Chi has a certain grandeur despite the mouse-infested, rain-soaked couch on the front porch.
“It’s going to be a great summer,” he says. “I can’t wait to start working the internship with you.”
Oh, God.
He leans over me as he tosses his wallet into the glove compartment. I close my eyes and inhale. He smells like hair gel and sandalwood and spearmint gum. When we get out of the car, the air is thick with the smell of burning birch and the sound of firecrackers.
“Some of the guys wanted to have a bonfire tonight,” he says while he walks around the back of the car to meet me.
“I wish you’d told me. I would have brought a change of clothes.”
“You look great in that dress,” he says while waving at his friends, “but I’ll get you a sweatshirt in case you get cold. Stay here. I’m going to run up and change. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Every time he says that, Macie follows it up with, “Oh, nooo. Katherine wouldn’t want to do thaaat.” I usually follow her jab with a swift jab of my own. Like, my elbow to her ribs.
Andrew climbs the steps to the front door and high-fives two guys on their way out, just as I hear Macie call my name. I find her walking briskly up the sidewalk toward me. When she notices the ring on my hand—because, seriously, it’s hard to miss—she runs the rest of the way and shackles both my wrists in her firm grasp.
“Where the hell did you get that?”
“Guess.”
She stares at me for a full two-count, waiting for the punch line. “You’re shitting me.”
“Kind of. It’s actually an early birthday present from his mom.”
She groans. “I’m sorry.” Then her eyes dart away from me. Jenna Smith, the sophomore who bumped Macie out of a spot in the campus production of Antigone, has just shown up. She’s already adopted her summer vacation wardrobe: a halter-top and Daisy Dukes that barely cover her hoo-ha. Macie’s eyes narrow when Jenna starts hanging on one of the guys around the fire.
“I hate her,” Macie snarls under her breath. “I wish she wasn’t coming back next year.”
Macie’s words bring my mother’s confession crashing back down on me. Despite Macie’s wish, Jenna stands a much better chance of coming back next year than I do.
A flood of anxiety twists through my gut. I wasn’t planning on saying anything about this, but my mouth is faster than my brain. “I’ve got to talk to you.”
I grab her elbow and pull her around the side of the Theta Delt house, but when we get there I don’t know what to say. I stare at her, openmouthed, for a full five seconds. “I…I…”
“Katherine, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t have enough money.”
“Okay,” she says, drawing out the word. “These guys usually do five-dollar cups. Does this mean you’re finally drinking with me tonight?”
I give her a knowing look. She understands all about my mom’s drinking and how I feel about losing control. My two worst nightmares poured into a red Solo cup? Forget it.
“Right,” she says. “Then what?”
“What I mean is that I don’t have enough for next year’s tuition. I’m not going to graduate with you.”
Her eyebrows come together in a worried point. “I’m not following.”
“Neither am I,” says a deep voice above us.
I look up, and Andrew is leaning, bare-chested, out of his bedroom window. His shoulder muscles flex as he braces his hands against the sill. My heart starts racing, but I’m not sure if it’s the result of being overheard, or because he looks so damn sexy leaning out over me like that.
“Stay there,” he says, pulling on a sweatshirt. “I’m coming down.”
Macie looks from him back to me, and her expression tells me that she wants me to spill before Andrew gets outside.
I bite my bottom lip and put my hands behind me so I can lean against the house without getting my dress dirty. I need more time to figure out how to explain because—if I’m really going to tell them—I only want to say it once. A few seconds later Andrew comes running around the house with an extra sweatshirt in his arms.
“Now tell me what this is all about,” he says, pulling the sweatshirt over my head. It nearly hangs to my knees. It also smells like Andrew, which makes all the muscles in my lower half go a little spongy.