I shook my head and took the drink from her, walking back to the place where you pick up drinks. “Hi again,” I said, smiling at the barista, who raised an eyebrow at me. “This was just supposed to have just two shots in it?”

“It’s fine,” Stevie whispered, coming to join me. “We don’t need to make a thing. I can just ask for more soy milk.”

“I’ve seen three-shot Stevie,” I reminded her. “Three-shot Stevie is not a good idea.”

“I’ll remake it,” the barista said with a sigh. I took off Stevie’s lid and straw, and she took the cup from me.

“Thank you!” I called, and took a sip of my mocha. There were three Starbucks in Stanwich, in addition to Stubbs Coffee, one town over in Putnam, and Flask’s Coffee, which Stevie preferred. But since my ex Glenn preferred it too, we’d switched to Starbucks after running into him three days straight—the last thing I wanted was for him to think that I was going there hoping to see him. It was bad enough that our relationship had landed me with bangs.

Because we hadn’t had our first Lear meeting after school, Stevie and I had found ourselves at loose ends once the final bell rang. We’d hung out in the lobby with Teri for a while, until she had to get home to get ready for her phone date, which was when we both realized that we could use some bux.

“What are you going to wear tonight?” I asked as the barista started to pull two more shots, the espresso machine hissing steam. “I feel like you want to look good, but not like you’re trying too hard. You want to look…” I searched for the words and finally just waved my hand expansively. “New York.”

She laughed. “That’s very helpful.”

“Want to get ready at mine? You can borrow anything you want.”

“Could I? That would be great, actually.”

“Of course.” Since I wouldn’t be at Josephine’s tonight, if Stevie was wearing something of mine or if I helped her get ready, it would feel a little more like I was there with her.

“Iced double soy latte with sugar-free vanilla,” the barista called, sliding the drink across the counter.

“Thank you,” we chorused together.

“So,” I said, taking another sip of my drink, ready to get back to the only thing I’d been thinking about since we’d left school. “What do you think Mr. Campbell meant when he was talking about loyalty? He meant Dara, right?”

“Probably,” Stevie said with a barely audible sigh and a shrug as she snapped her lid back on with a little too much force and headed over to the sweetener station. I beat her there and handed her some napkins. “Thanks,” she said, wiping off her cup.

I tipped my head to the side, studying her. “What’s going on with you?”

Stevie turned to me, sweeping back her hair and frowning. “What do you mean?”