26 Gui I sat down to wait for Hilary, thinking it would take her forty minutes or an hour to get ready. Well, that was how long Gabi used to take to get ready—more actually. But that had been when we lived together, years ago. Who knew? She might have gotten worse with time. Surprising me, Hilary stepped out of her bedroom much sooner than I expected. My breath caught and, before I knew what I was doing, I stood. My eyes widened and my mouth hung open for two seconds before I recovered and relaxed my expression. Only my expression, because the rest of my body was reacting to everything else right now. My eyes lingered on her long neck and exposed shoulder, and I couldn’t help but imagine how it would feel, how it would taste to graze my lips on her smooth skin. Would she shiver? Would

