"Can I have another one?" Viktor asked me.

"You think you can handle it yourself this time?" I asked, scooting just a little closer to him.

There were plenty of stars lingering overhead, and the chilly spring air pulled the seven of us closer to each other.

Even though I had my Blaine hoodie (I was pretty sure I was supposed to get rid of it by some break-up code, but it was warm, and I wanted it), I still couldn't keep myself from shivering, despite the warmth of the fire.

"It's not that hard. I can do it." Viktor's smirk lit up in the fire light. "You just toast the marshmallow, then put it all together."

"Sweden's going to disown you if you keep acting this American," I said.

He smiled, then turned away and gazed into the fire without making his s'more. It didn't look like there was a damn thing going on in his mind, but sometimes the absentmindedness that I hated in him before actually made me feel all tingly and warm.

He wasn't all that stupid, but sometimes, his thoughts drew his mind away from the task at hand.

The fire crackled, masking the fact that none of us had anything to say, not even Arti. I hated to be the one to break up the party, but driving for five hours and destroying Viktor in a hockey video game was enough to knock me out for a night.

I stood up and tugged my jeans back up to their original, family-friendly position. "I'm going to bed."

"Now? It's only eleven," Arti said.

"And I'm tired. Normally, I'd be all for an all-nighter, but I just really need to sleep."

"Leave it to Amanda to ruin the party," Blaine said, but I ignored him.

"Good night to everyone except Blaine." And with that, I went inside.

I knew damn well I wasn't going to go to sleep. Lying awake, wondering where the hell my life would soon be seemed like a much better use of my time.

Assuming Viktor got drafted, he had a couple options that his career could take. Staying in school was much more reasonable, especially given the uncertainty of his injury, but after that, who knew where he would go?

Would I be able and willing to follow?

I wanted to think positive, I really, really did, but Viktor wasn't the only person I loved, and the more I thought, the more I realized I didn't even know that much about myself.

How much could I handle?

Of course, those were problems for the future, and there were no guarantees that this Viktor and Amanda experiment would even last that long, but I couldn't help but overthink and over-feel it all.

I found my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face, and as I walked out, I scrolled through the news headlines from back at home on my phone.

Minneapolis Man Shot and Killed in Domestic Dispute, Suspect in Custody.

Nice.

Young Canadian Girl Buys Homeless Man McDonald's, and It Will Melt Your Heart.

How sweet. My heart was still frozen, though.

Winterview University Professor Under Investigation for Sexual Harassment.

I bit my cheek. How was that a news story? It began four fucking months prior.

Dr. Mann never did anything illegal to me (and in my opinion, the video of what he said about me wasn't even that bad), so there wasn't much that I could do about anything, but he certainly broke the law with what he did to Drew. Tacking on her disability, it made for a compelling narrative against him.

My only job was to draw attention to his shitty personality, and I didn't do a bad job.

An emptiness crept into my chest, but I pushed it into my stomach as I changed out of my clothes.

Was that all? Nothing more? No more shit hitting the fan?

It all seemed... anticlimactic.

I climbed into bed, then realized I left the lights on. I paid no attention to it.

I didn't need to make a plan. I didn't even need to worry anymore.

It was all over. Everything was out of my control.

And that emptiness I tried to ignore grew, and grew, and grew, as I rested alone. What was I going to do with myself? The question I had was pretty much answered, and with Dr. Mann soon to be leaving Winterview (assuming the university had a fucking backbone), even if I was right that he had caught Caroline in saving the hockey team by keeping the Jardetzky twins above the required grade point average, there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

The tables had certainly turned from our original disputes.

The door opened, and Viktor walked right in like he owned the place.

Of course, I wanted him with me. The comfort of his body usually was enough to put me right to sleep unless there was something serious going on in my head.

"Hey," he said rather nonchalantly.

I nodded in acknowledgement, then put my head back down on the pillow.

"Are you okay, Amanda?" he asked in that Swedish accent I loved. It made me feel like everyone else had been pronouncing my name incorrectly my entire life.

I nodded again, still not saying a word. It probably seemed a little sketchy, but in all honesty, I was perfectly fine.

Or, at least as perfectly fine as I ever got.

I shut my eyes for a few more moments until the bed shifted, and Viktor got in with me.

Although there was plenty of space for the two of us, which was a luxury we certainly weren't used to having back at Winterview, we ended up cuddled up right next to each other.

I finally decided to speak. "I figured you'd be with Matthew right now."

"Why?" he asked in a low voice. He was clearly tired.

"Isn't that your thing? I mean, back at home, you guys always shared a room."

He let out a chuckle. "I guess."

I smiled. "Just don't ever forget about him, okay?"

"I could never do that. He's the only person who's always stuck with me, no matter what."

Matt's words stuck with me as well: Don't keep him all to yourself, okay?

I knew from experience that friendship should always come first.

***

I woke up the next morning fairly early for a vacation.

Viktor was still pressed up against me, and when I turned to look at him, his face was as peaceful and pure as ever.

Why the hell did he even like me?

I got up as quietly and politely as I could, hoping not to wake him, even though all I wanted was to smoosh my face against his until he got irritated with me. The sun was just beginning to rise, and I when I made it down to the kitchen, there was one other person awake.

Caroline.

"Good morning," she said, not looking up from the coffee machine.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked, carrying on the politeness.

"Much better knowing that Dr. Mann's investigation has gone public," she replied.

I searched through the cabinets, looking for something to eat. "You heard about that?"

"I can't believe it took our sorry ass school four months to own up to hiring this idiot. You and Drew aren't the only people he's fucked over."

"At least they're doing something about it now, I guess."

"It's too late, though. It's far too late."

She wasn't wrong, especially since Drew was one of the sweetest people I had ever met, but I was realistic enough to know that things like that took time.

"How's Drew?" I asked.

"She's elated, and she should be. She just doesn't want anything like she went through to happen to anyone else."

The coffee machine stopped brewing, and Caroline fixed herself a cup.

Neither one of us spoke for a moment. It was still early, and I wasn't all that talkative yet.

"Drew really likes you, you know that?" Caroline said.

I smiled. "I'm glad, but I really haven't done anything to deserve it."

"Do you know any American sign language?"

I nodded. "Viktor taught me my name, but that's it."

"Then just sign that for Drew. It'll make the world seem a little less isolated for her."

"That's a good idea. Thank you."

She gave me a small smile. "Just figured I'd leave you with something worthwhile."

Another silence, but this time, it was a bit longer.

Caroline broke it again. "I'm glad you invited me here. It's nice."

"That's just what unconventional business partners do, I guess," I replied.

She laughed. "Unconventional business partner? Is that what you think of me?"

"If you'd like, I'll upgrade you to friend-like status, as long as you pay the contract's early termination fee."

"Never mind, then. We'll just stay business partners. That'd probably be best."

Of course, I was joking, but she didn't seem to be.

We were at least semi-friends, right?

She helped me with her knowledge of the ins and outs of the hockey business, and I helped her get justice for Drew and cover her tracks that she had been illegally raising the Jardetzkys' grades.

Maybe we were just business partners.

I didn't fucking know a thing.

She stood up from her stool at the island. "Could I steal your car later?"

"Uh, why?"

"I'll go get us some drinks if you want."

I thought for a moment, and even though my experience with Matt and Blaine screamed that it was a bad idea, I nodded my head in agreement. Caroline seemed a little more cautious than those two, and she had proven that she was a focused person. Plus, I was pretty sure she was the only person twenty-one years old and legally able to buy anything good.

She smiled. "Is there anything you want in particular?"

"Whatever's fine with me."

She smiled and nodded. "We really deserve this, you know? To relax as a reward for taking down Dr. Mann."

"Or get shit-faced drunk, like I'm sure Blaine and Arti will."

Caroline laughed. "That's a decent option too."

***

Caroline got the drinks she promised, and within an hour, Blaine, Arti, and I had indulged perhaps just a little too much. I prided myself on being rational, but sometimes, there was nothing like not having much sense. A little bit of alcohol could give me a Viktor-like state of mind.

Slightly intoxicated Arti was a fucking riot, and although I had been around her before, she just never got old.

"I just really fucking love you guys," she said, placing her hand on Blaine's cheek. "Even you, you piece of shit. Especially you."

I couldn't stop myself from giggling. She was just too damn cute.

"I love you too," Blaine replied, who was a little better at handling alcohol.

"I love Amanda too. She's my best friend," Arti said.

I opened my mouth. "Shit, dude, you're my best friend too."

I was certainly not tipsy, and I was feeling so fucking good. Everything was about ten thousand times sweeter and funnier than usual.

"Oh my god, this is like finding out your crush likes you back," Arti said.

I laughed again.

"You know," Arti said, turning to Drew, "Amanda and I go way back. Like, when we were in kindergarten, we managed to get all the other girls to hate us."

"How?" Drew asked.

"Back in the day, boys had cooties. As far as I'm concerned, they still do. But that's not the point. We were next-door neighbors, so when we went to kindergarten, we were, like, automatically best friends. We wanted to try to make friends with the other girls, so we tried to play Barbies with them."

"I have a Barbie scooter," Blaine interrupted.

"Shut the fuck up. Sorry, I love you, but, like, shut the fuck up. But we played this game where we were all sister princesses living in a castle, and our parents were dead. There were, like, eight of us, so we all played nice and shared all the clothes, because this was a good Christian school, so you couldn't have naked Barbies. Until, one day, somebody decided she wanted to be queen."

I laughed. "That was me."

Arti nodded, then continued. "And she told the other kids, 'Well, someone needs to rule this shit show of a country,' except, like, nicer, because she was in kindergarten.

"And Inez Garcia, that fucking bitch ass weasel, got all offended and was like, 'You can't be queen! You don't even have a husband to be the king!'

"And so I came to the rescue, and I was like, 'I'll be her royal wife, and we'll have two queens!' The teacher overheard that, and then all the Barbies got taken away, because we couldn't have a lesbian royal power couple ruling the Kingdom of Kindergarten, so all the other girls hated us. The end."

Blaine stared at her wide-eyed, then burst into laughter. "That's the most amazing thing I've ever heard."

"The teacher even called our parents, and I got yelled at. I was five. I didn't even know why I was in trouble," Arti continued, even though the words the end typically meant that the story was over.

I probably should have figured her out before she had to tell me, but I was stupid sometimes.

Other times, I was a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, but without the billionaire playboy philanthropist part.

I laughed at my internal monologue.

I was fucking hilarious, too.

I had it all.

9.7/10.

I only had a .3-point deduction because I forgot to point my toes.

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Thank you for reading! We got an Arti story today instead of a Blaine story or an Amanda story.

Can Amanda and Caroline be friends, or has too much happened between them?