At ten o’clock, Levi told their table it was closing time and gave them the boot. Freya still felt bad about her joke, but it seemed too awkward to apologize.

They spilled into the parking lot and found the temperature had plunged below freezing. The cold cut right through Freya despite her jacket. She’d been so warm and comfortable inside, and now thought about the bike ride home, wishing she’d brought her balaclava. It was going to hurt to breathe the whole way.

Everyone was saying goodbye, Cam and Tate piling into Brad’s car, the other students getting into another. Soon, it was just Freya and Dan standing around, and he moved towards his car with his keys in his hand.

“Have a good night!” Freya called after him.

“Oh, did you not want a ride?” he asked, turning around. He looked a little surprised.

“I have my bike,” she explained, feeling stupid for riding to Krav Maga. She should have expected this and left it locked up at school.

“Oh, cool,” Dan said, seeming disappointed.

“I mean, wait. I can take the front wheel off. Is there room in your trunk? It’s kinda too cold to ride anyhow.”

“Yeah! We can totally do that,” he replied. He was so eager he stumbled a little on his words. Freya released the brakes and took off the wheel, her fingers were already stinging from the cold. Dan set her bike into the trunk, and they hurried to climb into the car.

Inside, she noticed Dan crossed the fingers on his left hand as he turned the key with his right. Reluctantly, the engine caught, and then he cranked up the heat.

“Gotta let her warmup,” Dan said.

“Same here.” Freya tried rubbing her hands in front of a vent, but only cold air came out. She slipped her hand into her pocket. The Starball was warm.

“Hey, why do you always put your hand in your pocket?” Dan asked, and the words froze her worse than the wind. She fought the urge to yank her hand out of her pocket.

“Uh…” She paused, preparing to tell the same lie she’d told Dr. Garbuglio. But she didn’t want to lie to Dan. He’d been so honest with her.

“I just have a lucky marble I carry around. I touch it sometimes when I feel nervous,” she admitted. That wasn’t technically a lie. “I didn’t realize everyone noticed.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled.

“Ha, I don’t know if anyone else noticed. Can I see it, or is it just for you?”

She liked that Dan had asked that. She ran her thumb over the Starball, wondering if she would feel the same nauseous aversion she did when she’d showed Dr. Garbuglio. She felt totally fine, just a little warm. The car’s heat was finally kicking in.

“It’s just for me…” she began. Then, on impulse, she pulled out the Starball and held it towards Dan, her eyes on his. Caught in the gravity of the moment, Dan took the Starball from Freya and cupped it in his palm, staring at the orb.

“Huh, it’s so warm from being in your pocket,” Dan said. He looked up and his eyes met hers. The air in the car seemed to thrum around them, her heart pounding. “Thanks for sharing with me,” he said. He sounded touched.

Her jaw felt burning hot, her fingertips tingling from where they’d brushed against his. Freya stared at Dan in the amber light of the parking lot until she couldn’t take it anymore and leaned towards him.

Dan flinched, jerking his hand away and recoiling from her. Freya had an awful, wrenching feeling she’d misread the situation and ruined everything. But Dan wasn’t looking at her. He stared down at his palm.

“Huh, it poked me somehow,” Dan said. He reached up and flicked on the overhead light. He took the Starball in his other hand. On his palm was a minute droplet of blood.

Oh, no.

Freya’s whole body clenched in dismay. She had almost convinced herself she’d imagined getting jabbed the first night. The dot of blood in the dashboard light could not be denied. What had she done?

Dan was holding up the Starball, turning it over and over just as she had, but there was no protrusion.

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“Are you okay?” she asked. He nodded and handed the Starball back to her. She tucked it her pocket.

“Yeah, I think maybe the cold just made my hand crack? I don’t see any way it could have poked me.” He rubbed his palm with his thumb, holding it up to the light. The blood was just a tiny round smudge. He shrugged.

“Okay, sorry to ruin the moment there. It’s nothing.”

His choice of words rang loudly in her ears, and that feeling of being hot all over only increased. Had she infected him, too? She felt the unnatural calm washing over her as the Starball worked to stabilize her clawing anxiety. The orb was hot enough to feel through her jeans.

“Oh, shit,” Dan muttered, and she followed his eyes to see Levi stared at them from the window, clutching a mop. Seeing they’d noticed him, Levi spun around and wheeled the bucket away.

“Let’s go,” Dan said. He clicked his seatbelt on and pulled out of the lot.

* * *

The thought of the red dot of blood fell to the back of her mind. All Freya could think about was that she’d screwed up and missed her chance to kiss Dan.

It felt awkward in the car, the opportunity gone. All she’d needed to say was, “It’s just for me.” That would have been the end of it. They didn’t speak as the car rolled through the night. She kept trying to think of explanations, discarding them one after the other. They all sounded like bullshit in her head.

As they drove across the Thoreau Bridge, the night howled around them. The crosswind blew so hard the car shifted.

“Hey, um, thanks a lot for the ride. This would have been awful to bike in,” Freya said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, anytime. You might not want to go around on your own until they get Malcolm,” Dan suggested. “I don’t mind being your chauffeur.”

“Baby, you can drive my car,” Freya sang back.

“Huh? You have a car?” Dan didn’t get it.

“Hah, it’s a Beatles song,” Freya explained.

“Oh, I’m dumb,” Dan said, grinning. “You’re as bad as Cam. You two should start a band.”

“I hope I’m not that bad. I’m sure he’s tone deaf.”

“Don’t tell him that, he’ll be crushed. No, you have a pretty voice. A pretty everything actually.” There was hesitation in his voice. He was taking a chance.

Freya blushed. She wanted to deny it, to tell him to stop. But she remembered Randall’s advice on how to take a compliment.

Just pause, smile, and say thank you.

That was it, it was the simplest thing in the world, but it always worked.

“Thank you,” she said, and he smiled. His eyes never left the road.

For the first time, she wished her house was farther from town. She didn’t want the ride to end. She wished they could just drive until they hit the ocean, talk all night, and watch the sun rise. The suggestion danced on her tongue, but they had school in the morning. When they arrived, Lassa’s car was still gone, and the house was dark. The automatic driveway lights were acting up again. Freya unbuckled her seatbelt as Dan put the car in park.

“I’ll pop the trunk—” he began, and she leaned across and kissed him. Dan was taken by surprise, but he kissed her back and, suddenly, she was on fire. His lips were so soft against hers. She felt like she was melting. They were a mess of awkwardness and eagerness. The desire she’d felt yesterday morning flared all around her, her pulse pounded in her ears.

“Are you okay? You’re shaking,” Dan said, pulling back with concern.

“It’s in a good way,” she assured him.

“Oh, wow,” he managed before she kissed him again, harder this time. He reached out with both hands and held the sides of her face, pulling his lips away so they were just barely touching hers.

“Take your time,” he said, smiling as she stared into his eyes. She didn’t want to take her time, she wanted to drag him inside the house. But she saw he was nervous, she had to slow down. Freya took a deep breath, but all she could smell was Dan. It just made her run hotter.

Freya pulled away. If she didn’t stop herself now, she was going to climb across the console and into his lap. But he slipped back to his side with a smile. He was maddening.

“Whew, that’s intense. I wanted to do that for a while,” he admitted. “Feels like you did, too.”

Freya nodded though she’d wanted much more than that. The windows of the car were all fogged up. Freya thought about using that as a pretense to invite him inside the house.

“Hey, are you doing anything on Saturday?” she asked instead.

“Just running in the morning, why?”

“Do you want to come to that concert with me? I have an extra ticket.”

“Yeah, totally. What time should I pick you up?”

“Does five work?”

“Absolutely.”

Freya smiled so hard her face hurt. Everything soared inside of her.

“Ha, wow. It got late fast. I better get home. This was really cool, thank you.” It was the right thing to do, but she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Dan didn’t feel as strongly as her, or they wouldn’t have stopped.

“Here,” she said, and she kissed him again, as slow and sweet as she could bear. Afterward, he pulled the bike out of the trunk for her. She wrapped him in an embrace. The wind whipped around them, pulling in every direction, but he was so warm. When he held her, she felt it wasn’t just her. She let go, smiling so hard her face hurt.

“Good night, Freya,” he said, pleasantly dazed.

“Good night, Dan.”

Dan got back into his car and wiped condensation from his windshield with the sleeve of his jacket. The garage door rumbled upward. Freya brought her bike inside and turned to wave goodbye. Dan waved back at her and, more than anything, she wanted to call him back to her.

The Toyota rolled down the hill, and the headlights vanished into the dark. Freya stood still in the garage until the automatic overhead light clicked off. The wind whispered around her. She shivered, wishing she hadn’t let Dan leave. The Starball’s heat was the only warmth in the world.