“I can’t be late,” I said firmly, and Cary’s smile became happier, the nerves washed away. “Like, I should probably be there at seven forty-five. Or even seven thirty. To be on the safe side.”

“Seven forty? Compromise?” he asked, and I nodded. “Okay,” he said, taking out his phone. “I’ll even set an alarm, so we don’t lose track of time.”

He showed me the alarm on his phone. “Good?”

I smiled at him. “Good.”

He walked back to his bike, unlocked the back compartment, and pulled out another helmet. He held it out to me and raised an eyebrow. “Want to take a ride, Kat?”

CHAPTER 13

Stevie

Half an hour later, as I limped toward Mateo’s dorm on 113th Street, I’d learned several things I hadn’t known before.

For one, heels were an evil, patriarchal invention, and I was never wearing them ever again. With Brad as my witness, I would spend all future dressy occasions in flats or boots and everyone would just have to deal with it. A blister had started forming on my right heel when I’d changed trains at Columbus Circle, and it was soon joined by a friend on my left toe that was throbbing and incredibly painful by the time I got off the subway. There were Duane Reades everywhere, and I was well aware they sold Band-Aids and blister pads, but I hadn’t wanted to break into my nineteen dollars. I needed to stay pretty frugal, in case I couldn’t get back into Mallory’s apartment. It would take me ten dollars to get a train ticket back home, and then I figured I could get a Stanwich Taxi with the rest. It would cost more than nine dollars to get to Teri’s, but I was sure I could borrow the rest from her to pay the driver. Of course, Kat had the hundred dollars, but Kat had left the subway, probably as soon as my train had pulled away, clearly not caring about what happened to me or how I was going to get home. So I’d just walked past the brightly lit drugstores, cursing the very invention of heels and also wishing that I’d done a better job of breaking these shoes in.