“So, they’re being ridiculous,” he says. “Not totally comfortable with college kids running their company? What BS is that? How old do they think f-ing Mark Zuckerberg was?”

I look back and forth between Sara and him. “I mean, I think Zuckerberg is more the exception than the rule—”

“We’ve handled everything quite well so far.” He talks over me and steps over Sara’s foot as he paces the room. “For God’s sake, we’ve built a five-million-dollar company already.”

“But it’s only a five-million-dollar company because they value it that way,” I say. I lean against his roommate’s bed, my energy fading. “Without them, we don’t have anything.”

“We have our users,” he says, “Our momentum...”

“I’m sorry.” I laugh. “But I can’t exactly pay my dad’s electric bill or my tuition on momentum, Braden.”

Braden shakes his head. “You need to think bigger than that. This could be a billion-dollar app.”

“At which point we’d make a ton more off our shares,” I respond. “But this way we know we get paid, even if the thing fails.”

Braden stumbles back like I slapped him. “Why do you think it will fail?”

“Why are you so sure it won’t?” I ask. “This was a class project we were hoping for a C on, and now you’re acting like we’re sitting on the goddamn Google algorithm.”

“How do you know we’re not?” Braden’s voice is louder now.

I push off the bed and move forward a few steps. “Because people are always going to want to search for things on the internet. We invented a fad, and we might as well cash out now.”

“It’s not a fad, it’s—”

“Braden.” I grit my teeth. “At a certain point, people are going to grow the fuck up and realize that rating people like prize livestock is not love, and that status from strangers is the not the same as having people who care about you. And I’d rather be on a beach somewhere enjoying my one and a half mil when that happens than going down with the ship.”

“God.” Braden turns to Sara, as if just remembering there’s a third cofounder. “You don’t agree with him, do you?”

“I, uh... I don’t know,” she says.

I don’t wait around to see what she decides.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Braden

I reach out my hand to help Sara down the steps, running my gaze up and down her figure. She steps forward and her right leg is almost entirely visible through the slit in the floor-length dress. It fits her perfectly, tight everywhere it should be and elegantly draped over the rest. With her every move, the silky fabric shimmers. It looks almost like molten silver has been poured over her body.