Piper
He follows me into the corridor, and for a paralyzing second, I think he’s going to take hold of my arm. In a flash, I’m transported to that night at Gabi’s when Damon grabbed my arm, and my muscles tie themselves into knots, anticipating a touch that—thank god—never comes.
“What happened?” Henry asks as we stride parallel paths toward the elevator.
I shake out my hands; my fingertips are tingling.
You are not with Damon.
You are not in danger.
“I told you, it’s late.”
Henry eyes me, skepticism blatant. “But everything was fine until—”
I push the elevator button. My body has started to relax, catching on to what my brain has always known: Henry’s not a threat.
Still, my mind is racing. Maybe because I never imagined I’d see Davis again.
Maybe because his brief history with Tati is going to mess up Henry’s truly excellent setup plan.
Maybe because, once again, life is completely out of my control.
“You should go back to your dad’s,” I say, because telling him Your dad and my sister already hooked up is just too awkward.
The elevator arrives with a ding. Its doors slide open.
“I’d rather walk you across the courtyard,” he says.
His voice is calming, imploring. Like it was the night we met, when he helped me stop crying, when he left me feeling sun-warmed, like a shell nestled in sand.
He came back.
Three years later, he came back.
I step into the elevator. And then I extend a hand to hold the door. “Okay.”
It’s a silent ride to the ground floor. I’m embarrassed about sprinting out of the Walkers’ apartment, about how oddly I acted in the hallway. And that’s after I fell into the pool, shouted obscenities through Blitz Brews, and laid bare the sob story that is my past.
Honestly, I can’t believe this boy still wants to share space with me.
As we pass through the courtyard, I raise a question I’m not entirely sure I want answered. “How weird do you think I am?”
He replies without deliberation. “Exceptionally weird. But I’m weird too, so it’s cool.”
I smile. “My sister knows your dad.”
“Really? How?”
“I don’t know. They’re just…acquainted.”
He steps ahead of me and opens the door of the west tower.
The lobby is cooler than the night outside, and my overheated face welcomes the artificially chilled air.
I pause in front of the elevator’s silver doors, not wanting to be stuck in a small box while discussing what had to have been a casual smash between my sister and his dad.
Henry’s side-eye has become intense. “Acquainted how?”
I cringe.
He makes the leap. “Oh.”
“The day you got into town—that morning—your dad was at our apartment. It was early. He was drinking our coffee.”
He tilts his head, amused. “How dare he?”
I grin despite myself. “He’d obviously slept over. Which is fine. Whatever. They’re adults. Tati’s responsible to a fault. I’m sure they were safe and—are you laughing at me?”
He is. He’s cracking up.
“You think this is funny?!”
“No. No,” he says, fighting for composure. When he can’t manage it, he gives in to laughter. “Actually, yeah. It is funny. It’s fucking hysterical. Here we are trying to set them up, and they’re already boning.”
“They’re not boning.”
He’s still snickering. Watching him doubled over, nose pink with sunburn, makes me laugh too.
He’s right. This is funny.
“I’m pretty sure it was only the one time,” I say once my giggles have subsided. “Tati was embarrassed when I called her out.”
“Embarrassed? But my dad’s the stud of the Towers. Just ask him.”
I give him a sympathetic smile. How are he and Davis even related?
Okay, but I can appreciate their physical resemblance: wavy hair, cleft chins, tall frames, broad shoulders. The way they smile with charming self-deprecation. But their personalities seem to be an absolute contradiction.
“I’m glad he came home when he did,” I tell Henry, who’s leaning against the wall, gazing down at me.
“Who knows when we would’ve connected the dots otherwise?
Can you imagine if we’d set them up not knowing they’d already shared a bed?
” I glance at my phone, and yeah, it’s getting late.
I press the elevator button; Tati’s going to go apeshit if I don’t walk into the apartment in the next two minutes.
“Looks like my sister will be in my face all summer. And you’d better invest in some sunblock, my friend. ”
“Hang on,” Henry says. “Tati and Davis have hung out before—that means they’ve got chemistry. All they need now is a nudge into something more.”
“That feels…icky,” I say, watching the elevator’s illuminated numbers count down.
Tati doesn’t have a history of long, fulfilling relationships.
Now that I’ve had some time to think more critically about orchestrating a setup, I’m realizing it’s a dicey idea.
She and Davis know each other; if they wanted to date, they would.
Plus, if Henry and I interfere, pushing them into something serious, and then Tati breaks it off with Davis (or, more likely, Davis breaks it off with her), things could become uncomfortable between Henry and me.
The affection I’ve started to feel for him is delicate and exciting. I’m reluctant to jeopardize it.
There’s a lot at stake.
“What if Tati thinks your dad’s a jerk?” I ask. “What if your dad thinks Tati is a snob? We have no business sticking our noses into whatever they’ve already got going on.”
“I disagree,” Henry says.
I laugh. “Clearly. But trust me, if Tati found out I interfered with her love life, she’d be pissed.”
The elevator arrives. I step inside. Even though I’d like to see this conversation through, I’m picturing my sister upstairs, glaring at her watch while she taps an agitated toe.
Henry follows me, and as the doors close, he says, “Not if things between her and my dad work out. They might be perfect for each other. In that case, she’ll be grateful.”
“She’s never grateful. Best-case scenario, they have a good few months before things fall apart.
Tati doesn’t handle breakups well, and guess who gets to deal with her in the aftermath?
Plus, after they inevitably crash and burn, things will be weird between you and me.
That would suck. I like eating French fries with you. ”
I survive by keeping my feelings close. By keeping others at a distance. Gabi’s the only person I’ve ever opened up to, and all that got me was a ruined reputation and a summer without a social life. So it unnerves me to admit that last part. The French fry part.
The elevator slows to a stop. Henry says, “I like eating French fries with you too.”
We’re different in a lot of ways, he and I, but there’s amity when we hang out. It was there between us three years ago, and it’s here tonight. I meet his eyes and offer a smile that’s not silly or sarcastic, but sincere.
His return is a gift. I’m not about to gamble it on Tati and Davis.
It’s not until we’ve reached my apartment door that he speaks again. “Okay. Let’s forget about your sister and my dad. Tomorrow, I’ll try to survive a day on the open ocean, and you try not to set Tati off.”
“And we’ll meet up for fries or swimming or something soon,” I tell him.
He pulls his phone from his pocket and passes it to me. I key in my number and then watch him walk back to the elevator. Before he steps inside, he graces me with the most winsome smile, confirmation that we’re doing the right thing by abandoning the setup idea.
Losing my new friend’s just not worth the risk.
As the elevator begins its descent, I unlock the apartment door and creep inside.
Tati is perched on the sofa, eyes firing laser beams of disappointment.
“You’re late.”