“Elle—” Annie starts, and I hold up ahand.
“It’s fine,” I say. “She canstay.”
“Why, thank you.” Elle grins, shifting back in her seat to study us as if we’re two different species trying tomate.
I turn back to Annie. “Beck had this audition he’s been psyched for all week. It didn’t go well. He’s also had some shit going on, and it’s his birthday this weekend. Maybe we can do a little party or a cake? The kind that doesn’t need refrigerating,” Iamend.
Her suspicion is replaced by concern, and if I wasn’t sure she cared about him, I amnow.
Annie sits on the bed, crossing her legs. The towel rides up, and I press my tongue against the floor of my mouth to keep from swallowingit.
“Beck needs a party,” shesays.
“We could take him to a club,” Ellevolunteers.
“Like Leo’s?” Iask.
Annie shakes her head slowly. “No. Somewhere you candance.”
Elle leaps up and snaps her laptop closed. “I’m in. I want to dance my ass off. Hell, I bet even Rae would come. Sure, she’d cross the street to avoid us, but the girl likes toparty.”
Annie cocks her head at Elle. “Where’re yougoing?”
“Funeral. I don’t know the guy,” she says as she reaches for the door. “They’re the only place to witness the full range of human emotions. And they usually havesnacks.”
In a moment, Elle’s gone, leaving Annie and me in a room that somehow feels smaller than it did with three of us init.
“Your neighbor goes to strangers’ funerals and your roommate avoids you,” I say. “Nicegirls.”
“I’m pretty sure Rae’s going to voodoo me out ofVanier.”
I cross to the bed with the little figures along the back and bend to look at them. “They don’t looksinister.”
We exchange a smile that’s gone as fast as it appears, as if we’ve both realized it’s an old habit, and a bad one atthat.
“I need to get dressed,” she says, watching me with an unreadable expression. “I haveclass.”
She’s already opening a drawer, pulling out clothes. I turn away, the photos still in myhands.
The unmistakeable whoosh of a towel dropping has my head jerkingupright.
Is she naked rightnow?
“I’m auditioning for the fall showcase,” Annie says from behind me, forcing me to focus on her words instead of wondering what color panties she’s pulling on. “Beck says I shouldn’t because you need itmore.”
The rise and fall of her voice says she’s moving, but I can’t hear anyclothes.
“You didn’t need it last year. You had an offer to work for Zeke. So, how’d you end up atVanier?”
My chest tightens. I’d rather be tortured by her undressing behind me than talk about this, but I force out a response. “The contract didn’t workout.”
“Whynot?”
I thumb through the photos in my hands, a dull ache in my chest. “It doesn’t matter. Life is hard. We have to go after what wewant.”
“Like youdid.”
Pain rips through my gut. “I thought I was doing the right thing. For everyone,Six.”