We find my car and Chloe takes us to a cool pizza place to get real 'New York pizza'. It's just a regular thin crust pizza but it's still good, like all pizza is. We also meet one of her roommates, a blonde girl named Veronica who uses the word rad a lot. Hannah and I share a look every time she says it: it doesn't get old.

Chloe cheers up over food and she asks me loads of questions about home and everyone there. I feel bad for not telling her mom I was coming, just in case she had a care package or something I could deliver for her. But I try to let that feeling go. I hadn't planned this months in advance or something, so it's not like Iike I excluded her on purpose.

"You know who I saw is back home?" She says as we walk to my car. "Reese."

"Oh." I flinch at his name, but I don't think she notices. I wonder what she'd say if I told her about what I learned recently. Something's telling me she'd totally freak out.

"Yeah." She bites her bottom lip. "I saw on his Instagram. He took a photo at the movie theatre near your place. I thought for a second you took it because it was blurry-"

"My pictures are not blurry!"

"Yes they are." Hannah calls from in front of us, causing the girls to laugh. I roll my eyes.

"Whatever. I didn't take the picture." I say, sending her the evils. She just pulls a face back to me and then her eyebrows quirk when Veronica calls her sense of humour rad.

Chloe nudges me in the side. "Did you know he was back?"

"I knew. I've seen him a few times, actually." I say. She stares at me expectantly but I don't reply. It's not the time to talk about this now, we've just seen each other again.

We reach my car and Hannah heads to the passenger's seat, like usual. But then Chloe goes there too. And for a second there is a pause as they stare at each other and realise what's going on. I open my mouth, ready to play eenie meenie with them to relax the situation, when Chloe takes a step back, smiling.

"You go 'head, Hannah." She says.

"Are you sure? I know the two of you have a lot to talk about." Hannah replies.

"Yeah, sure, go for it. Ronnie and I can sit in the back, no big deal." Chloe waves her hand as she heads to the back. "Makes me feel like Nate's my chauffer anyway."

"Just for that, I think you should drive." I say, eager to release the sudden tension that's come around. She sticks her tongue out at me and shares a comment with Veronica about how rad the backseat is. I decide that Veronica has good vibes.

Hannah pulls a face before we get into the car. "I probably should've given up the front, right? You probably wanted to catch up some more."

I shake my head. "Nah, you're good. Besides, you're my second and I'm your best girlfriend, right Kenickie?"

She smiles. "I didn't say best. I said you're one of them. Behind my sisters, my niece, Jenny and Imani."

"So... I'm number six?"

"You beat my mom."

Fair.

I get the directions from the girls, surprised when they give me an address that's in a really swanky area of the city. I'm more surprised when we get to their apartment building and it's massive, like, really big. It's like something you get out of those high school dramas set in New York, like Gossip Girl. The streets are clean and the buildings are kind of retro, classic. Like the ones you get in paintings, or see in pictures of New York from fifty years ago. It's super cool.

"How can you afford this?" I ask as I park just across the street.

"My dad owns the building." Veronica explains. "It's not even his biggest one. This one only has a pool –"

"It has a pool?" I interrupt. "Like, indoor? Like a hotel?"

"Yeah? Doesn't your apartment building have a pool?" Chloe says sarcastically. She gets a pinch in the arm for that one but she just shrugs it off and turns back to me. "Surprise, Nate!"

"This is great!" I grin at her then look at Hannah. "We gotta go in that pool, and you have to come in with me, I'm still mad at you for skipping out on the waterfall."

"I'm still on my period, so I'm gonna pass." She says. "Also I'm not sure I wanna sit around and watch you show off again."

"Isn't that over already? Come on, Kenickie!" I nudge her arm but she doesn't budge. "Live a little!"

"Ok, I let you get away with it earlier because you were being nice –" Hannah waggles her finger in my direction. "But I'm not letting you get away with it now. How many times have I told you that I am Frenchy and not Kenickie?"

"Is it really that deep?"

"Is it so hard for you to call me Frenchy –"

From behind us, someone clears their throat and I remember that we're not alone in the car. The both of us turn around and see Chloe and Veronica's amused faces. Hannah blows a raspberry at me and gets out first, getting her stuff from the back. Chloe hangs back as they head upstairs, helping me with my bags.

"I'll go with you to the pool tomorrow." She says. "I for one don't mind sitting around and watching you show off."

"Yeah?" I'm truly surprised. Chloe hates pools: she hates how chlorine makes her hair feel. "Wow, you ready for me to wake you up bright and early then?"

"Ugh, I forgot you're a freak of nature that wakes up at an ungodly hour of morning."

"Harsh."

She giggles, but it sounds fake. "So... you and Hannah are awfully close."

"You think? We haven't known each other that long." Then I raise my voice. "But she's the Kenickie to my Danny Zuko, right Hannah?"

"Bite me, Fish boy!" She hollers.

I grin. Chloe sniffs and I look at her, wondering what's wrong. Her face is pinched, like she's thinking hard about something, but it relaxes again when she realises I'm looking at her. She smiles at me and I smile back, slinging my arm around her shoulder and pulling her into my side as we walk into the swanky building. It doesn't exactly feel like old times, but it's close enough.

☼ ☼ ☼

I slip out of the pool and sit on the side, rubbing the excess water out of my eyes. Chloe's still swimming, her red hair following her body in the water behind her. I thought I was going slowly but she's super far behind. It's probably because it's early, or maybe she hasn't been swimming in a while. Though I don't know why she wouldn't with this massive pool in her apartment building. How insane is that?!

Last night we hung out and ate candy and watched Pride and Prejudice with Chloe's roommates and her annoying cat Clementine, who wouldn't stop scratching me until we all passed out. This morning, Hannah and I woke up super early and watched cartoons until I was feeling too restless and curious and I dragged Chloe down to the pool. We've been here for a good part of an hour, and I can tell she's tired but I still don't wanna leave yet.

Chloe finally reaches the edge and her head bobs up right by my knee. "How long have you been sitting there?" She asks, out of breath.

"Twenty, maybe thirty minutes. Actually, it might have been an hour..." I say. She slaps my knee. "About two minutes."

"You really are a fish." She says and starts getting out of the water, sitting on the edge close to me. "No wonder Hannah's always calling you Fish boy."

"You noticed that?"

"Hard not to. She says it, like all the time. I think she likes you."

I'm not sure about her tone of voice. It's like she doesn't care about what we're talking about but at the same time, why'd she bring it up if she doesn't care? I don't know what to make of it.

"She definitely isn't." I dismiss anyway. "Hannah's into people who paint and read and know what the word insurmountable means."

"Who in the hell knows what insurmountable means?" Chloe nudges my shoulder. "Not you, right?"

"I know what it means." I rub the back of my head and think about the insurmountable amount of trouble my mom promised me when I get back. Not for the first time this morning, I think about the thumbs up she sent me over text.

"You do? Can you spell it?"

"Definitely not." I return her nudge and smile. I'll overthink about my mom later. "Ready for one more lap?"

"Ugh, Nate it's literally six in the morning! Can't we slow down?"

"You gotta live in the fast lane, babe!" I say dramatically. She rolls her eyes but she's smiling at me. Her neck's gone a slight pink colour too.

Feeling weird, I slip off the edge of the pool and quickly drop into the water, feeling my body adjust to the pressure immediately. I can just about hear Chloe complaining about me splashing her or something, but she gets in with me. We smile at each other underwater before I shoot off again.

"What's on the agenda for today?" I ask Hannah once I'm out of the shower. She's got a book in one hand and her other is scratching the top of Clementine's head. She shows me an easy smile.

"Times Square? MSG? The Barclays Centre? How's that sound?"

"Good to me." I say. "You wanna see the Statue of Liberty? It's really green."

"I could do that." She agrees. "But don't you have to take a boat to get there?"

I pull a face, thinking about how I was during Prom: she pulls an identical one and I know she's thinking about the same thing.

"Maybe we can see it from a distance." I say. She chuckles. "Just to be safe, y'know?"

"Safe about what?" We look up at Chloe who has a towel around her head. She smiles at us. "What are you talking about?"

"Lady Liberty." Hannah says. "We were thinking we'd just skip it, 'cuz we both get seasick."

Chloe laughs loudly, shortly. "No, Nate doesn't get seasick. And it's barely a journey anyway, so there's no way you'll get seasick, Han. Literally don't worry about it."

I open my mouth to say something but she wanders away before I get the chance. Hannah's staring after her towelled head with her eyebrows raised. It's only when Chloe disappears that she turns to me, her facial expression the exact same.

"Well then. I guess that's that. I can't wait!" She says, returning to her book. Clementine mews multiple times until she starts rubbing her head again.

"I'll talk to her about it, don't worry." I try. She nods passively but I can tell she doesn't believe me. "But anyway! Your Shakespeare thing, we can go see that tonight!"

Immediately her face lights up and I relax. I didn't even realise I was tense.

"I thought you'd forget about that!"

"Nah. You said it was bloody so I'm kinda excited."

"Wait 'til you see Lady Macbeth do her thing!"

"Does she kill someone?"

"Nate, you have no idea." She laughs, more cackles. It's kind of scary, actually. I shuffle away from her. "Oh, we're gonna have so much fun! Veronica said she's an English major, so we've been bonding over books."

"Bonding over books, huh?" I wiggle my eyebrows. "How's that been? Rad?"

"I don't know if you know this." She says, her voice lowering. Her smile doesn't change though. "But you are insufferable."

"Spell insufferable." I challenge. She throws her book at me.

a/n:
Another Tuesday, another update!

NaNoWriMo has started! It's already kicking my ass and it's only day three! whee!