*Saturday, 7:30pm*
Maya’s house.
Music too loud. People in the kitchen. String lights that Adrian helped hang last summer.
Lily hated parties.
Adrian knew.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said in the car. “We can leave in 20 minutes.”
“I want to,” Lily said. “We said out loud.”
They walked in together.
Not hiding in separate cars. Not pretending to be “just friends.”
Together.
Maya saw them first. Squealed. “You came!” Then louder: “GUYS. ADRIAN AND LILY ARE HERE. TOGETHER.”
The room went quiet for half a second.
Then Maya’s friend Jess: “Ohhh. Okay. Finally.”
It happened fast.
“Wait, you two are dating?”
“Since when?”
“I KNEW IT. The way you looked at each other at the barbecue.”
Adrian put his arm around Lily’s shoulders. Casual. Like he’d been do
