“I think she’s in her room. Be nice about it, though, I don’t want her running back to him.” More and more often, Carter slipped into the role of the overprotective brother, not that I blamed him. Carter would do literally anything for Eliza. He’d probably even die for her, which may seem surprising, considering all the pranks and crap we’d put her through over the years. With their dad gone, Carter was the one left to make sure guys didn’t break her heart.

As I was about to jump off Carter’s bed, the faint scent of cinnamon wafted into the room.

“Carter, did you want—” Eliza stopped short. “Hey, Nick. Austin.” Her cheeks flushed, matching her red volleyball T-shirt.

The race cars came to a halt as Carter paused the game. “Sorry, forgot to say they’re coming. We still eating here?”

“Sure.” She entered. “Olivia left us frozen pizza. I put only one in. Guess I’ll do another.” The only thing Ms. O’Connor loved more than cupcakes was frozen pizza—she left their freezer stocked full of it. That way, when she was at an event or with her friends, Carter and Eliza could fend for themselves.

Carter’s comforter bounced as Eliza sat next to me. Already in her gray sweatpants, it appeared that she did not have plans for the night. Carter pressed play on his game and a second later went back to schooling Austin.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“We’re throwing Mags an intervention,” Austin answered as if he were talking about the weather.

“You don’t say. What kind of intervention, if I may inquire?”

“You tell her,” said Austin. “Acceptance is the first step, Nicholas.”

“You sound like one of those self-help videos.” I turned to Eliza. “There’s this girl I can’t stop thinking about, and these two idiots claim it’s going to ruin my life.”

I managed to keep a straight face. Eliza did too.

“Yeah, who’s the girl by the way?” Carter asked. “You never actually told us. Not Madison, is it?”

“Her name’s Ms. Banks or something?” I said.

“You wish you were her type.” Austin flipped me off.

Eliza swung her legs off the bed. “I’m gonna start the second pizza. You guys are starting to sound hangry.”

Hangry was Austin’s worst mood. It was necessary to keep him fed before he reached that full-on Incredible Hulk situation. The last time Austin had been hangry, he’d called Robert a green turd, and I ended up driving to every burger place in a five-mile radius to find one Austin would eat at.

“I’ll come.” I followed. “Since these guys aren’t sharing their game . . .”

“Darn,” said Austin. “We were hoping you wouldn’t notice that I was supposed to switch with you two rounds ago.”

“Now I get first dibs on pizza. Fair trade.”

Once we were out of sight and on the way down the stairs, I snuck my arm around Eliza’s shoulder for a quick hug. Her arm wound around my back, and that same, energizing warmth from the night before caught in my throat.