truly comfortable there.
Owen and I walked side by side, him still in costume and carrying the roses. Though they’d annoyed me all evening, I wished I had the flowers back. They’d been a shield. Without them, I didn’t know what to do with my hands.
“When I said I wanted our relationship to be public,” Owen said after a while, “I didn’t mean I needed some grand romantic gesture.”
My face burned. “I shouldn’t have brought the flowers.”
“I love the flowers. I’m happy you brought them. I just hope you know I never expected you to make big scenes. I just wanted to, like, see a movie with you.”
“I hate movies.”
“You know what I mean.”
I stopped walking and turned to Owen. “You know what I told you, about not dating publicly because people tried to force it on us?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it’s not true. I mean… It is true. But it’s not the main reason.”
“I figured.”
I took a deep breath and braced myself. “Owen, you must realize being with me is…beneath you.”
“What?”
“Don’t act confused. You’re handsome and popular and excel at everything and I’m…just me. I spend ninety-seven percent of my free time in my lab. With my cat. And that’s not going to change, because I don’t want it to change. I don’t want to be popular or social or anything other than what I am. But the fact remains that guys like you don’t end up with guys like me.”
“Gideon—”
“Let me finish,” I said. “When you go to college next year, what happens? You’ll find someone else and move on. And I’ll…still be in my lab. I’ll still be me. What’s the point of getting attached when it’s just going to end?”
“You’re an idiot,” Owen said.
“I… What?”
“That’s a risk with every relationship. The only way to avoid it is to never date at all. And personally, I’m a little insulted you think I’m just with you while I wait for something better to come along.”
“You never felt that way?” I asked meekly.
Owen sighed. “Your pride gets in the way of everything, you know that? No, I never felt that way. I never considered you temporary. I like you.”
“I like you too,” I said. And then, after a pause, “I want to be your boyfriend. Officially.”
“Even though, in your words, romance is ‘a concept designed by greeting card companies, when human mating is just biology.’ Or something like that.” (My exact words had been: an artificial emotion created by advertisers to make a biological necessity marketable as greeting cards.)
I winced. “I did say that, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
“I was wrong. That happens sometimes.”
Owen smiled slightly, but there was sadness in it. “I’ve waited a long time for you to say all this.”
“Am I too late?” I asked, a catch in my voice. The world seemed to still, like even Earth stopped rotating on its axis in anticipation of his response.
“I’m still mad at you.”
“You should be.”
“And I’ll never go back to the way things were,” he said firmly.
“I wouldn’t ask you to.”
“But I’m willing to give this a chance. On the condition that we start over. And hang out in public, like a normal couple.”
My heart soared. The Earth resumed its normal operations. “Are we a couple then?”
“I don’t think we should decide that yet.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
We stood in the hallway and stared at each other. Maybe we’d work things out. Maybe we’d start a relationship—a real relationship, not like before. Or maybe I’d end up with a broken heart. But the risk was a part of it. A part of life.
“Can I kiss you now?” I asked.
“Out in the open, where anyone might walk by?” Owen gasped in mock surprise.
In response, I leaned forward and kissed him, awkwardly maneuvering around the bouquet of roses crushed between us.
It wasn’t the most graceful kiss of my life. But it felt the most honest.
Event: Oswald’s Plan
Date: Oct. 28 (Sat.)
According to their website, MIT had received 20,247 freshman applications the previous year. Of those, they admitted 1,452 students to the freshman class.
I sat in my lab with my laptop open, looking over the steps of the application process and wondering how I’d possibly been so cavalier about my acceptance. Even with all the effort I’d put in, my odds weren’t great.
It hit me that I needed to think about backup schools. I needed options.
I sat back in my chair and tried to imagine a life where I didn’t attend MIT. It wasn’t as devastating as I would’ve once thought. I’d be upset about being rejected, but it