We finished shortly thereafter and tossed the cups in the trash. When we got back in Latte, Adrian sighed wearily and rubbed his eyes. “God, those are awesome. I think I needed that. The vodka may have hit me harder than I thought. Glad you decided to branch out into something that isn’t coffee for a change.”

“Hey, if they’d had coffee flavor, you know I would’ve gotten it.”

“That’s disgusting,” he said. “There isn’t enough sugar in the world to make that even remotely—” He stopped and gave me a startled look. In fact, he looked so shocked that I stopped backing up and kicked the car back into park.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“The slush. That thing’s like 99 percent sugar. You just drank one, Sage.” He seemed to interpret my silence as though perhaps I hadn’t understood. “You just drank liquid sugar.”

“Maybe you drank liquid sugar,” I said. “Mine was sugar free.” I hoped I sounded convincing.

“Oh.” I couldn’t tell if he was relieved or disappointed. “You freaked me out there for a minute.”

“You should’ve known better.”

“Yeah. I suppose so.” He fell back into his blue mood, the slushes only a temporary distraction. “You know what the worst part of all that was?”

I knew we were back to his father, not slushes. “What?”

“You’d think it’d be that I didn’t get the money or that he just ripped my life apart or that he has no faith in me sticking to college. But that’s okay. I’m used to that from him. What really bothers me is that I really did ruin my mom’s life.”

“I can’t imagine you did,” I said, shocked at his words. “Like you pointed out, we still love people who make mistakes. I’m sure she loves you too. Anyway, that’s something you need to discuss with her—not him.”

He nodded. “The other thing that bothered me… well, he said all that in front of you.”

That was a shock too. I brushed it off, feeling a little flustered that he would think so much of my opinion. Why should he care? “Don’t worry about me. I’ve been with much more abrasive people than him.”

“No, no… I mean…” Adrian looked at me and then quickly averted his eyes. “After what he said about me, I can’t stand the thought that you might think less of me.”

I was so surprised that I couldn’t muster a response right away. When I did, I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Of course I don’t.” He still wouldn’t look at me, apparently not believing my words. “Adrian.” I laid my hand over his and felt a warm spark of connection. He jerked his head toward me in astonishment. “Nothing he said could change what I think of you. I’ve had my mind made up about you for a long time… and it’s all good.”

Adrian looked away from me and down to where my hand covered his. I blushed and pulled away. “Sorry.” I’d probably freaked him out.