And here's the third perspective. In her documentary on the Folklore album, Taylor talked about how she wanted to use the love triangle to show that the stories of both girls were relatable and it wasn't all about "stealing a guy" or bad motives on the part of the "other woman," so I tried to honor that in the chapters from Kira's perspective.

Kira: "Never Have I Ever Before"

Kissing Austin was amazing. All summer I had felt… I don't know how to put it. Aimless, I guess. I went to a few parties, talked to a few people, but nothing felt like it had direction. And it had been a long time since I'd been interested in anyone, until Austin that is.

That kiss, that night, it all felt like it stood out from the haze of every other day, like a lightning bolt in a cloudy sky. That was the feeling I'd been missing for so long. I was rapidly developing the biggest crush of my life on Austin Moon.

I wasn't an idiot, though. I could tell that Austin was a flirt and he probably kissed any number of girls, so if I wanted something more, I was going to have to make that happen myself. I'm reasonably extroverted and confident so this wasn't particularly daunting to me but that doesn't mean I wasn't afraid of rejection, particularly since I was having a lot of feelings all at once.

At first, I didn't know where to start, or how to even contact him again. I didn't want to ask Brooke because I didn't want her to start the rumor mill churning, but she was my only connection to that friend group. But only a couple days after the extremely hot makeout session, she mentioned to me that Cassidy was holding a pool party at her place that night and that most of the friend group would be there. I casually asked if I could tag along and she agreed happily (I was aware that I was the only person at these parties who could stand her).

We walked in together and immediately my eyes locked on Austin. He was standing in just a bathing suit next to the snack and drink table, with three other girls around him. One of them I had talked to before, I think her name was Ally? One was Trish, the host of the last party. And then there was a blonde girl whose name I didn't know. Austin could have been flirting with all of them or none of them, it was hard to tell. When a cute boy smiles, every girl (and some boys) think he's flirting with them.

I tried to play it cool, making the rounds with Brooke and saying hi to all the acquaintances I'd met at other parties. Just once I caught Austin staring at me, but he looked away with what I thought might have been a guilty expression as soon as we made eye contact. That warned me off for a while. Maybe he didn't like girls who started bothering him all the time after one makeout.

Eventually we wound up near the snack table, just as it was starting to get dark. I grabbed a few pretzels while Brooke got a drink. I overheard the girl I was pretty sure was named Ally say, "Crap, I have to go. Promised my mom I'd be home for dinner tonight."

"Aw come on, Ally, you can stay a little longer," Austin whined, while Trish said, "It's okay Ally, we'll have another party soon, and we can hang out any time."

Austin pulled Ally aside a little, but he must not have noticed me because I was still within earshot. "Is everything okay, Ally?"

"Yeah it's just… tonight's the anniversary of my dad leaving us so I don't want her to be alone."

"Oh crap, I didn't know. I'm so sorry, yeah that makes a ton of sense. I'll see you soon," he responded, and gave her a quick hug before she took off. The whole interaction just made me like Austin even more. He was so caring with his friends and didn't bat an eye at hearing their intense and personal issues. I hadn't ever met another boy who would have handled that conversation with such grace and sweetness.

Ally was gone a moment later, but I didn't pounce on Austin or anything. I saw him grab a drink and head over to talk to some boys near the pool. I kept wandering with Brooke, and wound up in conversation with Cassidy and Trish, who always seemed surprised to learn that Brooke had a normal friend.

Once the sun had set, people started to drift inside and switched from snacks to more alcohol. Austin had clearly had a couple when I finally found myself standing next to him.

"Hey Austin," I said, smiling at him in the most neutral way I could.

"Oh, uh, hey, Kira," he said, and he sounded uncertain.

"You guys seem to have a lot of parties. Brooke is basically single-handedly resurrecting my social life by inviting me along to all of them," I continued, trying to make idle conversation and not scare him away by seeming clingy or anything.

"Yeah, it's a good crew and we all get along so there isn't a lot of drama. Got to keep the summer boredom at bay I guess," he answered.

"So do you guys mostly hang out and chat, or do you ever get up to anything crazy?" I asked, trying to draw more out from him.

And then suddenly it was the same Austin I had seen before. He relaxed into telling the story of an absurd tennis/badminton combo battle that happened all across the neighborhood. He was a good storyteller and he had me laughing almost immediately. I saw Trish give us a weird look from across the room, but didn't pay much attention to it.

We kept chatting and Austin kept drinking. He was definitely tipsy (I could tell by the way he was laughing a little too loud and being a little more touchy) but he still seemed very in control. I hadn't had anything to drink, because I never did, but I had enough soda that I really needed to use the bathroom.

"Can you show me where the bathroom is?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said, wobbling only slightly as he stood up. He grabbed my hand, maybe as much to steady himself as to guide me, and then we walked up the stairs and into a guest bedroom. He pointed to a door that led off it, and I stepped in to pee.

I was surprised to see that he was still there when I got out, sitting on the bed and checking his phone. He must not have liked what he saw because he turned it off and let out a sharp exhale just as I exited the bathroom.

"Hey, are you okay? What's up?" I asked gently, sitting down next to him.

"Ah, nothing, just somebody didn't respond to me is all," he answered, trying to hide his annoyance behind a grin.

"Well…" I started then paused. I mustered up my courage and continued, "I know one way to distract you from that for a while."

He looked at me blankly for a moment and then grinned a little. I took that as all the encouragement I needed before I leaned in and kissed him. He responded almost instantly, with none of the hesitation I had felt when we first kissed last time. I could taste the alcohol on his lips but he was still a phenomenal kisser, tipsy or not. Then he pulled me closer and I wound up straddling his lap, my body pulled tight against his. Inevitably, we fell back onto the bed like that and he was kissing me even more aggressively. It felt incredible to be wanted like that.

Before I knew it, our shirts were off, and his hands were roaming places they hadn't gotten to in my car. He paused for a moment before his hand slipped somewhere I had never been touched before and said "Are you sure?" I paused, but then I remembered how this cute boy was making me feel and how much I did, in fact, want to go farther with him, so I nodded and kissed him hard to let him know I was enthusiastic about the idea.

Things kept escalating until I heard footsteps on the stairs and realized we hadn't locked the door. I just had time to pull away from Austin's hands when the door opened. Brooke was standing there in the doorway with a look of shock that quickly turned to a smirk as I pulled my shirt back over my head. She said, "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything," before closing the door again, but not before she winked at me.

I looked back at Austin who seemed to be experiencing an intense wave of guilt.

"I, uh, we, shouldn't have…"

"It's fine, Austin. It's a little embarrassing to have Brooke catch us, but she didn't see much. It's fine."

He just stared at me for a moment and then nodded, before putting his own shirt back on. "I should get going, it's getting late," he said quietly.

"Do you need a ride home?" I asked, remembering that he had had a few drinks.

"Nah, Dez will give me a ride," he said quickly and then awkwardly waved as he hurried out of the room.

I took a deep breath and sank bank down onto the bed. The night hadn't turned out like I had expected, but I couldn't decide if it had turned out better or worse than I was hoping. Certainly it had ended abruptly, but not in my wildest dreams had I thought Austin would be that, well, attracted to me. I could still feel everywhere he had touched me, like he had left tingling handprints all over my body.

But I wasn't left alone with my thoughts for long. Brooke practically bounced into the room, saying, "So I saw Austin leave. Tell me everything."

So I did. What choice did I have? I needed to stay friends with her if I wanted to keep getting invited back to these parties (and I still didn't have Austin's number). And she had already gotten an eyeful, it's not like a few details were really going to change the situation. So, I explained about the other night and how things had escalated at the party and she loved every detail. I knew Brooke could keep a secret when she wanted to, and I was pinning my hopes to the idea that she cared enough about our friendship to not go blabbing about it to everyone. Not that I really minded if people knew, I just didn't want to scare Austin off.

Then I just had to bide my time until the next party.