Sandwiched between Thorne and Kai, Cress munched her popcorn with intent and deliberation. The movie blared in front of her—some sort of action hero film that she was not at all into—but she wasn't paying attention. Instead, her eyes flitted back and forth between her two companions. Kai sat cross-legged to her right, tossing his own popcorn into his mouth and lapping up the movie, eyes wide and face bright. To her left, however, sat a scowling Thorne. At least, she thought he was scowling. Always lighthearted and borderline too content for his own good, Cress wasn't used to seeing him like this.

At first, she wondered if he was sick. Since Thorne had hosted, Kai and Cress had cooked, but they hadn't made anything particularly special, and she and Kai felt fine. Instead, Cress had the distinct impression that her best friend was not at all pleased to be watching the movie with them. He had mostly behaved normally during their meal, though she had needed to shoot him some glares when he'd persisted in asking Kai too many personal questions.

"I don't see why Kai has to come," he'd said on Friday, when Cress had broached the subject.

"He's my boyfriend and we don't spend enough time together as is," she had said, admittedly a bit defensively.

"Don't spend enough time together? You spend practically ever day together!"

"Kai's been away on his first business trip since we've been together, Thorne. He's eager to see me and he won't be back until late on Saturday night. It's kind of a big commitment to always have every single Sunday blocked out, when you think about it." She didn't mention that she had almost suggested canceling their Sunday date just so she could go to Kai's house and have him all to herself.

Thorne had only grunted in response.

"You can bring Kate," she had suggested.

Thorne had grimaced. "It's not that. Sunday has just always been our day. I like having the time with you. We can de-stress. Decompress. Discuss."

Chewing her popcorn thoughtfully now, Cress was pretty sure that Thorne hadn't appreciated her joking about his ability to use alliteration. One side of her lips quirked up at the memory, but just as quickly fell when she realized that Thorne might be hiding something else from her: he just didn't like Kai.

Recently, he had stopped asking for details about their relationship. Where he was nosy before, he was closed off now. Instead, he had taken to shrugging and making little "hmm" remarks when she brought him up. She hadn't dwelled on it much earlier, but sitting on the couch between the two of them made it seem painfully clear.

But how could he not like Kai? Kai was impossible not to like. He had never been anything but a complete gentleman in the presence of Thorne. She gushed about him often, hardly ever complaining about anything he did, so it wasn't that Thorne had protectively picked up on some bad habit of his if she hadn't. And he certainly hadn't hurt Cress. Wasn't that what Thorne had said from the beginning—that as long as she was happy, he was happy?

She snuck a glance at him. He was dressed up again, probably trying not to look disorderly in front of Kai, who almost always dressed up. Thorne dressed up too, though—just not on Sundays. That made three Sundays in a row now. He had said he didn't want to talk about it, though, so she hadn't mentioned it again after the first time.

He did not make eye contact with her, even as she watched him. His scowl was quickly replaced with a look of complete and utter boredom, as if this was the last place in the world he wanted to be. He flicked at a popcorn kernel that had fallen on the couch. It was another thing he had objected to—eating popcorn.

"We always have desserts during the movie. Just because Kai's here once we have to change our whole routine?" Luckily, he had only mentioned that when Kai had been in the bathroom. At least he wasn't being full-on rude. Cress could read right through some of his fake smiles, though.

A hand snaked its way around her shoulder, and Cress smiled at Kai's surprise touch. Nothing was better than cuddling during a movie. His finger traced up until it reached her neck and a lock of her hair, and he tickled her with it. She giggled, sliding closer to him, but her giddiness halted when she noticed that Thorne had become a statue on the other side of her. Oh stars, she thought, he really didn't like Kai.

"Hey, Cress," he said, still not looking at her.

She shrugged away from Kai, sitting up. It was hard to hear anything over all the shooting currently taking place on the screen. "Yes?"

"I forgot to tell you earlier—my parents wanted me to invite you to dinner next Saturday."

Cress tried to hide her look of surprise. Thorne rarely saw his parents anymore.

Kai uncrossed his legs and straightened. "Is that far away?"

"About an hour, in our old neighborhood," said Thorne.

"I can drop you off," said Kai. "It'd be nice to see where you grew up."

"It wouldn't be nice for Cress," Thorne commented.

Cress set her jaw. There was a time, when they were younger, when she would have given anything to have someone defend her so she wouldn't have to talk about her family. Often crushed by her own timidness and nerves, Thorne had usually stepped in. But she was older now, out of college, and no longer living with them. She didn't need him to speak for her anymore. "There isn't really anything to show," she clarified. "I can tell you about it some other time."

Kai frowned the way he did when he was concerned, not angry, about something. "Would you prefer if I didn't drive you, then?"

She hesitated. If she went, the only reason she'd be going would be to support Thorne. When he had barely become a teenager, his parents had stopped paying much attention to him, though they had always seemed to have an—often negative—opinion on everything he did. She had gotten used to awkward dinners with the Thornes during that period. If his parents were inviting him over, then he was inviting her over so that he wouldn't have to spend an evening alone with them. "It's an hour away," she said, shrugging.

"I'll take her," said Thorne. "Makes no sense for the two of us to drive separately."

"You can pick me up when it's done," said Cress.

"No way are you leaving me there alone," said Thorne. His eyes had turned a twinge desperate. "I don't really get along with my parents, Kai. It's nothing personal."

"Of course," said Kai. "It's no problem."

Cress beamed. A gentleman as always. She squeezed his hand. "Thanks for understanding."

"I'm sorry you didn't have such a great childhood," he said.

Cress leaned in for a kiss while Thorne muttered, "I can't believe she hasn't told you about her childhood." Cress ignored him.


Thorne's house towered over her own. She had always wondered what kind of person would think to build a little house next to a mansion—it was hardly aesthetically pleasing, to say the least. Now, as they pulled into his long driveway, telling herself how silly it looked helped to distract her from the pit that always formed in her stomach whenever she returned to Luna Road.

Thorne glanced at her as he parked the car outside of the garage. "Don't even give them a second thought, Cress. Not worth it."

She hugged herself. "Do they still live there?"

"Who cares? You have other family now."

"Would we call Dr. Erland family?"

Thorne's lips twitched. "Cress. You need to stop calling him Dr. Erland. He's your dad."

"But I don't know him."

"He wants to be a part of your life." Thorne took off his seatbelt and sighed, looking upward. "Give him a chance."

Cress had given him a chance. She'd met with him six times since she'd found out that her biological father was not the person who she had grown up with. It had been strange and uncomfortable and jarring. He had said he loved her; she hadn't replied.

"The way you're giving your family a chance?"

"Totally different scenario. I have a good feeling about this guy."

Cress raised her eyebrows. "The same way you had a good feeling about Kai?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cress tried to think of how to best form her question about when Thorne had decided that he no longer liked Kai, but he had already gotten out of the car by the time she'd had the chance to form a coherent sentence. "Come on, Damsel," he said. "You know Mr. and Mrs. Thorne don't like to be kept waiting."

"Okay, Carswell," she said sweetly.

He glared.


"Cress, dear," said Eveline Thorne, passing her a cup of steaming tea. "Do tell us what you're doing for a job now that you've graduated. Carswell's been quite mum about the whole thing."

"I'm still looking," said Cress.

"She's interning," said Thorne, winking at Cress. "Unpaid at the moment but could lead to quite the career later on."

"Oh?" said Kingsley Thorne, his deep voice practically reverberating in their sitting room.

Cress smoothed down the dress she was wearing, palms sweaty, sure that the lie was making her face red. Thorne puffed up his chest. "She's designing jewelery for an artisan shop."

Cress laughed nervously. If only she were really doing that, instead of wasting away the grace period on her loans while she desperately tried to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. Kai had even offered her the chance to work at his father's company in the IT department, but she had turned him down quite quickly. She could get a job almost anywhere working with computers, and she didn't want anyone dishing out favors for her—especially not her new boyfriend.

"But you were a Computer Science major, weren't you dear?" said Eveline.

"Yes, but I—"

"Shame in wasting all that knowledge for an unpaid internship," said Kingsley.

"It's none of your business," said Thorne.

"It's fine," said Cress quietly. The Thornes were the least of her worries. There had been a time when she had desperately searched for their approval, but had learned quickly that the Thornes were not the type to really approve of anything. They had let her sleep over countless times without telling her parents, though, so she never quite had the heart to be anything but polite to them. Besides, if they focused on her, then they wouldn't berate Thorne for all of his supposed failures. That was why she was here. They were a team, always looking out for each other.

Captain and Damsel.

"I have a boyfriend," she said, not knowing if the Thornes would even remotely care. At least it was a change of subject.

His parents exchanged a look. "Oh?" said Eveline. "Carswell didn't tell us that either."

"Carswell's been busy," Thorne muttered. He reached down and scratched Boots, his pet cat. Cress loved watching Thorne with Boots—it was as if he were playing with a baby. Whenever he was particularly mad at his parents, he threatened to take her away from their household and let her live with him in his apartment.

"Does that mean you won't be coming to Mary's wedding?" asked Eveline.

"Mother," said Thorne.

"Who's Mary?" asked Cress. She tried to reach down and pet Boots too, but she was too busy nuzzling Thorne's foot to pay any attention to Cress.

"His cousin," said Kingsley.

Thorne picked up Boots and cradled her. "His cousin who he never, ever speaks to and just wants money so she can buy expensive things for her new house," he cooed.

Cress tried to stifle her giggle. Kingsley Thorne frowned. Unlike Kai, his frown was always mean and condescending. "You're going to the wedding," he said. "Mary is family. Whether you want to bring Cress or not is your choice."

"Yes, Sir," said Thorne sarcastically. The look of warning Kingsley shot back made Thorne cringe. Cress wondered sometimes if Thorne's family was just as bad as hers had been. She knew that they had never hit him or locked him away when he had been bad, but she knew that he had been emotionally hurt by his parents often. He didn't want to admit it, of course, and she rarely dared bring it up, but she'd seen the aftermath of a Carswell-Kingsley yelling match. It was never pretty.

"I can go," she piped up. "I don't mind."

Eveline beamed. "Such a good girl."

Thorne snorted. "You didn't even tell her when it is. Maybe she's busy. With her boyfriend," he added pointedly.

"It's on the 23rd at the club," said Eveline.

"Yippy," said Thorne.

"I'm free," Cress volunteered.


They were silent on the ride back for all but ten minutes before Cress turned abruptly to Thorne. "Why am I going to this wedding?"

"Sorry you got put on the spot," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't know she was going to ask you."

"Thorne, that's not what I'm asking. Why aren't you bringing Kate?"

"Oh, that." Thorne drummed his finger on the steering wheel. "Yeah."

"Well?"

"We, uh…we broke up."

Cress reached out for his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Thorne. You seemed a little more serious about this one." It was the least insensitive thing she could offer. Thorne went through a lot of girlfriends. Still, Kate had lasted much longer than some of his other ones.

He shrugged. "It wouldn't have worked out. She wanted to go to San Francisco to get a graduate degree in engineering."

"Engineering?" Cress tried to whistle the way Thorne usually did, but it was weak and lacked the effect she had hoped for. "I didn't realize she was that smart."

"Pretty much a genius," he said. "Really good at math. It was hard to tell if you didn't know her, I suppose."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"When'd you break up with her?"

He winced. "Technically, she broke up with me. It wasn't too long after the double date with Kai. Something about how I'm not serious enough."

Cress gripped his shoulder. "You guys broke up more than two weeks ago and you didn't tell me?"

He faked an apologetic look that made Cress narrow her eyes. "You've been busy," he said. "It was no big deal, though. I don't care. A new girl will be lining up before you know it."

Cress stared out the window in mock defiance, not sure if she should feel bad for him or be angry that he had withheld such vital information from her. But now that she knew, she was glad to discern that he clearly wasn't holding any grudges against Kai at all. He was probably just lonely. Had she known, she never would have invited Kai over to join them for their Sunday date. There wasn't anything worse than being a third wheel right after being dumped.

Deciding she leaned on the side of feeling sorry for him, she said, "Don't worry, I'll go to Mary's wedding with you. It'll be fun."

He grinned. "Fun may be an over-statement, but if you're coming it'll at least be bearable."