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“No—what you did tonight—it’s not safe.”

“Darius—”

“Headaches are one thing—spontaneous nosebleeds another. I read enough comic books to know where this ends.”

“I get the power of flight and hide on Mars?” I said, trying to deflect him. “It’s not like my brain’s going to explode.”

“How do you know?”

“Because that’s impossible.”

“As impossible as being able to send out texts to a hundred people at once?”

I sank back under the force of his logic. “After tonight, what other reason would I have to use them?”

“I don’t know. But you shouldn’t. It’s not safe. Promise me.”

I looked down at my hands. I could feel the slight pull of the battery I’d charged, the strangely delicate distance between Darius and me, the xylophoning of news pinging ZB on both our phones. “No. It’s my power. I’ll be careful—I’ll be safe—but I don’t want to make any promises that I can’t keep.” His dark eyes met mine and it was hard not to look away. “Are you mad at me?”

“Of course not. I am, however, disappointed.”

“Dar-i-us?—”

“It’s the worst, I know. That’s why I said it. I’m just worried about you now is all.”

“Well, don’t be. I’ll be fine.” I wished I weren’t in this silly dress, so I could curl up in the seat like I always did. I could go inside if I wanted to—but I still had hours till my curfew.

He rocked against the window behind him, too, putting us as far away as we could be from each other while still in the same car, but instead of trying to hide like I was, he was taking up space as if to better survey me, like I was something best appreciated from a slight distance. The thought that that might actually be the case --

“Does this mean our pause is off?” he asked, his voice low.

I looked over at him from behind a protective veil of hair. Was it? Things were irrevocably over now. The entire school knew about Danny. There wasn’t any point in hiding.

“Yeah,” I said.

His lips curved in a slow smile. “C‘mere.”

I leaned toward him as he leaned in and kissing him again was as beautiful and good as I thought it’d be. The overhead light had gone out, leaving us in the dark, so I didn’t have to worry about smudging lipstick or the probable disarray of my hair. His hands reached for my head to bring me closer and I felt the soft fuzz of his as I reached up behind his ears and I was far more likely to die from all the feelings I felt now than from anything I’d done earlier on in the night. And then his hands wandered slightly lower and I pulled back.

He yanked his hands back like I was a flame. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be—” I wished I hadn’t moved—why had I moved? Stupid body, mistrustful body.

Then his attention flickered over my shoulder, and I turned to see the light in Allie’s room on and reality, cold andunwelcome, washed in. I sighed and sank back, still able to taste his lips against my mouth and feel where his hands had tugged my hair.

“A real date. First,” I said, putting a definite hand on the door’s handle. “In a week or two. Give my mom a chance to get over the dream of Liam.”

He laughed and it made my heart swell. “Fair enough.”

“Dinner, and a movie. But maybe then we sit, like, at the back of the theater. In the dark. Watching something neither of us are really interested in seeing.”

“Sounds good,” he said, as I got out of his car. “I can’t wait.”

“Me either,” I said, carefully shutting the door quietly and waving as he drove away.

I was in bed wellllllllll before midnight and sent my mother the photographic evidence she’d requested. She texted back asking for a new photo of me, holding up four fingers and sticking out my tongue. I obliged, feeling silly, being ever so glad my mother wasn’t on ZB, and then tried to wind down.

Darius was amazing, and most of the night before that largely so. If I just concentrated on that, I could almost blot out the rest of the evening.