“You do, Kat. Beckett always said—”

“Beckett.” I rolled my eyes, my anger flying to the surface. “Please, enlighten me. I’m dying to know what the guy who dumped you said.”

“He didn’t dump me!”

This brought me up short. “What are you talking about?”

“The only reason Beckett broke up with me was because I gave him no choice,” Stevie snapped, then blinked, like she was surprised she’d just said this out loud.

“What?” I was now more confused than anything else. “What does that mean? And why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“Because sometimes it’s easier not to go into things. It can be exhausting, with you. You have to know that, Kat. You’re a lot. And you need so much reassurance. You want to go over everything a million times—”

“That’s better than you!” I swallowed hard, trying not to show how hurt I was that Stevie—my best friend—was saying this to me. “I might tell you too much, but you never want to talk about anything! You never say how you feel, ever. And at least I don’t keep things from you for months—”

“Don’t pull that. You lied to me tonight, to get me on the train! And now look—”

“And least I’m going for something that’s important to me, not just convincing myself I want to be a lawyer to get my dad to pay attention to me!” Stevie drew in a sharp breath, and I knew I’d crossed a line.

“Stop—” Stevie said, her eyes bright, but I was already talking over her.

“And I’m sorry that I had the idea to come into the city. It would have been way better to just lie around and be depressed, right? If it wasn’t for me, we’d never do anything fun, or have any adventures—”

“Going to see Mr. Campbell’s play is not my idea of an adventure, and I can’t believe you still want—”

“Of course I want to see it! This play is the only reason I even came into the city!” A second later, I realized what I’d just said, like the words were reverberating around the subway station. I felt the blood drain from my face. “Stevie—”

“That’s great,” Stevie said, her face pale and shocked, her eyes brimming with tears. “Well, thanks for finally telling me the truth. You didn’t want to celebrate my birthday. You weren’t going to be there for me when my dad bailed on me. I was just the excuse you needed because you were too afraid to do this alone.”

“No.” I shook my head, trying to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill over. “I didn’t—”

“Well I’m done,” Stevie said, and angrily wiped a tear off her cheek. “We can get the keys and drop the dog off, but then I’m going home.”

“But Stevie—”