Mia is waiting in the driver's seat when Declan climbs into the car, her hand outstretched towards him. He drops a ten dollar bill into her palm with a roll of his eyes. "You know, you'd think my only sister would do this out of the goodness of her heart," he says.

     She laughs loudly as she pulls out of the driveway in one jolting, fast motion. Declan glares at her. Driving with her is probably more reckless than driving drunk. It's not, he knows, but it's certainly close.

     "Not a chance, brother dear. This is a business."

     "Yeah, it's called Uber."

     "Which is more expensive than my charge," she points out. "I texted Nadia and told her we were on our way."

     He groans. "Stop texting my friends."

     "Nadia is my friend, too!" Mia cries as she makes a close turn.

     He doesn't bother arguing with her on that point; instead, he says, "You almost hit the curb on that turn."

     She shrugs. "But did I hit the curb? Exactly."

     When they pull up to Nadia's place, she's outside smoking a cigarette. She has on the shirt she bought earlier that day, this black top that plunges deeply in the front. It's hard to look at her, because she is beautiful but also because he knows what's under that shirt and it pains him.

     She leans into the window, and says, "You gonna get out and let me in?" Her brown eyes are playful but it still makes him heat up as he unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out. Declan can hear Mia giggling but ignores it.

     Mia calls a hello to Nadia when she gets in, and Nadia leans between the two seats to give her a hug. "Seventeen looks good on you, Mia."

     Mia and Nadia play catch up, talking about Mia's prom and this boy in her Math class who she likes. Declan half listens, but doesn't really contribute to the conversation because he's not sure what he would say.

     A little ways into the drive he catches Nadia's eye in the side mirror and averts his gaze quickly. He looks down and focuses on his phone, which is blowing up with texts in the group chat regarding everyone's ETA.

     "You good?" Nadia says quietly into his ear, making him jump as he looks over his shoulder at her. She quirks an eyebrow.

     "Yeah," Declan whispers.

     "Good." She doesn't sound like she believes him. He ignores it.

     When they get to Shelby's, there's already a few cars parked in the driveway, flowing out onto the street. Declan recognizes the cars of his friends and he's anxious to get out and join them inside.

     "I'll text you when to leave. Probably two," he tells his sister as he gets out and lifts the seat forward for Nadia. He doesn't really wait for her to get out though because she has to bend and it gives him too good of a vantage point to look down her shirt. So he starts walking up to the house.

     Mia speeds off once Nadia's feet are on the ground and Declan cringes, worried about the state of his car in his sister's inexperienced hands. Nadia jogs to catch up with Declan and links her arm through his. He's fumbling for a cigarette and promptly drops the pack, stopping them both so he can pick it up.

     "You're acting weird," she says, staring critically as he lights a cigarette.

     He shrugs. "I don't feel weird." She doesn't say anything but her expression tells him he's not getting away with anything. When they get inside, it's Parker and Fiona who greet them first.

     "Yo man, its great to see you," Parker says as he hugs Declan and then gives Nadia a kiss on the cheek. Declan moves to Fiona, hugging her lightly as not to knock the beer out of her hand.

     "Drinks are in the kitchen," Shelby cries as she grabs at Nadia and holds onto her tightly.

     "You both look great. The East Coast suits you," Fiona says as she tugs at the sleeve of Declan's tee shirt. "Have you been working out?"

     Declan laughs, mumbling a no as he shakes his head. He turns to Nadia who's been staring at him with this curious look on her face. "I'll grab you a drink," he says as he walks between Parker and Shelby for the kitchen.

     Jaime's in the kitchen shot-gunning a beer over the sink and Declan nods at him, trying not to distract him from the artistry at hand as he grabs two beers from the fridge.

     "Hey," Jaime says once he's finished, coming around the island to hug Declan. "It's good to see you. Is Nadia here? Of course she is. You guys don't really separate." Jaime laughs, Declan doesn't. "Come on." He grabs at Declan's shirt, and drags him into the living room where everyone's congregated.

     He finds Nadia's eyes across the room, she's between Shelby and Quinn, who Declan notes has cut and bleached her hair white (and it actually looks good). Nadia raises both her hands so he tosses the beer her way.

     She grins when she catches it and winks at him.

     They both spend the next hour circulating through their friends to catch up. Declan and Nadia are the only two of their group who went across the country – Declan studies Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music, which is right down the street from Northeastern where Nadia is in the Architectural Studies program.

     It was something like fate that they both got into their respective schools with financial aid packages that were sustainable. Otherwise, they might've been separated by states or even a whole coast.

     Everyone's doing great, and once they share stories and catch up the drinking games start. Nadia teams up with Declan for beer pong; they're long-reigning champs and Jaime and Quinn insist they're going to change that tonight.

     Three rounds later, they've defended their titles, only now they're a little tipsy. Shelby has crowded them all onto the floor to play what she deems the most scandalous party game.

     Once she has everyone's attention, she sticks her phone into the center of the group and says, "It's like spin the bottle. Only you spin my phone. And also, you do whatever the phone says with the person it lands on."

     "I don't want to play this," Declan says starting to stand but Jaime grabs his arm and stops him.

     "Come on, it'll be fun," he says.

     "Yeah, Dec, where's your sense of adventure?" Nadia says across the circle, giving him a taunting look. Except Declan reads into it, and maybe it's daring, too. Like she wants him to play the game. Of course he's reading into it so it's probably just in his head.

     Shelby looks around the group, trying to gauge everyone's interest. "It's not like we haven't basically hooked up with all of each other already." There's a chorus of laughs, because truly they are a friendcestuous group. They've romantically and sexually co-mingled more than all the characters on Grey's Anatomy.

     Except him and Nadia, who have never and could never do anything together. It would ruin the sanctity of their friendship, crush the foundation, and also drive Declan to a psychotic break.

     "I'll go first," Nadia says with a taunting grin as she glances around her group of friends.

     She has a nice smile. She always has, even with braces and headgear. She smiles like the little girl in Finding Nemo, all teeth and cheek. She has nice lips, too. They're plump but her mouth is small and she only wears the NYX Butter lipstick in nude that emphasizes their shape.

     She tells Declan this a lot – "I only ever wear one lipstick, Dec. It's the –" "Yes, yes, Nadia, I know, the NYX one. I know." – so he always gets one when he sees it at a CVS or Walgreens because eventually he imagines they'll stop being made and she'll have to live off of her dwindling supply. Plus she leaves them everywhere.

     Declan is thinking all about Nadia's lips and her lipstick and how she likes to chew Big Red in between cigarettes. He is thinking all of these things as the cell phone spins and spins and spins.

     Then he stops thinking about it because holy fucking fuck fuck the phone has landed on him, and everyone in the group is quiet. Jaime breaks that well-framed silence with a burst of laughter because he is a dick. Declan swallows and forgets that he was just thinking about Nadia's lips because the phone screen is blinking his, her, dare, (their dare, he guesses) and they have to kiss.