Page 44

“So, Liz—” she started, when Liz interrupted her.

“What are your big three, Avery?” Oh no. Not astrology. “Wait, let me guess…Libra sun, right?”

Avery took a sip of the margarita she’d ordered and shook her head.

“Hmmm, I could have sworn…Well, you must have Libra as a rising sign. Leo?”

Avery shook her head again. She had the sudden evil impulse to see how long this would go on if she just kept shaking her head and giving Liz nothing. Was it because Liz had irritated her a bit with that implied warning about Taylor? Maybe. She also hated when people tried to distill her personality traits—or what they knew of them—down to when she was born.

“Okay, well—hmmm.” Avery glanced over to the other end of the table and saw the smirk on Taylor’s face. Their eyes met, and Taylor winked at her. Avery couldn’t help but grin. “Aha! Scorpio!” Liz said. “You must have that somewhere in your birth chart.”

“Do we want to order some nachos?” Taylor asked their end of the table. “One vegetarian and one with meat?”

There were universal nods, so Taylor got up. She came around to their side of the table.

“Liz, did you open a tab?” Taylor asked. She rested a hand on Avery’s shoulder as she talked to Liz. “If so, you should come to the bar with me and get your card back, I’ll get this round.” Avery took the last sip of her margarita and started to lean back against Taylor before she caught herself. She tried to pretend that Taylor’s touch was no big deal, didn’t make her feel anything at all, totally normal.

Liz jumped out of her chair.

“Oh yeah, thanks, Taylor.”

When Taylor came back, she slid into the seat next to Avery.

“I had to save you from that astrology conversation,” she said in Avery’s ear. “I knew that it would go on forever if I didn’t do something. I’ve got to say, usually you’re great at a poker face, but that time…”

“Wait, what was wrong with the look on my face?” Avery asked.

“Nothing waswrongwith it, exactly, it was just clear that she was getting on your nerves.”

Avery had to laugh.

“She wasn’t getting on my nerves! She’s nice! Though I was kind of enjoying fucking with her.” Oops, she hadnotmeant for that to come out of her mouth. She looked around to see if anyone had overheard her, but thankfully it didn’t seem like it.

Taylor grinned sideways at her.

“I could tell.”

“My mom is super into astrology, and I guess one of my small bits of rebellion is to resist everything about it.”

Taylor leaned closer to her.

“Wait, if your mom is super into astrology, that means you know your big three. Come on, you can tell me.”

Avery sighed, but she couldn’t help the smile on her face.

“Capricorn sun, Virgo moon, Taurus rising.”

“Oh, Liz was very wrong.” Taylor laughed. “Incredible.”

“Now you have to tell me yours,” Avery said.

“How do you even know I know them?” Taylor asked.

“Because I do,” Avery said.

Taylor fluttered her eyelashes.

“Leo sun, Sagittarius moon, Libra rising.”