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“Do you want to hang them around the house?” She squeezes me back. I can’t tell if her words are muffled with emotion or just my hair. “Put one in each room?”
“That’s such a good idea,” Kayla says, showing the photos to Juniper, who has never seen the murals before.
“Is that—”
“Yes. Don’t judge me,” I say, cutting off Juniper’s confused question. I turn back to Corrine. “Will you help me hang them?”
She pulls some Command Strips and a tiny little level from her pocket, always the prepared Girl Scout. “I thought you’d never ask.”
After hanging the photos, all four of us manage to set up the security cameras around the apartment, and then we stuff our faces with Neato Burrito, which is close enough thatI can walk! to! it!It’s a school night, so they leave around ten o’clock. Corrine is the last one out, and I stop her with a hand on her arm.
“I have a question. Since we’re still kind of clearing the air.” I step back so she can come inside and close the door behind her.
“Bring it.” She says it with more confidence than is written on her face. Her perfect brows twitch as she tries to keep them from closing in on each other.
“Why haven’t you given my necklace back to me?” I reach for the spot it used to hang, making it clear where a necklace should go. “Did you lose it?”
She sighs, hands fidgeting at her sides. “I... I meant to give it back. I really appreciated the sentiment behind it, but I just felt, I don’t know. I felt bad. I didn’t want to remind you of your grandma when it seemed like you were bouncing back, you know? I didn’t want to make you sad or remind you that I—that I wasn’t there for you.”
I fight back a smile. “Look at you opening up so easily.”
Her response is practically ripped from her mouth, it comes out so quickly. “Felt like a ceramic knife slicing me from head to toe.”
“Corrine.”
“I’m sorry,” she says through a laugh. “It’s true.”
I shake my head but pull her into another hug. “Can I get it back?”
She nods against my shoulder. “Yes. You’ll have it so soon. Like magic.”
We part ways and I fall into bed about half an hour after. Holden’s parents probably got home too late for him to come over, but that doesn’t explain his lack of texting me back. I’m about to text again when my phone buzzes and his smiling face fills my screen.
I answer instantly. “Hey, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. Mara instituted a no-phone rule during our back-to-back Avengers rewatch.”
“I’m so happy she’s introducing you to better comic book movies.”
“Hilarious. I’m outside.”
“Outside where?”
“Like, right under your balcony.”
I jolt upright in bed, terrifying Bagel when I kick the covers off, and stumble to the sliding door leading to the balcony. It’s freezing out—below freezing, if we’re going to be technical—but I unlock it and throw it to the side. I step onto the faux-wood balcony and lean over the edge, spotting his pale face in the moonlight.
“This is kind of romantic, but we have a front door and my mom’s not home.”
He shrugs. “I saw the camera.”
“That means the camera probably saw you. So, you might as well use the door.”
“I was promised you’d keep me in mind when you got a new place. You know, for easy access inside.”
“Yeah, well, you’re tall.” I gauge the distance to the ground. “You could probably get up here.”
“Let’s find out.” He takes a running leap, latching onto the balcony, and pulls himself up to a standing position on the opposite side of the bars. “Not too bad. Definitely can’t do that after arm day at the gym.”
