"Harlow?" the voice said again. I ignored it and keep walking. Guilt pooled in my belly, but I couldn't stop. Corey seemed fine with that, but he kept his hands firmly planted in his pockets for the rest of the walk. Best case, he also realized what a mistake it was going out in public. Worst case, I hurt his feelings with the way I dropped his hand.

I hoped that wasn't it. There was already one person who was most likely mad at me. I couldn't handle two.

Mom and Hudson were waiting for me when I got home. Corey and I parted ways without a final goodnight kiss. Things were leaning more towards him being upset. Maybe I was just being paranoid.

Hudson took us to a ramen place I'd never tried, but was now my favorite. I tried to stay present and be at there mentally and bond with Hudson, like I was sure Mom wanted. But my stomach was in knots. My hand itched for my phone. Mom would've really been mad at me if I pulled it out. Especially after I zoned on Hudson talking to me twice.

When we got home after dinner, I knew Mom had something to say about the way I acted. Thankfully, Aunt Nicola called about a turkey emergency.

I rushed to my room and video called Liah.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I am so, so sorry," I said as soon as her face appeared on my screen. She was home, sitting on the top bunk of the bunk beds she shared with her little sister.

"I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me." Her words were clipped and she wouldn't even look up at me. "Because that couldn't have been my best friend looking all cozy and holding hands with some dude in broad daylight."

I didn't point out that it was dark. "I'm sorry, okay."

"No, it's not okay!" She snapped. I flinched. She let out a breath, rubbing the middle of her forehead. When she spoke again, her voice was a lot calmer. "Because something is really messed up if we're both keeping our boyfriend's secret from each other."

I paused from where I was pacing my bedroom floor. "Come again?"

"Can I stay over?"

● ● ●

Liah and I camped out in my living room. Every blanket and pillow and sheet I owned was used to make a fort in front of the tv.

The pillow fort only came out for special moments, like revealing crushes or secrets. We hadn't needed it since middle school, but we agreed that now was the perfect time for its revival. We were taller, so we couldn't sit cross-legged like we used to. Instead, we laid next to each other, propped up on our elbows.

Liah styled her hair into flat-twist, her go protective style. My go to were simple twist because I was too lazy for anything else. We were in our pajamas with mugs of hot cocoa because it was freezing and pillow forts were notoriously drafty.

"You first," I told her, stirring my cocoa with a peppermint stick.

"Don't even try it," she said, knowing exactly what I was doing. I hoped getting her to talk about Vik would distract her enough to forget about me and Corey. "When did this happen? What is happening?"

"A few days ago," I whispered, even though my mom was out for the night and her white noise machine would've blocked us out, anyway. "Corey came over and kissed me and yesterday he said all this stuff about my brother threatening him if he ever asked me out, then we kissed some more and now I think he's my boyfriend."

The words came out rushed and sounded jumbled in my head. But from the grin on Liah's face, I knew she understood my rambling mess.

"What do you mean he kissed you? Like out of the blue? I need the details, Ari!"

Feeling less stressed after my word vomit, I recapped the last few days with a little more detail. When I finished, my cheeks were sore and I realized I'd been smiling the whole time.

Liah was beaming, too. She clamped her hand on my shoulder, barely containing herself as she shook me forward and back. "Why didn't you ever tell me about Halloween? That is the most romantic thing I've ever heard. How did you not realize that boy had feelings for you?"

I shrugged, staring down at my now half full mug. "I thought he was being nice."

"Being nice is lending you a pencil. Risking a beat down from your brother is love."

That word--love--did something to my stomach. "Stop. It's been three days."

"For you. It's been years for Corey," she said. Then her eyes went wide. "What are you going to do about Grayson? He wouldn't really fight his best friend, would he? Are they even still friends?"

It scared me that I didn't know the answer to that. If Corey got beat up because of me, I'd never forgive myself.

"That's why he can't find out. Ever!"

Her brows dipped. "Ever?"

"Well, not ever, but not anytime soon. I want to enjoy having a boyfriend for a little while before having to deal with my brother."

"Okay, I can understand that. But walking down a busy street holding hands..."

"I know! I know!" I said, hiding behind my hands. "Every time I kiss him, I lose all common sense."

Liah was practically giddy, the two of us giggling and shushing each other when we got too loud.

I drained my drink and pointed what was left of my peppermint stick at her. "Now you. What do you mean you have a boyfriend?"

She sighed, a dreamy smile on her lips as she rolled over on her back and started up at the roof of our fort. "Vik and I met up for bowling again, as promised after Myisha's party. And from there, we talked. A lot. Like, every free second I had, I texted him.

"He's developing his own video game," she said, pride shining in her eyes. "He's been working on it for years, but can't dedicate as much time as he wants to it because his parents want him to focus on something more stable. Once he told me that, it was like another level of our relationship unlocked--no pun intended."

I laughed and she continued. "It was like, for the first time, there was someone who really understood me."

I tried not to be offended by that, as her best friend. But I guessed my face failed to keep still.

"That didn't come out right," she said, rolling back to her side to face me. "I just meant...Vik understands what it's like to have parents that expect so much. Your mom is so chill and let's you do your own thing.

"My parents want me to get straight A's and then come home to help with my siblings and do chores. I had to beg them to let me do the musical because they thought it'd be too distracting. Even with two weeks until opening night, my dad tried to talk me into dropping the musical, so I'll be home to help Reya and Kari with whatever they need. I feel like I can't even breath unless it's on their schedule.

"I know my parents work hard to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, but it gets to be too much sometimes. It's like I exist solely to do whatever they want, with no room for a life of my own."

Liah seemed to deflate after her rant. I stared at my best friend. Was I still allowed to call her that when I'd been completely oblivious to what she'd been going through? She always seemed to have everything under control. She was never one to wait around for things to happen, always on the move.

I thought it was just who she was. Now, I wondered how much her parents played into making Liah Scott the most well organized teen on the planet.

"Why didn't you ever tell me? I could've helped with your siblings. You know kids love me."

She gave a small smile. "That's because you watch cartoons like they do."

"Shrek is not just a cartoon. It's a cinematic masterpiece."

She shook her head, full on laughing.

"But seriously, I can babysit."

"No, it's fine. My siblings are wild. The girls are always fighting, and Zion just learned to open doors. He snuck out the house once to chase a cat down the street!"

"Liah, I can handle an over active toddler and two preteens," I assured her. My younger cousins were the types to cuss out adults and put tacks in Nerf gun darts. Her siblings were tame in comparison.

She didn't seem convinced as she chewed the inside of her cheek.

"Think about it, you'll have an extra couple of hours," I told her. "And I want something to do with my day that doesn't involve thinking about boys. Being a good friend to you is a plus, but I need this for me. Let me do it."

She let the idea sink in before relenting. "Okay. Maybe. Once school starts back, because my grandparents are staying at our house all week, so the sibling are covered."

"Thank you," I said, shooting her a smile. "Now, let's get back on track. Tell me more about Vik."

● ● ●

The sun had started to come up whenever Liah and I finally fell asleep. She filled me in on all things Vik before then, though.

Their first date took place in the seventeen minutes she had in between rehearsals and picking up her sisters up from school. Vik planned the whole thing and surprised her after rehearsal with a picnic in the park right across from the high school.

When they had their first kiss, just last week, he accidentally head-butted her. Liah thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Then, she told me something I wasn't expecting for the adorkable--her word, not mine--guy she'd been describing.

"He invited me to his house."

I stared at her, not understanding the significance of this. I'd been to Corey's house plenty of times. Granted, he never invited me, but it wouldn't have been that big a deal if he did.

"His parents won't be there," she said, like that should've been a given. Honestly, sleep was catching up to me, making my brain a little slow. But I was fully awake then.

"You think he wants to--"

"I don't know," she said, biting her lip. "He shouldn't. Not yet, I mean. It's been, like, two weeks. But maybe the last girl he was with set his expectations too high."

I couldn't really wrap my mind around Vik not being a virgin. On second thought, with the way I was coming up with baby names the first time I met him, I could see it.

Liah kicked my ankle, smirking. "Don't look so shocked. He's not as shy as you think. It just takes him a minute to relax."

I propped my head up on the palm of my hand, remembering how she took pity on him that day in the grocery store. "This isn't like the animal shelter, is it? When you saw those sad cats and dogs and wanted to adopt all of them."

"No, Ari!" she huffed, offended, as she turned over to her back. "I actually like him. I finally have someone to talk Marvel with and when I'm with him...I don't know, it's like time slows down. The anxiety I get trying to keep track of every second goes away.

"Time feels infinite with him. It's like a dream, when you're sleep for thirty minutes but in your dream a whole year passed." She gazed up at the roof of our fort--a pink sheet with hearts all over it--a lazy smile on her face, her focus on something far off.

Did I look like that when I talked about Corey?

"Vik sounds really sweet, and I think he'd understand if you didn't want to have sex."

"I know, but..." She faced me, something unreadable sparking in her eyes. "What if you and Corey were there?"

"Where? At Vik's?"

She nodded excitedly. "No, that'd be perfect! It'll be a double date. You and Corey can't go public yet, so you can have your first date there and not have to worry about your parents walking in, or Grayson." She talked fast, her excitement growing. "Tell me this is the perfect idea."

"It's not," I said, trying not to catch her excitement, because it did sound perfect. "I'm sure Vik doesn't want us crashing your weekend."

"So, that's it? I get it cleared with Vik and you'll come?" Her dark eyes were wide and hopeful.

My brain searched for any reasons to say no and, thankfully, came up empty. "Get permission and I'll talk to Corey."

She did a little dance from where she laid and I laughed as she bounced her shoulders and kicked her legs.

"Stop moving around before--" My warning was cut short by our pillow fort collapsing on us. We busted out laughing.