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After a prolonged minute of silence in which Corrine and Logan were definitely making out, the front door opens and shuts, and then Corrine appears in the door frame, hercheeks the color of her lips.
I finish applying lipstick and join Kayla on the bed. We spread out so Corrine has no room. She lies down across us with a sigh.
“Is it love?” Kayla asks quietly, sweetly, always the hopeless romantic.
Corrine tries to swat her, but hits me in the nose. “It’s too early for that.”
“You have a boyfrieeeeend,” I say in an encouraging way, but deep down I wonder how Holden will feel to know it’s official. Will he be upset? But he and she have been old news, and he handled the mess after the dance with so much composure. The gaping hole of sadness fills quickly with hope, and I don’t know why.
“I have a boyfriend.” She smothers her stupid-wide grin and laughs. “Why am I the only one who has a boyfriend?”
Kayla bursts into laughter. “Because I like girls? Saine, what’s your excuse? Any repressed sexual preferences you’d like to share?”
“No, I’m just chronically undateable. Ask Elijah; he couldn’t even not-cheat for a few months.”
Corrine rolls over, smashing her elbows into my chest, and gets in my face. “That is not true. He’s a piece of shit who didn’t deserve you and if you’d let me, I would have had Holdenmurderhim instead of punching him.”
“To this day,” Kayla says, “that is still the most memorable thing I’ve witnessed between classes, and I was around for Mr. Nitt and Mr. Roland’s first lovers’ spat.” She rolls to herside, propping her head in her hand. “Elijah’s face did that thing, like, in slow motion, where his face skin ripples? It was amazing. You could see Holden’s knuckle imprints for two weeks.”
“But seriously.” Corrine delivers Intense Eyes™. “Any updates on either of your love lives that I’ve missed? Saine, are you...” Her face snaps to perky in a million frames per second. “Are you interested in anyone?”
“I don’t think anyone is interested in me, so it doesn’t really matter.”
“Is that a yes?”
“No.” I try to sit up, but she’s still on top of me and traps me, probably intentionally.
“It’d be okay if you were.” Her gaze bores into mine.
“Of course it would,” Kayla says, probably catching onto how uncomfortable I am. She helps me push Corrine aside as we sit up. “Well, unless it were Elijah.”
Corrine nods. “Good exception. And Logan. Obviously.” Shehmmsa second. “And those are the only two I can think of.”
I stay silent as they speak, waiting for a third name—but we all know it doesn’t need to be said aloud. There’s a pause that echoes in Corrine’s artfully cluttered bedroom.
“Or Juniper,” Kayla says quietly. She cuts to me and then Corrine, biting her lip.
Corrine takes a moment and then her face splits into a grin. “Oh my god!”
“I know,” Kayla says in a squeal. “I’ve got it bad.” She plays along with the previous conversation and elbows me. “Off-limits.”
I laugh along, tension rolling out of my shoulders, and check the time on Corrine’s alarm clock—she and my mom could start a club about ancient technology no one needs anymore. “I’ll stay away as long as one of you gets us to the game on time.”
“Shit,” Corrine hisses, sliding off us and pulling her bright white game sneakers out of her closet.
“Oh, please.” Kayla stands up and adjusts her skirt. “The game won’t start without Corrine; the crowd doesn’t know what to do when she’s not there.”
At the game, I feel like I have a thousand eyes on me as I make sure Holden’s hand is secured through the strap on the camera. Everyone’s watching. Everyone’s seeing me touch him. And that combined with dancing with him at the winter formal is just too much.
“I got it,” he says with a laugh that tickles my cheeks. “I just press record and then hold the camera up.”
“Don’t drop it.”
“I won’t.”
“It’s an expensive camera.”
“Iknow. I have my own very expensive camera that I can’t drop, remember?” Holden secured a good spot at the front of the bleachers, in the third row, and now people are filling in around him. We want to get a good perspective for Trevor’s headset and I told him there had to be other people in the shot for it to feel truly immersive.
