Free You, Maybe by Rachel Vail

second, then another, before answering. “Sure,” she said. “It’s been awhile.”
    “We’ll be there, then,” Daniel said. “What can we bring?”
    “Nothing,” said Carson, squeezing my shoulders. “We’ll see you there.”
    Emelina blinked her eyes twice at Carson, then started toward the door of the movie. We all watched her go. I felt Carson deflate a little.
    “Who was that?” Frankie asked. “Daniel?”
    “He’s a sophomore at Princeton,” Carson answered, looking at the space Emelina had been in. “She met him that weekend she went up in the fall, after she got in early.”
    “Oh,” said Frankie. “That’s him?”
    “Yeah,” Margo whispered, grabbing his hand. “Let’s sit at the back. Come on.”
    As we followed Margo and Frankie in, I asked Carson, “You okay?”
    “Fine,” he said, and stopped. He yanked me toward him and kissed me hard on my mouth. I was a little squashed so I tried to pull back a bit, but he was holding me tight. When he finally let go, I looked up at him. He pushed my hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “You’re beautiful.”
    He was staring at me, with that devouring look in his eyes.
    “No,” I whispered. “You’re thinking of . . .”
    “Of you.” He kissed me lightly, then again. “Only you.”

Fourteen
    THE MOVIE WAS awful, not just because it was disgustingly violent but also because, except for Carson holding my hand, absolutely nothing interesting happened. Not that I was paying so much attention to the plot or anything other than Carson’s warm fingers interlaced with mine, but other people were actually groaning out loud. Next to us, Frankie and Margo were the only ones who didn’t seem to notice. Maybe because their eyes were closed the whole time.
    “You want to go back to Frankie’s after?” Carson whispered to me, while the idiots on screen were running away from yet another fireball, machine guns in hand. “His parents are away.”
    I shrugged. I am just as happy to mess around as the next person, with the possible exception of Frankie and Margo, because, my goodness. And I thought I was a nympho.
    “We don’t have to,” Carson said. “If you don’t want to.”
    “Okay,” I said.
    He kissed the hair right over my ear. I so love that. It made my skin tingle, all the way down to my knees. “Okay yes or okay no?”
    At the end of the movie, we headed out to the car. Margo said she had to go to the bathroom and asked if I wanted to come. I said no thanks, and stood around in the lobby with Frankie and Carson.
    Emelina and Daniel emerged from the movie theater holding hands, blinking, and glided toward us.
    “So . . .” Carson said.
    “So,” echoed Emelina.
    “That was a piece of crap, huh?” I said.
    Everyone smiled. Daniel said, “You think so?”
    “You didn’t?” I asked.
    “I don’t know,” Daniel said. “I guess I thought it was a brilliant failure. It tried to turn all the Hollywood tropes on their heads, which I appreciate, but ultimately didn’t come to any kind of, you know . . .”
    “Satisfying conclusion,” Emelina finished, for him.
    Carson nodded slowly. “That’s what it needed,” he agreed.
    “And maybe a satisfying beginning,” I suggested. “And I bet a satisfying middle would’ve helped, too.”
    “You’re a junior?” Daniel asked me.
    “Sophomore,” I admitted.
    “Ah,” he said.
    “See you tomorrow?” Emelina asked me, and without waiting for an answer, she and Daniel swept out toward the doors. Again heads turned as they left. Maybe it was their walk.
    “What happened?” Margo asked, approaching us.
    “Nothing,” Carson said. “Let’s go.”
    It was starting to snow when we got outside, so I pulled my hood up. Carson let the car heat up for a minute.
    “You coming over?” Frankie asked.
    “I don’t think so,” Carson answered. “We’re gonna, um . . .”
    “You know my parents aren’t . . .”
    “He said no, Frankie,” Margo said. “Shh.”
    I