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“Nope.”
She pouts. “That’s not fair.”
Once I’m stopped at a red light, I glance at her. “You’re the one who agreed to the adventure when I broke you out of the lab.”
She shrugs. Her bra strap—highlighter yellow, and distracting as fuck—slides down her arm. I look ahead again, swallowing down the part of me that wants to pull over and see how far back the seats of the Jeep go. We haven’t had a chance yet to take that experiment all the way.
“I’m asking anyway,” she declares.
“Oh?”
“You’re not the boss of me.”
“Nah, just the Big Daddy.”
“Sebastian!”
I swipe my hand through my hair as I smirk. “What? You set it up too perfectly.”
Her laughter sounds like the first song you blast on a long drive—anticipated, and extra sweet. “Truth or dare?”
“Fine.” I drum my fingers on the wheel as I make a right turn. We’re almost to campus, and from this entrance, it’s only a little further to get to the building I have in mind. “Um… truth.”
“How have you been sleeping? I haven’t heard you get up.”
I can’t help it; I glance over. “Going right in, are you?”
“I’ve been worried.”
“No nightmares since that one a little while ago. Although not much sleep, either. I’ve been watchingMasterChefon mute while you’re asleep.”
“I guess I’ll take it.”
I grimace. “Could be worse. Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“What’s going on with your family?”
She sighs. “What’s the dare?”
“I know how to get to the top of the library bell tower.”
“Wh—oh.”
“Feeling brave tonight?”
Her eyes glitter in the light from the streetlamp overhead. “Fine. Bring it on.”
Typical Mia. I have the feeling she’d still have chosen the dare if it was between swallowing a sword and answering that question. But that’s fine, I can be patient. This is about taking her on an adventure, after all. I can’t be picky about how she plays my own game.
The Bassett-Kennedy Library is one of the tallest buildings on campus. It’s shaped like a ‘C,’ with two wings extending out from the center, but in the middle, an old, now unused bell tower rises like the spire of a church. Even though it’s frowned upon, a couple of fraternities have hazing that involves sneaking to the top of the tower. To the repeated exasperation of the university administration, the bell still clangs if you hit it. In the early 2000s, the president tried taking it away, but too many wealthy alumni complained, so it’s stayed exactly where it is, delicious catnip for college kids.
Pretty much every fraternity on campus wanted me and Cooper to join, but that life didn’t appeal to either of us, so our first semester, we snuck up ourselves and had a drink. You can see half of campus from here; the old brick buildings, the gentle hills, the carefully arranged trees.
I pull into the nearest parking lot. “You sure?”
She’s already pushing open the passenger door, the snacks and drinks shoved into her ever-present NASA tote bag. “They still have security on campus during the summer, you know.”
