The Internship Excuse is magic. I use it all the time now when I want to be out of the house as long as possible. I can leave early without anyone asking me questions now. And if I want to stay out late, all I have to do is say I'm reading "extra documents" at the internship site because I focus better there.

I know it's only working now because it's a new thing, but once my parents start to think that it's not a big deal anymore, they'll start telling me I'm spending all my time away from home for nothing. I'm a little surprised it hasn't started yet, but I better not think about it in case it manifests.

If it does, I'll miss out on spending time with Briar every day. Even in the evenings, I'm at Everett's house watching TV, eating dinner with his family, and talking to Briar about life and her dad's books. I think I'm over there more than Marlowe at this point.

The more I hang out with Briar, the more comfortable I feel around her, and I think she feels the same. Sometimes she'll even sing under her breath around me. When she realizes she's doing it, she'll blush. It's the only time she ever blushes, and it only makes me want her to sing more. Not just to hear her voice, but to see her cheeks fill with color afterward. It's really cute.

And I get to see and hear more of it the moment Gareth finishes his first draft.

Once he hands it over to us, we decide to read two chapters together every evening after work, sitting side-by-side on Everett's couch. We read on separate laptops, but sometimes we sit so close that it feels like we should just be sharing one. Even now, Briar's arm is pressed right against mine, and I can hear her mutter and gasp as she reads. It's distracting but not irritating. If anything, it makes me feel warm inside. Spending time with Briar always seems to do that. Especially now that we're practically spending every waking moment together.

"Are you guys done?" Marlowe huffs from the kitchen, forcing my attention away from the book... and Briar. "The food is ready and I'm hungry."

"One more chapter," Briar says, tucking her feet beneath her as she adjusts the laptop. "It's getting good."

"Just getting good?" Gareth asks, leaning over the back of the couch to get a better look at Briar's screen. "What part are you on?"

"Hey."

Briar presses her laptop to her chest and shifts so she's taking up even more of my space. I try not to stiffen or even remotely react in case she thinks she needs to give me space. Hopefully, she doesn't feel my heart beating, though, or the blood rushing through my veins. There's nothing I can do to control any of that, but if she notices any changes, she's too busy glaring at her dad to care.

"You're not supposed to look at it at all," she reminds him.

Which is true. When Briar told me Gareth finished the first draft, she also told me he likes to take a break from it for six weeks which lets her—us—read and give feedback and reactions. But after a few days of doing this, it's pretty obvious he has some self-control issues when it comes to hearing thoughts on his writing.

Gareth straightens, planting his hands on his hips. "Well, I'm not supposed to hear about it either, but you two are sitting here in the living room talking about it."

Briar scoffs. "No. We have a system for that."

Gareth looks at me. "What's the system?"

"We have a shared Google Doc," I explain. "We read silently to ourselves page by page and use the text cursor to let each other know what part we're on. And if you or other people are around, we message each other our thoughts and agree on which comments or highlights to make."

Gareth has a mix of an impressed and pained expression on his face. "You guys are really taking this six-week break seriously."

Briar somehow finds a way to lean even closer into me and mock-whispers, "Someone has to."

I laugh, ducking my head. When I look at Briar again, I feel my breath catch in my throat. It's always her goddamn eyes that make me pause. I mean, everything about her does, but her eyes especially. And especially when they're glowing amber like they are now.

I think she notices the shift in me this time because her expression sobers from playfulness to contemplation. Her eyes don't dim, though. If anything, it looks like they're even brighter, illuminating more and more with every detail she takes in. And all I can do is hope that whatever she's processing about me in her head is mostly good.

"Yes, yes, yes," Marlowe sighs. "We know Briar and Idris are good at beta-reading. Can you come eat now? Or let me eat now?"

"It's Bún Riêu," Thera adds.

Briar's eyes light up, and she immediately shuts her laptop, practically tossing it aside, and bounds towards the kitchen. I smile after her as everyone else laughs, setting my laptop aside to join the others at the table. I sit on one side of Briar, and Everett sits on her other side. Knowing what I know now, I'm a little surprised and very impressed that it sounds like they have a decent conversation. From what I hear, it sounds like Briar withholds any passive-aggressive comments and undertones. Gareth's voice is level when he talks to his dad, too, but when he talks to everyone else, it sounds more lighthearted.

About halfway through the meal, Briar's phone chimes a few times. Her eyes flicker across her screen. She looks up and off to the side, mouthing something to herself a couple of times with different expressions. After a moment, she slowly nods to herself and sends a reply.

Marlowe laughs. "What was that?"

Briar blinks, looking up. "Oh. A friend back home was asking me for advice."

Gareth and Thera exchange knowing looks. Gareth sets his chopsticks down and sits back in his chair. "Sarina?" Briar nods. Gareth narrows his eyes. "Help with lines?"

Briar nods again. "Yeah. Sarina said she wasn't entirely sure what tone to take with this specific line, so she wanted my input."

Everett straightens, leaning towards his granddaughter. "So she's a theater friend?"

Briar's eyes flash, but I think I might be the only one who notices because Thera laughs, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Yeah. More than friends for a time, but no matter who they were to each other, she and Briar were inseparable when they were both acting."

Gareth nods, his eyes widening. "A lot of arguments that turned out to be practice instead of actual arguments."

A soft laugh escapes Briar as she texts something to Sarina. Her eyes develop a far-away look as she admits, "Those were fun."

"Do you have any videos?" Everett asks.

Briar tenses, and I have a weird urge to reach for her hand under the table. I stop myself before I can. That feels a little too forward.

She carefully sets her phone back on the table, shaking her head. "No. I don't."

"I do," Thera says, already reaching for her own phone. "And Sarina has a lot of videos up on her YouTube channel."

Briar inhales through her teeth. "Mẹ—"

Thera's already leaning over to Gareth, so they can pick a video together. "I forgot how many covers you guys did."

Briar leans forward, her hands curled into fists on the edge of the table. "Mẹ, really. Don't."

"I'm sure you're great in all of them," I say.

I guess reassurance isn't what she wants because she gives me a wide-eyed glare. That distraction is enough for Thera to decide on a video and set her phone in the center of the table. Everyone except Briar leans forward to see. Before Thera can hit play, Briar stands, her chair skidding across the floor.

"If you're watching, I'm leaving," she says, swiping her phone off the table. "So come get me when you're done."

She turns and heads for the stairs without another word. We watch in silence, Briar's footsteps making us wince until they fade into silence. Thera frowns, pulling her hand back from the phone. Gareth puts a hand on her arm and murmurs something. Thera nods, letting out a breath. In the end, she hits play.

Everett, Marlowe, and I lean forward to watch. The video starts as a vlog. A fourteen-year-old Briar and—I think—Sarina spend the first part of the video picking out an outfit and makeup. They explain that it's because Briar is participating in the talent show that night.

The video cuts to Sarina and some other guy. Behind them, people squeeze by each other to grab seats amongst the rows of red chairs, their chatter exploding from the phone's speaker. Sarina leans over the armrest, so the guy is in the shot with her. She speaks a little louder than before to be heard over the background noise. "Myron, how do you think Briar will do?"

Myron glances from Sarina to the camera, his expression blank. "She's Briar."

His voice is flat, so he can mean a number of things, but Sarina decides to take a positive interpretation. "Damn right she's Briar, and she's gonna do great."

I swear the corners of Myron's mouth twitch down for a second, but it goes by too quickly for me to be sure. "She's your girlfriend. You have to say that."

Sarina waves him off. "Not true. I'm always honest with Briar. So if I say she'll do great, then she'll do great like she always does."

He nods slowly. Sarina doesn't wait around for more of his response, leaning against the other armrest to ask Gareth and Thera how they think Briar will do. They don't hesitate to say that she'll be great. In real-time, they nod to what they said in the video, exchanging smiles. They turn their attention to the rest of the table when Briar steps out on stage in a black sleeveless dress, her black hair in soft curls cascading down her back.

She takes the microphone as a screen lowers behind her. She smiles out at the audience, and her eyes are glowing amber. A QR code appears on the screen, and she explains to the audience that they can submit any song they want no matter what century it's from and she'll play it after they listen together once. To prove that none of it is prepared beforehand, she also lets the audience choose whether she plays the song on the piano, guitar, or violin.

The first song she plays is a 17th-century British folk song on the violin. Just like Briar said, she plays it note for note without a single mistake. She plays two more songs to prove it wasn't a fluke. A 1920s song on the piano and Switzerland's national anthem on the guitar.

The video cuts from Briar taking a bow to her slamming her first-place trophy down on a coffee table as she settles on a couch with Sarina on one side of her and Myron on the other.

"First place," Briar states, a smirk on her face.

Sarina laughs, taking Briar's hand. "Anything you want to say to the people who thought you were lying about being able to play a song after listening to it once?"

Briar's eyes flicker to a point past the camera. "Not anything with my parents here." She shoots them an innocent smile, making Gareth and Thera laugh in real-time and in the video. "But I guess the nice way of saying what I want to say is don't doubt my talent because I may be arrogant, but I'm not so arrogant that I exaggerate what I can do."

Myron shifts, his arms crossed over his chest. A teasing smile finds its way on his face, but I swear there's almost nothing in his eyes. "Not all the time anyway."

Briar's smile wavers as she glances at Myron. She shifts slightly away from him, and Sarina takes it as an invitation to hook her arm through Briar's and rest her head on Briar's shoulder. "I wish you had time to sing, though. That really would've blown everyone away."

The three of them look off to the side as Thera suggests in the video, "Briar can sing now while we play the piano together."

Briar smiles, and almost immediately, the video cuts to Briar and Thera sitting at a piano. Briar scrolls through her phone to find a song while Thera plays a few notes on the piano. Eventually, Briar decides on "One Last Time" from Hamilton. The moment Briar sets her phone aside, she and Thera start playing.

Briar sings Washington's parts while Sarina fills in for Hamilton and Myron fills in for the ensemble. Sarina and Myron do a great job, but the moment Briar starts singing, it hits me that I haven't really heard her sing until now. Her voice is so sweet but the emotions cascading through it are like a gut punch. Like I'm overdosing on honey, and I would do anything to get another fix no matter the consequences. And it looks like everyone in the room is going through the same experience.

After Briar belts out the last note, she gives an unabashed smile. "That was so good!"

She doesn't hesitate to compliment her mom, Sarina, and Myron on their parts. There are a few more rounds of compliments from everyone involved before Sarina signs off on the video, leaving the room in deafening silence. Thera tucks her phone away, exchanging a glance and a chuckle with Gareth as the rest of us sit back, wide-eyed, still processing the raw talent Briar has.

"Wow," I finally say.

Marlowe's eyes widen even more as she nods in agreement. "Why'd she ever stop?"

Gareth shrugs. "No idea. She never told us. She just didn't want to perform one day."

Marlowe makes a face. "She should. It's like she was made to be on stage."

Everett nods, leaning forward. "Don't you think you should push her to perform a little more? It's obvious she loves it."

Thera sighs. "We tried, but Briar made up her mind that it's not something she ever wants to do again. We'll make suggestions, but we also want to respect her decision."

Everett frowns. "I think that's almost the same thing as not supporting her at all."

He looks straight at Gareth when he says that. If a person can die from awkwardness, no one in this room would be breathing anymore. Thera inhales slowly, turning to me and Marlowe with a strained smile. She has mercy on us and asks if we would like to get Briar. Marlowe says she'll stay, probably to back up Everett in the argument that's inevitably coming. But I don't hesitate to get up from the table to get Briar. When I'm about halfway up the stairs, they start yelling in whispery voices.

If Briar's voice is like overdosing on honey, the sound of her family arguing feels like the crash. And if I have to put up with the crash, I hope I'm about to get another fix.