“You’re my friend, Nick. You’re supposed to say that.”

“Check and check.” I brushed her ankle, with the tip of my finger.

“How’s your night been?” she asked.

“You want the raw version or the sugar-coated version?”

Her crayon slipped, sending a purple streak across her page.

“What do you mean?”

Might as well give it to her straight.

“Austin saw us at the pool.”

The crayon hit the only part of her floor that wasn’t covered with clothes.

“What?”

“He was ready to go swimming and saw us. Before this he asked me to come over so we could talk about it.”

She stood. She treaded through her scattered shirts.

“What happened?”

“He’s going to let us tell Carter.”

“Oh, phew. That’s not that bad.”

She picked up the crayon from the floor. I took the moment when she wasn’t looking at me to punt into the darkness.

“He doesn’t think you remember what happened at Carter’s party two years ago.”

Eliza squatted on the messy floor with her face in her hands.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she said.

“Why is that thank goodness?”

The bed bounced as I got up. Eliza shivered when I crouched beside her, pulling her into my chest.

“It’s just so awkward.”

My legs ached as we squatted, but Eliza buried into me. Her cinnamon scent burned into my skin.

“The story at the pool—”

“That actually did happen to one of my friends,” she said. “And it happened to me too, yeah.”

I stroked her hair, the back of her head soft against my hand. She pressed against me. “Are you okay?”

“Uh huh,” said Eliza. “The part that really unsettles me is Austin and Carter sweeping the whole thing under the rug so I could never bring it up. And I have no idea what happened with Sarah. Those are the parts I was never okay with.”

“I’m sorry, Eliza. I had no idea.”

She locked her arms behind my back. “Carter’s been trying to make it up to me ever since. Won’t talk to me about it. Or talk to Austin. But I can tell he’s trying, and I do forgive Austin. He’s not there yet, but he’s learning. And so am I.”

Wow. She was so amazingly strong. I could only hope Carter could forgive as much as his sister could. That I could forgive that much too. “Thanks for talking to me about it,” I said. “I’m going to try and help them not suck, so none of this ever happens again. You’ve really helped me, um, start to get it.”

“You’re turning out to not be that bad. A year away from their bullshit helped a lot,” she laughed. “Thanks. I’m tougher than I look.”

She flexed her biceps.

I wasn’t sure if I believed her, but I sure as heck wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to tease.

“Oh yeah?” I said. “We doing a gun show?” I pulled my arm out of my sleeve and flexed, lining up my arm next to hers. “If you keep eating your green beans, you might get halfway there.”