Talleyʼs eyes grew wide and her grip on his arm visibly tightened. “No, you canʼt do that. Itʼll be okay. Promise. But you have to stay here. Please donʼt call your brother.” I mentally seconded Talleyʼs assertion. I planned on living the rest of my life without seeing Liam Cole again.

Alex was reluctant, but eventually agreed it wouldnʼt be wise to have his brother drive in bad weather. I carefully made my way back to the van while Alex helped Talley, whose attempt at walking on her own reminded me of Bambi crossing the frozen pond. Occasionally, the wind would sweep fragments of their conversation up to me. It sounded like Talley was still reassuring Alex that the world was most certainly not going to fall apart just because he had to stay overnight in Nashville.

I tried not to take his desire to flee personally.#

The streets of Nashville were like an ice skating rink and the huge flakes were falling so quickly that there was near zero visibility. It took us over an hour to drive the three miles to the hotel were Dad had made reservations. To Ashleyʼs horror, it was indeed a Motel 6.

Ms. Ryderʼs nerves were so shot by the time we checked in she didnʼt really care what we did with the rest of our day. In fact, she disappeared into her room shortly after our arrival, and didnʼt emerge until the next morning.

After a brutal snowball war, I ended up hanging out in a room where a group was watching a Harry Potter marathon. I realized that I didnʼt find Daniel Radcliff quite as attractive with Alexʼs hand once again intertwined with mine.

Alex was uncharacteristically taciturn all evening. He obsessively checked the time every few minutes. Despite my repeated attempts to figure out why he so desperately needed to get home, I was still in the dark.

We were about halfway through The Goblet of Fire when I became aware something was wrong. Alexʼs hand was sweltering in mine and his breathing didnʼt sound quite right.

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked as two girls sitting on the other bed had a very heated discussion as to the exact hotness level of Rob Pattinson.

“Ummm...sure. Yeah. Iʼm fine.” Alex seemed to be having trouble focusing on anything going on in the room around him.

“You look awful,” Talley pipped up from beside me. “Maybe now would be a good time for you to go to bed.”

Alex looked again at the clock sitting on the bedside table. It was 5:00, the sun was just starting to set. Normally I would think that it was way too early for someone to call it a night, but Alex was obviously sick.

“Iʼm fine.”

“No, youʼre not. You need to go to bed, and you need to go to bed now.” Talley was being unusually assertive, sounding shockingly like her mother.

“Youʼre right. I could use some sleep.” As Alex got up to leave a shiver went through his entire body.

“Are you sure youʼre going to be okay? Maybe we should get Ms. Ryder or a doctor.” Every muscle in Alexʼs body seemed to be twitching.

“Iʼll be fine once I get some sleep. Donʼt worry about me.” Alex stood in front of me awkwardly for a moment, running his fingers through his hair. “Thanks for today, Scout. Itʼs been really great.”

I could feel everyone in the room watching our little exchange. The embarrassment killed a bit of my buzz, but not much.

The evening drug on after he left. Harry couldnʼt hold my interest, even when he drug poor Cedricʼs dead body back to Hogwarts, which normally made me shed at least a tear or two.

Eventually we all grew tired of vending machine food and walked a block down the street to Taco Bell. I paused outside Alexʼs door on our way back.

“Do you think heʼs hungry? Should I ask him if he wants me to go get him something?” I asked Talley.

“I think he needs to sleep. Cʼmon, Scout. Youʼll survive not seeing him until tomorrow.” I looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot. “I really like him,” I confessed.

Talleyʼs superior expression was mildly annoying. “I know. I have been trying to tell you that for months.”

She was turning into such a know-it-all.

“Do you think that he might like me too?” I was unable to meet her eyes.

“I know he does.”

I wished that I could be that confident. I leaned against the wall by the door to our room and watched the flurries dance in the glow of the street light as Talley dug for the room key.

“Jase hates him, you know.”

“I know.”

“Do you know why?”

After four attempts at swiping the room key, Talley finally got the door open. Stale cigarette smoke and bleach burned my lungs.

Instead of answering my question, Talley began the long, complicated process of extracting herself from the rain-suit. By the time she managed to free one of her legs from the ridiculously cheerful yellow vinyl, my patience was running thin.

“You know, donʼt you?”

“Know what?” she grunted out. She was struggling as she tried to force the garment to release its death grip on her thigh.

“You know whatʼs going on with Jase and Alex. Tell me.” Talley stretched out on the bed, having finally defeated the rain-suit. “Do you honestly think Jase would tell me and not you?”

Yes.

Well, maybe.

Okay, probably not.

“What am I supposed to do, Tal?” I looped my arm through hers and leaned my head on her shoulder. Her hair smelled of the same baby shampoo that she had been using since we were kids.

“I donʼt know,” she said, kissing the top of my head. “Weʼll figure it out, though. I promise to make everything okay.”

I flipped open my phone to set the alarm, and realized I had missed a handful of messages from Charlie.

“How do you feel about hippos?”

“Large animal. Likes water.”

“Let me know asap.”

I was slightly confused, but texted back that I held the majestic beast in high regard. I really didnʼt have an opinion on hippos, but it seemed like the right thing to say.

“Who was that?” Talley asked. “Did Jase text to check up on us?”

“No, it was Charlie.” I crawled into the bed and pulled the covers up over my head. I was suddenly not feeling so well. Maybe I was coming down with whatever Alex had. Or maybe it was the Mexican food.

“So, what does it feel like to be in love with two guys at the same time?” I flipped the covers down so that Talley could see my face as I responded. “I am not in love with anyone. I have a crush on Alex and Charlie is... Charlie is Charlie.” Talleyʼs expression was pretty easy to read. It said “BULL CRAP” in big, capital letters.