Page 53 of Even Exchange

I bite my cheek, unable to gauge if she’s baiting a certain answer.

ME

Didn’t see any dandelions

Charlotte

Plenty of them in Florida

ME

One is all it takes

Charlotte

Your wish come true yet?

ME

Nah, yours?

Charlotte

Nope.

After the exhausting day I’ve had, I ache to hear her voice, but as often as we text lately, we never talk on the phone. Guess there’s a first time for everything. Ten seconds later, Charlotte’s face fills the screen.

“Hey,” I say, forcing a relaxed, I’m-totally-not-freaking-out smile.

“Hey,” she replies, her voice muffled by her surroundings.

“Where are you?” I assumed she was home by how quickly she was replying.

“Well…” She glances around, and I spot a familiar painting hanging on the wall behind her.

“Are you atmyplace?” I ask, sitting straight up.

“Maaaaaybe,” she says coyly.

“Without me?” The realization hits me like a three-hundred-pound linebacker.

“Yeessss.”

“Are you at Des’s graduation party?” I ask, and she doesn’t reply, but given the loud noises in the background I can assume. “Seriously? Put Des on.”

Charlotte giggles, the video shaky as she makes her way through the house. “It’s for you,” she says, handing off the phone to Desmond, my roommate, whose grinning face fills the screen.

“What’s up?” he says.

“How’s the party?” I ask casually to avoid potential ball busting.

He grins. “Good.”

“Who showed?” I press.

Charlotte is single now. The guys are going to be all over her.

“Why?” he asks. When I don’t reply, he looks away, then grins, returning his gaze to the camera. “Ohhh, I get it. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

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