QUINN"So aren't you going stir-crazy?" Zelda sounded curious and mildly amused as I updated her on the latest Lioness craziness."Surprisingly, no. I don't mind being here, as long as I have something to do." Holding the phone between my shoulder and ear, I pulled a pile of wet laundry from the washer and dropped it into the dryer. "I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a housewife, but I really don't have anything to complain about. I can write whenever I want, and three of my articles have been picked up so far. No classes, no homework, and tons of privacy.""And quality time with Leo the Lion? That's got to be an added benefit.""Of course." I answered quickly, and I knew Zelda probably picked that up. "So everything's fine and dandy with you two? Sunshine, rainbows and sparkles?" She was teasing, but I knew enough of Zelda now to realize that her snark hid real concern. She just didn't want anyone to realize that she actually had feelings. "Mostly." I hesitated. "I love Leo, Zeld

QUINNThe next morning, I woke up with gritty, swollen eyes, a pounding head and a sense of doom I couldn't shake. Leo was already awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, his clean T-shirt in his hands. He stared down at it, turning the gray cotton over in his hands. I pushed my back against the pillow, sitting up and wrapping my arms around my knees. "What time is it?""Just after seven." He stretched the shirt wide, the way he always did right before he pulled it over his head. I watched the interplay of muscles on his back, tempted to trace the ridges and ropes."Leo." I took a deep breath. "I think ...I think we need to take a break. I'm going to head back up to New Jersey. I should spend some time with my mom anyway, before classes start again.""What the hell are you talking about?" Leo turned around, his eyebrows drawn together. "Quinn, what are you saying?""Everything is so screwed up." I flexed my feet, intent on the movement of the sheet over them. "What they want fr

QUINNSENIOR YEARSPRING I wasn't sure exactly how it had happened, but by the beginning of senior year, it seemed that Nate and I were in a relationship.It began at the homecoming dance, and then things happened slowly and gradually from there. Nate held my hand as we walked to class. He kissed me good-night when he left my apartment at night. His kisses weren't long or involved, and they didn't feel like they were leading anywhere more complicated, but still, I was uneasy. I tried to ignore all that, until one day, when I was meeting him at the student union after a class, I heard Nate talking to someone I didn't know. "Yeah, I'm just waiting for my girlfriend, and then we're going to the movies."For a brief second, I actually thought, Nate has a girlfriend? And then I realized he was talking about me."Honestly, Quinn? You and Nate have been dating since last fall." Zelda shook her head at me as she dried a pan. "You're just the last one to notice." "And maybe you didn'

LEOSENIOR YEARAPRILI hadn't had a hangover like this for a long, long time. My head was pounding, and my mouth was like a roll of cotton. For a long disoriented moment, I couldn't remember where I was or why I was awake. One hand groped out, reaching for Quinn, before my traitorous mind remembered the truth. She's not in your bed. She hasn't been in your bed for over a year. And she's fucking marrying someone else.The pain stabbed again, just as sharp and fresh as it had the first time I'd heard the news. Quinn had made sure it came from her, and she'd actually called me, explaining what was going on. I'd run through the gamut of emotion from grief over Nate's news to anger over what he was asking of Quinn to hurt over the fact that she'd agreed. Quinn was engaged to Nate. They were getting married in two months. I didn't have to do much mental arithmetic, because the countdown ticked away in my brain on a daily basis. On the bedside table next to me, my phone sounded, an

NATESUMMER AFTER GRADUATIONMy wedding day dawned clear and warm. I was awake as the sun rose over the ocean, sitting up in bed to watch the colors spread over the blue water and shoot rays of gold onto the sand. Today was the happiest day of my life, and I wasn't going to miss a single minute of it. My mother had worried that having both graduation and the wedding in the same week would be too much for me, but I knew that nothing was going to stand in the way of me marrying Quinn. I briefly considered not walking at that ceremony, just sitting in the audience to cheer for Quinn, Gia, Tuck and Zelda, but it was important to my parents that I walked onto the stage to receive my diploma. I wanted to give them every memory I could, because I knew they were going to need those someday soon.We'd driven down to the shore the day after graduation, and I'd settled into the same bedroom where I always slept. Quinn popped in now and then, bringing me updates about how preparations were pr