Problematic Summer Romance (Not in Love, #2)(27)

“How do you even know about my IQ?”

“You’re finishing a physics degree with honors at twenty and have been accepted to half a million graduate programs with full funding. I inferred.”

“Okay, well, you also knew about the Isle of Harris vacation. Did you infer that?”

“Sadly, that does enter creepy territory.”

“You stalked my Instagram, didn’t you?”

He glares. “I am an adult man.”

I let out a breathy giggle, but he taps at his phone and hands it over, showing me a thread of texts between Eli, Sul, Minami, and Conor. The four founding members of Harkness.

“I didn’t know people your age had group chats.”

“Do fuck off, Maya.”

I smile at his mild tone. It’s clear that he searched the chat for the word Maya and found dozens of texts from Eli about me. Not personal stuff that I’d be embarrassed to realize he shared, but big-picture news about my life. Mostly, what I tell him when he messages me every few months, asking whether everything’s going okay at school. The paper I worked on as a research assistant and how it got published with me in the author lineup. My internship. Vacation photos I sent as proof of life.

She’s fantastic, he wrote in one text. I really think she’ll be one of the best physicists of her generation. Headed for great things.

“He clearly…keeps track of stuff,” I say, a little choked.

“He’s proud of you. More than of anything he’s achieved on his own, I’d hazard.”

I keep scrolling. Minami is usually the only one who replies to texts about me, which doesn’t surprise me, since I assume that these updates may be mostly for her. She was always there for me during my teenage years, and more than once talked me down from being even wilder and bitchier than I was. The only reason I haven’t kept in touch with her in the last few years is that…well. She was Eli’s friend, not mine. And I wasn’t sure if…

I’m going to email her. The very second this mess is over.

“Let me guess.” I swallow. “You roll your eyes whenever I’m mentioned.”

“I do not.”

“Really?”

“I’m very good at skim reading.”

I laugh. And laugh. And laugh. And then ask, voice smaller: “Is Eli really proud of me?”

“Very.”

I may be about to cry again, today, but for new and exciting reasons. “Maybe I should invite him to my college graduation.”

“You haven’t?”

“No. I just didn’t think he would…” I scratch my neck. Am I an idiot? Probably. “Could you please not tell Eli?”

“That you’re considering inviting him to your graduation?”

“No. That I’m in trouble.”

He huffs. “You’re not in trouble, Maya. You are trouble.”

The word makes me smile. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Three brothers. Why?”

“Older?”

“All younger.”

“Is that why you don’t get along with your dad? Did he unload all his hopes and dreams onto you because you’re the eldest?”

“Finneas Harkness doesn’t do hopes or dreams.”

“What does he do?”

“Coercion and manipulation.”

It strikes me, all of sudden, that Conor’s last couple of days must have been as crappy as mine. That maybe I could do something nice for him, too. “Tomorrow, before you leave Scotland, can I buy you breakfast?”

His eyebrow lifts.

I bite back a smile. “I have a job. I wouldn’t be buying you breakfast with my brother’s money, which comes from a pot that’s so suspiciously similar to yours, you would basically be paying for your own meal.”

“There’s no need.” He squares his shoulders, searching for a more comfortable position. A bubble of doubt floats upward, that maybe he just doesn’t want to hang out with me more than is strictly necessary.

Except, he just showed up at my doorstep to help me feel less like a loser. Faced with such evidence that he does care, it’s hard to feel insecure. “I know there’s no need. I still want to thank you for coming to make sure I’m all right.”

“I did it for Eli. Can’t let my best worker slack off because of a family emergency.”

“Uh-huh, sure. I know a good place. What’s your cell number? Your call was ‘Unknown.’?”

“My number? That’s a big ask, Maya.”

“I won’t abuse it. Won’t send unsolicited nudes.”

“You really aren’t thirteen anymore, are you?”

“Nope. I’m an adult who has had sex in pretty much every position under the sun.” This might be untrue. I honestly have no idea. “Would you like to know more? I’m over it now, but I had a pretty intense drug phase. Mostly soft, but I tried some hard ones. MDMA, coke—”

“Christ.” He rubs a hand down his face. “Okay, this I’m telling Eli.”

“Go ahead. Like I said, I got over it.”

“How?”

“I’ve had such bad trips. One time I kept thinking there were magnets under my skin and little pieces of metal were flying at me. And then my brain zapped for a month.” I shudder. “Listen, you did a nice thing for your friend’s sister when her boyfriend dumped her for a sweeter and prettier girl. I want to reward this good behavior by taking you to Loudons.”