Page 158 of Even Exchange

“Joey!” Sage snaps at her, using the nickname she gave her when we were kids because of Sophia’s koala obsession. Noah places a hand on my thigh, and I fight the urge to squeeze my legs together.It’s going to be a long night if he keeps touching me like this.

“Sorry not sorry,” Sophia says, taking a sip of wine. “We were all gonna know eventually.”

“What kind of idiotic vow is that?” Theo says, taking a seat next to Abbs. “Living with a fuck buddy would be a blessing.”

“Yeah, it works pretty well for us,” Elijah says, winking at Sophia, and we all groan, throwing pillows at him.

Noah continues his torment on my arm, and our gazes connect.Maybe we should test that theory.

Twenty minutes later, Noah and I are in the kitchen, grabbing drinks. He boiled us water and is pouring it over tea bags.

“Do you guys have any honey?” I ask as Elijah strolls in.

“Do we have honey?” he scoffs, walking over to a cabinet and opening the door.

My mouth falls open at the filled shelves. There must be at least fifteen jars.

“Listen, your honey bee nickname is cute,” I say. “But this seems over the top.”

“Funny,” he says, narrowing his eyes. “Abbs had a beekeeping phase, and we’restilltrying to get through the sweet stuff. She brought an entire suitcase full of these.”

“You’re welcome!” Abbs shouts from the living room.

Elijah hands me a jar, and I set it on the counter.

“Use the entire thing, please,” Theo says. “Don’t want that shit expiring in the pantry.”

“That’s not necessary,” Noah says. “Honey lasts forever.”

The memories of snuggling up in his tent under the stars dance into my mind.Fun fact number two.I think about my wish the next day when we found the field of dandelions: I hope Noah ends up exactly where he’s supposed to be.

It was more so because he was so stressed about the draft, but I wonder if some small part of me wished—hoped—he’d end up with me.

Noah tugs me to him, soft smile on his lips, and our eyes meet. “I’m surprised you remembered that,” I say.

“Well, it was my favorite fact from our camping trip,” he admits, hooking a strand of hair behind my ear, adoring eyes capturing mine.

“Really?” I ask, my chest filling with warmth.

He nods. “I hopewelast like honey.”

“And I hope we grow like lemons.”

* * *

“Three. Hundred. Dollars?” I balk. “For a single textbook?”

“This is a hate crime to my bank account,” Andi says, grabbing her own and adding it to the stack of required reading for the upcoming school year. Classes start next week, and since Noah is in New York for a pre-season game, I’m using school prep as a distraction from being in his big empty house. “Can we petition for e-books? It’s the 21st century. If I can read about a man with an octopus schlong fucking a mermaid, certainly we should be able to read about the Byzantine empire without being robbed.”

“Sure.” A laugh bubbles out of me. “Why don’t you put exactly those words in your letter to the school president?”

“What an excellent idea.” She smiles proudly.

We check out, and I onlyalmostthrow up at the grand total of $1023 for textbooks and assisting materials. Thankfully, my student loans dropped, but since I lost my cheer scholarship, it’s definitely going to be tough this year. Living with Noah saves the room and board money, so it won’t beasbad as anticipated.I hope.

“Wanna grab dinner?” Andi asks.

Pulling out my phone, I check the time. 5:14 pm.

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