The end credits for the New Girl episode roll on the gigantic screen. The lights are dimmed, and my eyes are heavy. A party at the baseball house has Shaw and Datson gone, and Nathan said Joel was spending the night at Katrina’s house. The White House is quiet, which is weird, but it feels nice to be alone with Nathan.

Valley won every match today. Even Bri was in good spirits. I promised them I’d be back to the dorm in two hours to go out and celebrate. Nathan and I spent the first hour in the shower. And the bathroom counter. And the bed. After watching two episodes of New Girl, my time is up.

“Alright, I gotta go meet the girls,” I say but don’t move.

He chuckles, stands, and pulls me to my feet. “Wait. I need to give you something first.”

I let him drag me even as I say, “I don’t have time to make out again.”

He stops in the middle of the staircase and crowds into me until my back hits the wall. He kisses me hard until I forget what we were talking about. All too quickly, he’s pulling back and continuing up the stairs. “Come on.”

“Okay, so maybe a quickie. In fact, it’s fine if I’m fifteen minutes late.”

He laughs as I follow him to his room. He walks over to his desk and grabs his phone. His thumbs tap over the screen and he looks up just as my phone pings.

I glance down at the money transfer notification.

“I never should have taken it knowing how I felt about you. And now...” He rubs a hand over his jaw. “I can’t accept it.”

“What about—”

“I’ll take care of it. It’s my problem. Besides, I would have agreed to be your fake boyfriend even without the money.”

I don’t need it, and I know he does, but I can’t think of how to say that without it coming across like pity.

He smiles wryly. “Okay, probably. Either way, it was the best fake out of my life. I got you.”

“Nathan, it’s not a big deal. Plus, you spent a lot of time helping me. It’s the least I can do to repay you.”

I want to ask what he’ll do without it and what it means for his family, but he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close. “I can think of other ways you can repay me.”

When Bri pulls up along the street of a residential area later that night, I scan the homes and the street signs. I don’t recognize either. I’d been buried in my phone texting Camila and updating her on the Nathan situation and hadn’t paid attention to where we were going. “Where are we?”