over in her direction once Emily was finished, his cheekbones even sharper than normal in the neon light from the shop. There was a half-moon scab the size of a dime beneath his eye that hadn’t been there the last time she saw him; he’d gotten hit with a stack of boxes at work, he’d explained when she’d pointed it out. “So, what’s your summer looking like?” he asked, leaning against the railing beside her.
Meg thought about that for a moment. “I’m going to work a few more hours at WeCount,” she said. “Spend time with my mom, I guess. And also, you know . . .” She glanced at Emily, who was standing across the patio talking animatedly to Adrienne about the bedding she wanted to get for her dorm room. “Get ready for Cornell.”
Colby followed her gaze, his eyes widening. “You still haven’t told her?” he asked quietly. “I thought you said the interview with the Annie Hernandez people went well.”
“Shh,” Meg hissed. Then, barely above a whisper: “It did. Really well, actually. But that doesn’t mean I’m a hundred percent going to get it. And even if I do . . .” She trailed off. “I don’t know. What about you, huh? What are you up to this summer?”
Colby made a noncommittal sound, fussing with the napkin around the base of his cone instead of looking directly at her. “I think I’m going to take that job after all,” he said finally. “With Doug.”
“Seriously?” Meg grinned, hopping down off the railing and flinging her arms around his neck. “Colby! That’s such good news!”
He shrugged, all broad, embarrassed shoulders. “I mean, we’ll see. Don’t get too excited yet. It might be a disaster.”
“Oh, whatever, of course I’m excited. I’m proud of you, you know that?” Now it was her turn to be embarrassed, a little; still, it wasn’t like it wasn’t true. “Is that weird to say?”
Colby rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “As long as you don’t, like, ruffle my hair.”
“I’m not going to ruffle your hair, asshole.” Meg punched him lightly in the side. She could tell he was proud of himself, too, the way he ducked his head and jammed his free hand into a pocket of his khakis; more than that, though, she could tell he was proud to be telling her. As soon as Meg had the thought, she was hit with wave of fondness so fierce she almost couldn’t breathe for a second. It felt like when they’d gone to the beach in New Jersey when she was a kid, like getting caught in a riptide.
Just like that, she was done with her ice cream, tossing her cup into the trash and wiping her hands on her dress. “Um,” she said, clearing her throat a little, “do you want to get out of here?”
Colby looked at her over his cone, surprised. “Now?”
“Yeah.”
“Where do you want to go?” he asked, and Meg shrugged, lifting her chin to look him in the eye.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Anywhere.”
All at once, he seemed to take her meaning. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple moving inside his throat. “Um, sure,” he said, finishing his ice cream in two giant bites and sliding his rough hand into hers. “Let’s go.”
They said good night to Emily and Mason and Javi and Adrienne, then took her car and drove around for a while. She showed him the WeCount office and her favorite bookstore and the park where she’d broken her wrist when she was little, hanging by her knees off the monkey bars. “It took my parents a full day to take me to the doctor,” she confessed, remembering. “I was trying to be brave and act like everything was fine.”
Colby smirked in the green glow of the dashboard. “That . . . is extremely on brand for you.”
“Shut up.” Meg reached over to nudge him in the shoulder; he caught her hand and kept it, linking it with his in his lap as she drove past the food co-op and the hipster salad place. “I’m sorry,” she said finally; she was aware of trying to gather her courage, of anticipation hanging in the car between them like a physical thing. “Is this boring? This, like, extended Life and Times of Meg Warren tour I’m taking you on right now?”
Colby shrugged, leaning back in the passenger seat. “Why would it be boring?” he asked. “I want to know everything about you.”
Meg’s whole body got very warm all of a