She takes a step closer, pulling the Batman mask out of my hand and running her fingers over it. “Awww, Bats.”

“And this,” I say as she watches me snap the back of the case off my phone and pull out her feather. It’s a little wrinkled, sure, but still hanging in there.

“You kept that this whole time?”

She says it like it’s been an eternity instead of a month and a half. It kind of does feel like that with everything we’ve been through, and are going through, and hopefully will keep going through, together.

“Is that weird?” I ask, twirling the feather. Because maybe holding on to it is a little stalkery or whatever, but it feels right.

“No, I think it’s sweet,” she says. “But—”

“But what?”

“But if you get to keep my feather, then I should get to keep the mask. Fair is fair.”

I glance at the mask, wishing the idea of giving it away didn’t come with such heavy regret.

“It was a joke,” she says, trying to hand it back, but we both know it wasn’t.

“No, no, keep it.” I push it back toward her. “I want you to have it.”

“You look like I broke all your crayons,” she says, studying my face, “and then ran over your puppy.”

“No, it’s just—it’s good memories. But maybe I don’t need it anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re here.”

She smiles at me, genuine but cautious. She’s smart to be like that—I know she is—but I wish that she wasn’t. Because that’s the truth under the lie. She can say it’s going to be okay as much as she wants, but one phone call and my dad could have me on a flight back to Seattle. One slip-up and Vera could learn everything and keep us apart.

“I am,” she says. It feels like she means more, but I don’t want to think about real life for now. I just want to get lost in this girl, in this moment, and forget everything else.

I pull her closer, resting my forehead against her chest and running my arms up and down her sides. She laces her fingers through my hair, humming a song I don’t know, and for a second, I let myself believe it’s enough.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO