Page 45 of Until the Last Star Fades

“Don’t feel guilty. You need to take care of yourself, too.” Piper shook the cookie box. “C’mon, eat! I didn’t buy them just to look at.”

Riley yawned and chose a snickerdoodle cookie. “I missed these.”

“Cookies are life—fact.” Piper nodded.

Casey pointed to the box. “You sanitized your hands before rooting around in there, right?”

“No, I picked a booger and then fingered each and every one.” Piper snatched it away, but Casey’s reach earned him a chocolate chunk cookie anyway.

“Our Monday afternoon ritual isn’t the same if you’re AWOL, Rye.” Casey leaned in, a buttery popcorn smell from his part-time job at a cinema lingering in his light jacket. His eyes chased the fountain’s waterworks as they leapt into the cloudless sky. “Thank God you’re back. Listening to Paisley here, waffling on about her latest sexual misadventure, was detrimental to my GPA.”

“I heard that!” Piper scooted a smidge to her left, setting the box down between her and Casey. “I have needs, so sue me.”

“And I’m happy you’re fulfilling them.” Cookie in hand, Casey shook his head. “I just don’t need all the gory details—”

“Did you ask Ben out?” Riley’s question got lost in the verbal volleys to her left.

“Case, I’m not going to apologize because I enjoy a good fuck,” said Piper.

“You and Ben—?” Riley’s eyes widened.

“They did.” Casey snapped his cookie in half.

“Really?” Riley stiffened, her tone sharp.

“NO! Ben and I went out! We didn’t have sex—Ben’s a gentleman,” said Piper. “We had a date Friday night. Sorry I didn’t tell you, Rye.”

Three days ago, and I’m only hearing about it now?

Piper lifted her sunglasses, nudging them into her hair. “It seemed like something that could wait, you know? After we talked about your mom and what you missed at school each day, you sounded exhausted.”

Riley slowly nodded. Piper wasn’t being secretive; she was being considerate as always. “How’d it go?”

“Okay, but poor Ben looked awful. Swollen nose, two black eyes—”

“W-What?!” Riley jerked forward. “What happened?”

“Broke his nose.” Casey winced. “Collided with some bloke on the street, apparently.”

“Yeah, two days before our date.” Piper nodded. “The timing couldn’t have sucked more. He had an interview for a job at a bakery and an audition today…”

Shit. Right. He texted me last week—the day of Mom’s chemo. Too much was going on to respond.

“Singing on Broadway.”

A knot tightened in Riley’s stomach. “Singing? That’s amazing.” You would’ve known the news first if you had returned his text.

“I don’t know if he got either job, though.” Piper sighed, twirling a short piece of hair around a finger. “If he didn’t, maybe he’s too embarrassed to say anything, poor guy.”

Piper seems interested…maybe Ben is too?

“His bruises might’ve turned them off. He looked rough—not that that ever stopped me!” Piper licked her lips. “I told him if those jobs didn’t work out, he should join me at Sprinkles. I said it as a joke, not thinking he’d be interested, but he asked me questions about cupcake recipes and everything. Apparently, he baked with his mum when he was little! Super cute.”

“Where’d you guys go?” Riley bit her cookie.

“That mac ’n’ cheese place on First. He ate a huge portion of their four-cheese mac and three brownies.” Piper giggled. “He stole a spoon, too. I think Ben’s a bit of a klepto!”

“Just your type, Pip,” said Casey.