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“Oh my gosh, what took you so long?” Maya asked, taking the top box off his pile. “You have all my makeup and toiletries. I thought I was going to end up at the meet-and-greet tonight looking like a troll.”
Maya was dressed for moving day in an oversized gray T-shirt and a pair of black leggings, her blond hair in a high ponytail. Despite her declaration, he could tell she already had makeup on. Ever since their mom had given Maya the okay on wearing it when she started high school, he rarely saw Maya without it. He guessed with her five-foot-one height, she didn’t want to be accidentally mistaken for a twelve-year-old.
“The day is saved then. You’re welcome.” He set the boxes down on the floor. “I got caught in traffic.”
His mom gave him a quick hug and peck on the cheek. “Thank you, sweetheart. I know your sistergreatly appreciatesyou going out of your way to help get her settled.” She gave Maya one of her mom looks. “Right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Maya said dutifully and then hugged Auden, pinching him in the side where his mother couldn’t see. “You’re a saint. A late one.”
“Saint Tardy,” he said, releasing the hug and stepping back. “Patron saint of students.”
Maya smirked. “I remember doing this for you. This room smells better, thankfully.”
“Not a high bar to cross,” he said. “Boys’ dorms are one of the official circles of hell. But I’ve upgraded now. Off-campus apartment with Lennox this year.”
“Good. Maybe I’ll actually visit you this semester.” Maya kneeled to open the boxes he’d carried in. “How many more do you have to bring in?”
“Just a few.” He glanced toward the empty bed on the opposite side, his shoulders tightening a little. “Are you going to have room for them? Where’s O’Neal going to fit any of her stuff?”
Maya’s attention flicked upward, her nose wrinkling. “O’Neal?”
“Yeah, you’re rooming together, right?” Maybe he’d gotten lucky and O’Neal was moving in on a different day.
His mother clucked her tongue and shook her head. “Maya didn’t tell you?”
He grabbed a bottle of water from the case his mother had brought in. “Tell me what?”
“She bailed on me at the last minute,” Maya said with a huff. “Left me to roommate roulette.”
Auden frowned, water bottle halfway to his mouth. “Bailed?”
“I mean, I guess she’s having a moment or whatever,” Maya went on, lifting her palms like she justcould not evenwith the topic. “It was bound to happen at some point. The Lorys have been so crazy strict with her. But I expected her to, I don’t know, like sneak out for a date or get tipsy on wine coolers or something. A little rebellion. Not like, burning every plan she ever had to the ground.”
Auden wasn’t tracking. “So y’all had a fight and aren’t going to be roommates?”
“No, honey,” his mother said. “O’Neal had a big falling out with her grandparents a couple of weeks ago. Said she didn’t want to come here for college. She had applied elsewhere without their knowledge and had gotten a scholarship, but she didn’t tell them or anyone else until the last minute because she was scared.”
“She—” A smile broke out. “No shit?”
“Auden,” his mother said firmly, glancing out toward the hallway. “Language.”
“Sorry, I just”—he ran a hand over his head—“wow, so she actually did it.”
“She did it, all right,” Maya said, sending him a look as she unloaded shampoo from the box in front of her. “Her grandparents freaked out and told her they would cut her off if she went through with it. Said if she was going to Bennette, she’d have to figure out finances on her own—allof her finances.”
Brakes screeched in his head. “Wait, what? She’s going toBennette?”
Maya frowned and sat back on her heels. “Yes, apparently they have a great journalism program, which is all she’s ever wanted to do. I mean, she’s still my best friend even if she left me hanging here, so I support her one hundred percent. I just worry she’s biting off more than she can chew doing this all on her own.”
Auden was only half-listening. On one hand, he was strangely proud that O’Neal had taken his advice. On the other, she was going tohisschool. It was a decently sized campus, but he was bound to run into her. He’d still have to face that awkward apology, but more than that, he liked being at Bennette because there was no one there to connect him to home. He had a separate life there, a private one. He had secrets that needed to stay there. He didn’t need someone with a direct line to his sister reporting back home.
“Auden, honey,” his mom said, putting her hand on his shoulder, her blue eyes serious. “I know you’re a senior and have a lot going on, but I want you to reach out to O’Neal and let her know that you’re there if she needs anything.”
He blinked. “What?”
His mom lowered her hand from his shoulder and pushed a stray blond hair that had fallen out of her twist away from her face. “I’m hoping the Lorys will come around and patch things up with O’Neal. I know what it’s like to think your child is going to one place and then ends up going to another. It’s quite a shock.” She gave him an arch look. “But I think they’re being too harsh on the girl. I know they think the threat of no money is going to force her into changing her mind, but she wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble if it didn’t mean something to her.” His mother’s lips pressed into a line. “My theory is that it has to do with her mom. She didn’t get a chance to know Katie, and maybe she wants to go to the same school her mom did, have some connection. Grief can make people do weird things.”
Auden released a long breath.
