Maggie, seeing me notice this, motioned for me to lean closer to her. Then she said, right in my ear, ‘Belissa’s parents own Sweet Petite bakery. This is her house.’

She nodded toward a girl with long, dark hair streaked with blonde, wearing a white tank top and jeans, who was dancing with the group in the living room. She had her head thrown back, laughing, and her lipstick was bright, bright red, the same color as the tiny roses on each of the cupcakes.

‘We need beer,’ Leah announced from Maggie’s other side. She grabbed a couple of red cups from somewhere, then handed them to me. ‘Here. You’re closest.’

I looked down at the cups, then at the keg beside me. Leah and Maggie were now talking about something – Esther had vanished – so neither of them noticed me hesitate before turning to face the keg, where I assumed I was supposed to get the beer. It seemed simple enough, so I picked up the spigot attached to it and turned the top. Nothing happened.

I glanced around me. Leah and Maggie were still talking, and the only other people nearby – a couple, making out against the fridge – weren’t paying me, or anything else, any attention. I twisted the top again – nothing – and felt my face flush, embarrassed. I had never been good at asking for help with anything, especially something that people assumed you already knew. And I knew plenty, but this simple, stupid thing was all new to me.

I took a breath, about to try again, when suddenly a hand appeared over mine, the fingers pressing down on the spigot, and beer began to fill the cup I was holding.

‘Let me guess,’ Eli said, his voice that low, even timbre, as always. ‘Drinking from kegs also falls under outdoor activity.’

I just looked at him, standing there in jeans and the same blue hoodie he’d had on the first time I met him. Maybe it was the embarrassment, which had been bad enough before I had an audience, but I was instantly annoyed. I said, ‘Are we outside?’

He glanced around, as if needing to confirm this. ‘Nope.’

‘Then no.’ I turned my attention back to the keg.

He removed his hand from the spigot, then stood there watching me as I filled another cup. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I’ve noticed you’re kind of defensive.’

‘And I,’ I replied, ‘have noticed that you are very judgmental.’

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘So you’re still upset about the bike thing.’

‘I know how to ride a bike!’ I said.

‘But not how to work a keg.’

I sighed. ‘And you care about this because?’

He shrugged. ‘It’s kind of required here. Like buying more than one thing at the Gas/Gro.’

I was impressed he remembered me saying this from the jump park – it was nice to be memorable, even in a somewhat embarrassing way – but I ignored him, instead moving to get Maggie’s and Leah’s attention so I could give them their beers. When I turned to them, though, they both were staring at me, their eyes wide. ‘What?’ I said, but they just took the cups, then stepped a bit farther away from me, exchanging a look as they each took a sip.

I moved back to the keg with the last cup, reaching to fill it. Once I had, they were still watching me with these weird expressions, so I just took a sip from my cup instead. The beer was warm and flat. Clearly, I had not been missing much.

Beside me, Eli was now studying the pastries, and I realized that maybe I had been a little short with him. In an attempt to be conciliatory, I said, ‘Apparently the people who own this house have a bakery. Or something.’

He glanced at me. ‘Really.’

I took another sip, why I had no idea, as it tasted terrible. ‘She’s the girl in the white shirt, over there. With the red lipstick.’

He glanced in the direction I indicated, watching the people dancing for a moment. ‘Oh, right. I see her.’

The girl was really moving now, her hair swishing down her back from side to side as she moved her hips in a circle, a pumped-up guy with, yes, hair gel pressing up behind her. ‘Wow,’ I said. ‘That’s really something.’

‘Meaning what?’

I shrugged. The girl glanced over at us, her eyes meeting mine, and I took another sip of my beer. ‘Just… sometimes less is more. You know?’

He sort of smiled, as if this was cute, which was kind of annoying. I glanced over at Maggie and Leah, who, for some reason, were now looking at me totally goggle-eyed.

‘Which is not to say,’ I said to Eli, ‘you shouldn’t have one of her cupcakes. They look great.’

‘Nah,’ he said. ‘I’ll pass.’

‘You know,’ I told him, ‘if you don’t know how to eat a cupcake, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.’

Now he did smile. ‘I know how to eat a cupcake.’

‘Sure you do.’

‘I do,’ he said. ‘I just don’t want one of those.’

‘Yeah?’ I put my cup down, then reached into my bag for the packaged ones I’d bought at the Gas/Gro, pulling them out and placing them on the counter between us. ‘Prove it.’

‘You really want me to?’ he asked.

‘It’s kind of required here,’ I said. ‘Like riding a bike.’

He studied my face for a second, then picked up the pack of cupcakes, opening it and pulling one out. I was watching him, about to take another sip of beer, when I felt a hand suddenly clench my arm. ‘Abort,’ Maggie hissed in my ear. ‘Abort, abort, right now.’