Page 80 of Follows with Intent

“I wasn’t asleep the whole time,” Jadon said, a smile slanting across his face. “And I’m going to text you every day to make sure you’re working on it.”

“Oh my God.”

“I might even tell Emery.”

“Jadon, I know you think you’re joking, but I need you to understand that you cannot do that.”

That slanting smile widened.

“Please,” Nico said, and it felt dangerously close to begging. “One time, I let him see my bibliography, and he made me cry. And that was when he was trying to be nice.”

They were almost to the bottom when Nico remembered something he’d seen on Jadon’s table. “Speaking of responsibilities, you know you have to go to that party, right?”

“What party?”

Nico made a despairing noise. “The work one.” Still nothing. “The department holiday party. You’ve got the invitation on the table.”

“Oh.”

“Unh-uh, Jadon. You have to go.”

Jadon made a face.

“That’s part of showing these assholes they’ve got nothing on you. You’re not going to give them a single reason to force you out.”

“I think the stuff with Vic will help, actually. They won’t be able to get rid of me for at least six months.”

“I know you think it’s cute to joke about this, but I’m serious: you’re going to the party.”

Hands raised in surrender, Jadon said, “Okay, okay.”

Nico watched him to be sure he’d made his point.

“We can bring a plus one,” Jadon said tentatively.

“Obviously I’m going,” Nico said as the tram rocked to a stop. “Otherwise you’d sneak out in the middle of it to stop a bank robbery or something.”

They filed out of the tram, shuffling toward the exit with the rest of the throng. Long weekends, Nico thought. And holidays. But if things went well, he’d be graduating in the spring, and—

“Stop worrying about it,” Jadon said, his voice brushing Nico’s ear. “We’ll figure it out.”

Nico looked over his shoulder.

“Yes, I know you’re going to have to move for your doctoral program,” Jadon said. “I told you: we’ll make it work.”

“You know this is a public setting. It would be a great location for our first fight.”

“Watch your step.”

The worst part was that Nico stumbled on the ramp anyway. He didn’t mind, though; it was kind of nice to have someone catch your arm.

Outside, the wind whipped his hair, and he blinked against the sunlight. They walked together, the Arch gleaming in a silver band above them. A few yards ahead, the family from the observation deck had officially begun their meltdown.

“That was so stupid,” the boy was screaming. “I hated it! Give me your phone!”

The dad eagerly produced his phone, and the boy sulked off with it.

“I noticed you didn’t answer me about kids,” Nico said.

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