“We’re adults here, Frankie,” Ezra said. “It’s like two hours of your life. I don’t want to do this any more than you do.” Then he grabbed Gregory’s bottle and took a swig directly. Then added, “This is truly disgusting, Greg. It’s basically straight kerosene.”

Frankie remembered now, as she exited the athletic complex, that their first clue was within the library itself. “Meet Me Under and you know what to do then,” it read. Well, none of the four of them had any idea what that meant, but Ezra said: “Meet me under the stars?” And Frankie was annoyed because the clue specifically told them to search within the library, and so she said: “Burton does not have a planetarium, you know.” So Gregory added, “Maybe in, like, the astrology section?” And Alec said, “I’m a Gemini. We’re known to crush it at everything.” And Frankie had wanted to scream.

They wandered through the halls, their eyes pointing up, until finally they reached the lobby, and Frankie saw it with dread.

“No,” she said, and then the rest of them followed her gaze.

“Jesus,” Ezra muttered.

Alec pumped a fist and said, “All right, clue number one accomplished,” then he grabbed the Polaroid from Gregory and pulled their faces together and the flash went off. He flopped the picture back and forth in the air until there they were, the two of them, kissing, and Gregory squealed a little at the hilarity of it because Alec was as hetero as they came, and said, “I can’t lie: I’m a little turned on,” and then they sprinted back to the room to deliver the photo for the board and receive their next clue.

Frankie crossed her arms, so Ezra did too. She wanted to win. She really wanted to win because what was the point of this exercise if not?

“Let’s just get this over with,” she said.

Ezra shook his head no. He was definitely drunk by now, his eyes on their way toward half-closed, his posture a little ragged. “I exorcised you, Frankie Harriman. I did.”

“Ezra, can we just agree that we are adults and pressing our lips together can just be a ridiculous act of physicality so we can move on from this charade and possibly be crowned champions?” She glanced behind her. Gregory and Alec had at least a minute on them. She didn’t know where the other teams were, but so far, it appeared they were in second place. “Like, trust me, I do not want to kiss you any more than you want to kiss me. If there is anything less on this planet I want to do, I can not think of it. But I want to win more than I do not want to kiss you, ok?”

Ezra’s eyes flitted toward the exit, and he seemed to lose himself for a beat. They’d never discussed what had happened outside when they split. She was too heated, even a week later when they spoke briefly on the phone, and Ezra seemed to just want to compartmentalize like he always did.