The evening air buzzed with laughter and music. The little restaurant terrace was crowded, every table taken by students who were halfway between youth and something older, clinging to the long weekend as if summer would never end.
Appie was in her element — or at least, she looked it. She moved easily from one table to another, waving, laughing, clinking glasses. Nearly everyone here knew her, or wanted to.
Still, there were a few she was closer to — the ones she spent evenings with, the ones who knew her favorite songs and her habit of talking through the movie. They had arranged tonight’s gathering, though Appie hadn’t guessed how much planning had gone into it.
Halfway through the meal, when the noise was at its loudest, one of the boys — not among her closest friends, but one she s
