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Skylar:Olive, you have fifteen minutes before I call the cops

That was ten minutes ago.

Me:If you call the cops would you tell them you’re worried I slipped into a sex induced coma and need assistance?

Me:Because idk if I would be embarrassed or proud if I had to face them with that

Skylar:FINALLY. Where have you been?

Skylar:Did you at least use protection?

I roll my eyes. “She’s such a mom,” I muse to myself, cutting through some of the confusion that’s been weighing me down since meeting Colleen.

Berlin:Did you cum at least???

Me:Protection hasn’t been necessary because there hasn’t been sex

Me:This trip hasn’t gone smoothly

Berlin:So no orgasm then?

Skylar’s name pops up on my phone. “Is everything okay?” she asks, her voice a whisper that probably means Bentley is napping.

“I’m fine. I met Alex’s mom. She was at his apartment when I got there.” I frown as I stare at the hospital. Alex doesn’t want anybody to know about this, so I don’t give my best friend the details I’m sure she wants. “She’s nice.”

That much is true.

“Oooh getting cock blocked by a parent sucks,” she says sympathetically. “Or whatever the female equivalent is.”

“Same thing. Either way, there has been no cock,” I answer easily. I’m not sure there will be, and I’m okay with that. We’ve never shied away from physical stuff. If he truly wants me, I guess we’ll see if we can do the other stuff. The talking. The seriousness. Then maybe the clothes can come off. “I should have told him I was coming. Or just not shown up. This was a dumb idea.”

“No, it wasn’t! It was spontaneous and sweet, if you ask me. You two have gone through a lot of stuff to get where you are, and I think it’s great he wanted you there with him. I’m sure his mom won’t be there the entire time, right?”

I study the building’s welcoming white letters spelling out the name of the hospital. There’s movement on the other side ofthe windows on the first floor—nurses moving down brightly lit halls. It looks colorful. Happy.

Taking a deep breath, I nod once. “Right.”

“Then enjoy yourself,” she tells me. “You deserve it, Olive. Really. Soon, classes are going to start and you two will both be busy with your lives. You might as well have fun while you can. What’s stopping you?”

I know she’s right. I didn’t drive all this way just to drive back. We’re going to talk. Then…well, I don’t know what happens after that. It’ll depend on how the conversation goes. What I do know is that I don’t feel like paying for a hotel or going all the way back to Lindon, so the very least he can offer me is his couch.

“Nothing,” I finally answer. “Nothing is stopping me. I’m here, aren’t I?”

Skylar’s voice is gentle. “Areyou? I know you, Liv. You put on a brave face, but there’s an emptiness in your eyes sometimes. And that’s okay. But don’t self-sabotage something that has the potential to lead somewhere great just because you’re scared.”

Is that what she thinks Alex is for me? Something great? “I don’t self-sabotage. Alex made his decision the last time. He chose hockey.”

“And he regrets it,” she reminds me pointedly. The tone she gives me is like when my mother talks firmly to me. “He asked you to come there, Olive. He choseyou.”

But for how long? It’s terrifying to think I could fall for him again only to wind up in the same place. “He hasn’t chosen yet. He just thinks he has.”

“Maybe you’re wrong,” she tells me. “Maybe all it will take is a little openness. Give him a chance, but more importantly, give yourself one. You don’t do things you don’t want to, so make the most of this.”

I look at my lap, picking at the seam of my jeans.

She takes my silence as hesitation. “I told Danny when we first met that I didn’t need anybody, and you know what he said?”

I squeeze my fingers together. “What?”