Learning Curve

Friday, September 6th

Finn

It’s almost midnight—two hours later than we originally planned to leave for the party I don’t even want to go to—and we’re still in our dorm room.

But, as I’m starting to learn, thinking I can do absolutely anything my way without Ace Kelly fucking it up this year is mistake number one. He’s a force to be reckoned with, and after living with him for a week, I feel like I’ve gained a new, hugely dysfunctional, but somehow lovable extra appendage.

Honestly, I wonder if this is what my brothers Jack and Trav feel like being twins. Like there’s just a whole other set of arms and legs attached to their own, doing shit that’s unpredictable, or another brain theirs has to consult before taking action—because that’s Ace in a nutshell.

“Do you like this shirt?” he asks, pacing in front of the mirror and then turning to face me with his arms held wide. “Or is too…like…I dunno…”

“Preppy?” I offer, staring in offense at the popped-up collar of his polo.

“No.”

“Rich?” I try instead, to which he shakes his head.

“No, no. It’s, like…what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“I have no fucking clue,” I answer honestly. “And I swear, if you make me think about it for another second before picking something so we can leave, I’m going to bed.”

“Okay, okay,” he placates, holding up a hand before disappearing behind his bed again to dig in the closet. I scroll my phone, pausing on TikTok for a while, then flitting to Instagram, and finally considering Scottie’s number for a few seconds, wondering if I should text her to say we’re running late.

Which is dumb. I hardly know her, she has a boyfriend, and I have zero business getting in the middle of any of it.

When Ace eventually reappears in a three-piece suit, I don’t even blink.

He challenges my steely demeanor, looking for a reaction. I don’t give it. For all I care at this point, he can wear a turtle shell and call himself Donatello.

“Okay. I think I’m ready.”

I nod and clap my hands before dragging my ass off my desk chair. “Great. Let’s go.”

“Whoa, whoa, not so fast. We still have to wait for Julia.”

I groan. “I’m not even sure Julia actually exists. Julia this, Julia that. All you’ve done this week is talk about this girl, and I’ve yet to see her.”

He frowns. “I haven’t talked about her that much.”

I guffaw, and he rolls his eyes.

“We grew up together. Our parents are best friends.”

“Ah, yes. Richie Rich playdates. Who else was there? Macaulay Culkin?”

“What?”

“Come on. You haven’t seen that movie?”

Ace shakes his head like I’m crazy, but I can picture a whole list of eighties and nineties movies with perfect nostalgia. We didn’t have the money for streaming service bullshit, so we watched my mom’s VHS collection on an old VCR when my dad was out of town. When he was home, he hated the sound of anything that resembled children.

Ironic for someone who fathered so many of them.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. If she’s not here in five minutes, I’m leaving her ass.”

“My, my, another threat. How surprising. Who hurt you, Finn? Really? Because your coping skills could use some work.”

I flip him off and groan, dropping back into my desk chair to wait yet again. My friends from high school would have taken me at face value and gotten their shit together because I intimidated them. It was part of my pseudo-persona, I guess—being a tough guy who didn’t take any shit.

But Ace Kelly is so immune to my powers, I think he might have some of his own. Between that and the fact that he manages to keep me liking him even when he’s a royal pain in the ass, I’m going to be trying to figure him out all year.

The sound of a soft knock on the other side of the door comes ten minutes later, and I drag Ace right through it as soon as he pulls it open. Julia has blond hair and blue eyes and a gentle laugh that grabs my attention.

She’s not surprised by the lack of greeting or the fact that my grip on Ace’s suit jacket collar is making him crow-hop or even that he’s in a suit to begin with, confirming that Ace hasn’t been lying about their growing up together.

She knows his shit and then some.

Still holding Ace on his toes with my arm stretched up high because the fucker is taller than Jack with the beanstalk, I hold out my other hand and introduce myself. “Hi, Julia. I’m Finn.”

“Nice to meet you,” she returns with a smile. She’s pretty—so pretty, in fact, that I’m not at all surprised anymore that Ace seems kind of obsessed with her.

“Next time, don’t be so late,” I chastise unabashedly. Maybe two hours ago, I would have had more patience to be less rude, but right now, it’s gone.

A small crimson dot spreads into a circle in her cheek, and her eyebrows draw together. “Late? I thought I was early. Ace told me twelve fifteen.”

“Twelve fifteen?” I drop my hold on his collar instantly and turn toward him. He stumbles a little before laughing and shaking out his jacket.

“You can’t go to a party at ten o’clock, Finn. That’s nerd behavior.”

“I do what I want.”

He laughs again, this time hitting a note so carefree, I almost lose it. “Oh, I know. I can tell you’ve got that quality, a fine gentleman like yourself. That’s why I took matters into my own hands.”

“Ace!” Julia comments, stepping forward to slap him on the shoulder.

He glances at his watch. “Now, we are late, and if you punch me, you’ll fuck up my suit and I’ll have to change again, making us even later, so I suggest we just go.”

What was that I said about liking him again?

“Come on, Ace,” Julia chides, pulling him along like a puppy. “Finn’s patience with you seems to be depleted.”

“She’s observant,” I mutter, and both she and Ace laugh. Remarkably, the sound of it puts me back in a good mood, and we’re on our way.

To a party on Sorority Row to see a girl I have absolutely no business seeing. God help me.