LEOSomehow, even with all the delays in the locker room, I made it back to the dorm before Quinn and Gia arrived. She'd texted me that they had checked into the motel and were getting changed before coming over. Just knowing she was close drove me out of my mind. I wanted to jump into my car and drive over there, plans be damned. If it weren't for Gia being at the motel with her, I might've done just that. But if I was in motel room with Quinn, I didn't want a third person there with us. My phone buzzed, and I jumped to check it.On our way.

QUINN"Can we do this every day for the rest of our lives?" Leo's voice was tired but sated. I lay sprawled over him, not a stitch of clothes on either of us. His hand drew lazy circles on my back, and his breath was still coming in rapid puffs that stirred my hair. "You're sure Matt's not coming back?" I asked the question for the third time. I trusted my boyfriend, but Matt had always been unpredictable. I wouldn't put it past him to come bursting in, just to embarrass me. "I'm sure, babe. I told you. He texted that he was taking Gia back to the motel, and then he was going to crash somewhere else tonight, with one of the guys. And Gia said the same thing, right, that he drove her back? You made sure she was okay with him?""Yeah." I sighed. "She said she was." I pressed my lips into Leo's chest. "And in answer to your other question, I'm on board. This. Every day. Forever.""Excellent." He rolled over so that we lay on our sides, facing each other. "Does it make me a wuss t

NATEFRESHMAN YEARJUNESince I'd become aware of the possibility of having a shortened lifespan, I'd begun setting short-term goals. At first, they were simple: I'd wanted to live long enough to be taller than my mom. To survive until I'd learned to speak Spanish and figured out calculus. To finish high school. And now, with one year of college behind me, I felt like I could take on anything. My health was stable; it hadn't gotten any better, but it wasn't any worse, either. My parents were thrilled that the year had passed so uneventfully, and they'd even begun doing something unprecedented in our little family: they'd taken short weekend trips by themselves. A few times my mom had even made it through the weekend without calling me to check in. I'd adjusted to sharing a room, too. Tuck and I had ended up to be pretty compatible, and a few months before the end of our freshman year, he'd glanced up from his laptop one night while we were both studying. "Dude, you good to roo

LEOI'd known Quinn since she'd slept in a toddler bed. I remembered her canopy bed with the pink ruffled bedspread, and I remembered when her walls had been covered with posters of boy bands. But at first glimpse, her college room struck me as the most quintessentially Quinn room yet. Her bed was made up with some kind of fluffy white comforter covered with a patchwork quilt I recognized from her bedroom at home. On the wall over the bed was a large framed poster of the sun coming up over the ocean, a shot I was pretty sure she'd taken herself. Several pictures sat on the top of her dresser, including one of her father, one of me from the summer before college, and one of the three of us: Nate, Quinn and me. Off to the side sat a small wooden box, a little worn-looking where some of the varnish had rubbed off. I knew deep down I should respect her privacy and leave it alone, but still, I flipped open the lid and examined the contents. I couldn't explain why, exactly, but over the

QUINNSUMMER BETWEEN SOPHOMORE AND JUNIOR YEARS"Quinn, did you do laundry last night? I need a T-shirt for today."I rolled over in bed and groaned. "No. I was up late working on that article for class."Leo's voice became louder as he came back into our bedroom. "Shit. I need a shirt, and I'm running late." I opened one eye and caught sight of him running a hand through his damp hair. "Sorry. I thought you were putting a load in yesterday afternoon. You don't have anything clean to wear?""It's not that I don't have anything clean. I need my uniform shirt, specifically. I'll have to get one out of the dirty clothes and hope for the best." He dumped out the hamper in the middle of the floor and began sorting through it.Guilt threaded through me. "I could toss it in the dryer real fast. It might help.""No, I don't have time." Leo snapped out the words. "If I get there late, I have to park way out in the far lot. And then . . ." His voice trailed off. "It's just a mess."I h