He dropped into the kitchen chair and set the bowl beside his textbook. The house was so silent that the sound echoed in the kitchen. Gabriel had his cell on the table, sitting next to the trig book, taunting him by remaining completely silent.

He’d never given a girl his number and walked off. At the time, it seemed like a great idea—put the ball in her court, leave her with a line and ten digits scrawled in her notebook.

Now it was like water torture, knowing she had it, knowing she was making the deliberate decision not to call.

Christ, was this how girls felt?

His pencil had dug trenches in his notebook. One page of questions had been assigned for homework, and he was stuck on the first one.

Find the focal diameter of a parabola with focus (2,4) and directrix y = –1.

It was almost enough to make him call Nick.

And he hated to admit it, but there was a small part of him that wished Nick would call. Or text. Something. Almost twenty-four hours had passed since they’d last spoken. That hadn’t happened . . . ever.

The front door slammed, and his older brother’s work boots clomped down the hallway. When Michael stopped in the kitchen doorway, Gabriel looked up.

Michael was filthy, covered in sweat and dust. Stains streaked across his T-shirt. His expression was puzzled. “What are you doing?”

Gabriel half shrugged. “Homework.”

An eyebrow raised. “Homework? Should I call a doctor?”

Gabriel took a spoonful of Cheerios and gave him the finger.

“That’s better.” Michael walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. “You all right?”

I made my twin brother hate me.

I can’t try out for basketball.

I gave my number to some girl who thinks I’m a thug.

Gabriel looked back at his textbook. “Yeah. Fine.”

Michael turned and walked back down the hall. “Cheerios? Order a pizza or something. I’m starving.”

Since his phone wasn’t doing anything better, Gabriel dialed for pizza. A minute later, he heard the upstairs shower turn on.

He went back to staring at the math problem. Maybe he could Google it.

Victory! He was right in the middle of the fourth question when the doorbell rang. He glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes was record time for pizza.

He had cash in his hand, but there wasn’t a pizza guy on the porch. A young woman stood there, wearing jeans and a canvas jacket, blond hair spilling across her shoulders. Her eyes looked vaguely familiar, and Gabriel tried to place where he knew her from.

“Hi.” She gave him a gentle smile. “You look a lot better than the last time I saw you.”

His brain engaged. The chick firefighter! She looked smaller without all the gear.