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Then the door bursts open, and in conize as Stacey, a curly redhead with a husky voice and sharp green eyes She was cast as a lead in a play my freshman year, then dropped theatre iht she was gay for soh the whole football teah I could never quite pinpoint what it was she wanted—other than what hid in the jocks of every football player at Spruce High, that is

The latest of which seems to be Julio, whose ar room When Julio notices me, he narrows his eyes in suspicion, but the moment is short-lived as his attention is at once pulled to the kitchen by his other buddies And as the evening slowly gives way to night, the sets louder androom One particularly animated brawl nearly knocks into the chair I’m in, so I relocate to the couch But then Julio and Stacey plop down next toout, so I head over to the kitchen After opening the fridge looking for (and failing to find) soh the back ith a suspicious cloud of sh the house, I’ve lost sight of Hoyt, the only guy I really know in this place Add that to the growing list of things I never thought I’d hear myself say

I slip out of the house and take a seat on the front step, which overlooks Wicker Street I wince against a cool night breeze that introduces itself toof a set of ar lately that doesn’t just iain, flip to that same selfie, and stare Vann smiles back at me in his lopsided way frozen in a piece of tiital info chunks on ht we made love

The night ed forever

The door behind s open, and a person who is not Hoyt stu seen hts himself, he squints my way “Hey”

I pocket my phone and look up “Hi, Julio”

Julio wears a suspicious scowl on his face I’m not sure how to interpret After a second, he nods at me “So are you and Hoyt friends now or somethin’?”

I shrug “Sure”

He keeps staring at et one, he says, “Your boyfriend’s a hothead”

“Isn’t everyone when they’re provoked?” I retort, lifting ly at Julio—which is quite a feat for round

Julio scoffs at that “I didn’t provoke him”