in my bones. I wanted what Lucy and Lorcan had. I wanted a hand to hold, a face to cup, an ear to whisper into. I didn’t want a relationship with someone who wasn’t there in the way I needed him to be there. I didn’t want to be jealous of all the people who could see and do things with him every day. Couples did it successfully every day, but it wasn’t for me. If I didn’t want Levi to leave with them now, how okay would I be with something like this happening all the time?

“They’re getting in the car,” said Elodie. She touched Levi’s wrist. “We better hustle.”

Levi shook his head, alternating his weight from foot to foot. “Thank Cary for inviting me, but honestly, I’m just swamped today.”

Elodie pouted.

“Seriously!” Levi said with a laugh. “And, um, I have a friend who promised she’d take me.”

Elodie put a hand on her hip. “Who else do you know here? Not Penny—she’d never be into something like this.”

“Oh, um, it’s Babe, actually,” said Levi, glancing at me.

“Babe?” Elodie stared at me, saucerlike eyes stunned. “I didn’t know you two were…”

Levi reached across the counter to take my hand. “Yeah, you know that girl I told you I was sort of seeing?” He shot me a shy look.

“Babe,” said Elodie. Her exhale seemed to rattle her whole body. “Right. Yeah. I should have guessed.” Her mouth worked itself into a wooden smile.

We all turned toward the door when the car ignitions started in the parking lot.

“I think they’re leaving,” said Lucy, pointing at the window.