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But something had been buzzing around at the back of her mind all night, and when Theo paused on the front porch, Avery decided she was too nosy not to ask him about it.

“Why wasn’t Tommy surprised?”

“Surprised by what?” Theo asked, but she had the distinct feeling he was playing dumb on purpose. Or maybe it really wasn’t anything, and she was the one reading too much into it.

“That we were together.” She had already asked him about it, but it was still bugging her.

“He’s nosy and gossipy,” Theo shrugged. “Besides, we figured our friends would buy it. Wasn’t that part of the reasoning in the first place?”

“Yeah, but he said it was because of something you did,” she pushed. Theo glanced back at his car, like he was desperate to escape, and suddenly, Avery had second thoughts. Maybe she shouldn’t have done this. Maybe he wished he could get back together with Izzy. Maybe their hookup earlier hadn’t been about mutual chemistry and needs, but rather pity. Maybe he felt bad for Avery, or maybe seeing Izzy the other day, coupled with their hookup, had reminded him of what he had been missing. Maybe she had screwed up their entire friendship just by suggesting this stupid idea in the first place. She knew intellectually she should just stop talking, stop pushing, but Avery had never been good at letting things go. “What was—”

Before she could finish, however, Theo had swooped in to kiss her. Over the past twenty-four hours, Avery had told herself that she had been imagining the goose bumps she had gotten when he kissed her that first time in the middle of Grace’s living room, and that the pleasantly shivery feelings his mouth and fingers had given her in his car were just a fluke of chemistry and timing. But now, here on her freezing porch, with him tasting like fresh, cold air, that same riot of sensations ran through her again. She forgot that he was her best friend and that this was supposed to be a dispassionate arrangement, and instead gave herself over to the feeling of sparks traveling the length of her nervous system.

She forgot all about Tommy and what he was going to say. Hell, she forgot her own damn name there for a second, and twisted her fingers into Theo’s dark curls for the second time that night. She let herself get lost in kissing Theo, and even considered inviting him inside—or more accurately, inviting him to sneak down to the basement through the kitchen, since there was no way she was risking her parents hearing two pairs of feet on the front stairs. Once tonight already was, apparently not enough for her.

But then Theo pulled back and left her grinning stupidly at him, every single thought she ever had conveniently gone. “Have a good night, Aves,” he said, faintly smug, and she was going to say goodbye, but then she remembered something else she’d been meaning to ask him all night.

“Hey, you’re free tomorrow night, right?”

“Depends on why you’re asking.”

“The country club’s Christmas Kick-Off is tomorrow night.”

“No.”

“I didn’t even ask you yet.”

“I said no, I’m not going.”

“I know you hate that sort of thing—”

“I don’t just hate it, Avery, I loathe it. With every fiber of my being.”

“Well, that’s a little dramatic,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Do you like it? Being around a bunch of drunk rich white people? And they don’t want people like me there anyway.”

“Not for nothing, but we’re both white,” she pointed out.

“But only one of us is rich,” he countered sharply.

“No one will care.”

Theo sighed. “Are you serious? The whole point of a country club is to keep out poor people. Everyone in this town knows each other, which means they know exactly how much my parents don’t make. Which means, yes, they will fucking care.”

“Fine, then go to piss them off.”

“Aves, it’s not—”

“Look, Cameron is going to be there, okay? And I—I need you to be.”

Theo looked at her for a long moment, his dark eyes impossible to read. “You’ll owe me,” he warned.

“Whatever you need. I’ll drive your car back to the Cities.”

“Not a chance,” Theo said, and then sighed so heavily she was worried her parents might hear it all the way upstairs. “Fine, I’ll come. But I am not going to be nice to Cameron if he shows his little weasel face, okay? And I’ll cash in on that favor later, but I’ll warn you, it’s going to be big.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” she said, and kissed his cheek before fleeing inside to safety, where her stomach was no longer doing absurdly incongruent somersaults.