The panic I felt letting his name pass through my lips was immediately smothered by the low and thick roll of electricity that moved like a wave through me with the sound of his voice. His eyes met mine and we shared our usual moment of unified uncomfortableness. We both felt it and we both acknowledged it, but we never spoke of it. It was the strangest relationship I had with anyone, but possibly the most important.

   “Hey,” I said with a genuine smile. It was weird to be around him, to feel the pull to him that I did, knowing he was the love of my best friend’s life, but none of that changed the fact that he was genuinely a nice guy. It was natural to be nice to him, as he was nice to everyone.

   “Hey,” he replied with an equally friendly smile, carefully setting the box in his hands down on the floor. “I would have come and helped Elliot move in your stuff, Evie. You should have asked.”

   I shrugged. “You guys have your own things going on.”

   He let out a small chuckle. “It took twenty minutes to move Liv in, since most of her belongings came in suitcases with wheels.” We all laughed because it was true. Liv had more clothes than anything else. Moving in to Devon’s apartment had been more like switching bedrooms. She didn’t have an apartment to furnish whereas I’d been collecting belongings over the last few months in anticipation of living on my own.

   “Well, thank you. I’m sure Elliot would appreciate some help.” He smiled at me then turned and walked out of the door, passing Elliot as he came in with another box. He dropped it on the floor and then walked straight toward me, not stopping until his lips were on mine, kissing me again until I was breathless. When he finally pulled away, after succeeding in making me forget anyone else was in the room with us, he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.

   “That was for all the kisses I can’t give you now that we’ve got company.”

   “Oh,” I said, still a little off kilter.

   Then he unceremoniously slapped my ass and walked out the door again.

   “Something tells me Devon and I might have interrupted a terrifically sexy game you had going on with your boyfriend.”

   “Yeah, well, something tells me that he’ll find a way to make up for it later.”

   “My goodness, Evie. I never knew you had it in you.”

   I looked at her for a beat and we both lost our composure in a fit of laughter at her unintended euphemism.

   A minute later, both guys came back with boxes and just stared at the two of us as we lay giggling on the living room floor.

   “They’re doing that weird girl thing again,” Elliot said, his voice teasing and friendly.

   “Yeah, we better just keep moving heavy boxes so we don’t catch it.”

   Their remarks only made us laugh harder and soon enough we’d laughed until tears had sprung from our eyes and the guys had moved all my boxes. I allowed Liv to boss the boys around and arrange my furniture in the living room as I kept chipping away at organizing my kitchen. When my love seat, coffee table, lamp, and TV stand with small television were all arranged, the boys started grumbling about food.

   “I could have pizza delivered,” I called out.

   “Pizza is the moving food of choice,” Elliot remarked.

   “But if we have it delivered, it will take so long. Plus, they can’t deliver beer. Boys,” she said, turning her pretty face toward them, batting her eyelashes, “won’t you please go get beer and pizza for us?”

   “Wait, wait, wait,” Elliot said loudly, waving a hand in the air, “you want the people who did all the moving to be the ones to go get the reward-for-helping-her-move food? That makes no sense.”

   “Well, Evie and I aren’t old enough to buy beer yet,” she replied, fluttering her eyelashes even more. She was right, we were both a few months from being legal. “Besides, I’m sure she’ll give you your reward for helping her move later,” she said, adding a wink. He groaned in annoyance.

   “Come on, man. Let’s just go,” Devon said, grabbing Elliot’s arm. “They won’t stop whining until we relent anyway.”

   “Ah, the wise words of a man who’s learned the hard way,” Liv joked. Devon walked to her and bent down to kiss her.

   “Stop being annoying,” he said the words with a smile so I knew he was kidding. Then he kissed her again, quickly, before turning toward the door. “Any special requests?”

   “None. But let me give you some money,” I reached for my purse, but Elliot snagged it from me before I could open it, then grabbed my wrist and hauled me into his chest.

   “You’re not paying for pizza and beer, babe.” His words were said quietly, his mouth hovering barely above mine.

   “But you moved all my stuff,” I said, confused but also a little breathless from all the grabbing.

   “And I’ll take my payment from you later.” And with that, he brushed his lips against mine so softly and slowly, completely in opposition to the harshness his words promised. When he pulled away, he left me dazed, but I watched the two guys leave my apartment, not missing the way Devon’s eyes stayed on me until the very last second possible. I stood in place for a few moments, trying to piece together what Elliot had said, how he’d handled me, and what he’d meant by his words.

   “Sounds like you’re in for it tonight.” Liv’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and I turned to see her sitting on my love seat.

   “Yeah,” I replied. “I’m not sure how I feel about it though.”

   “Well, I don’t want to miss an opportunity to evaluate your relationship, but we’ve only got a small window of boy-less time, and I kind of need your help with something.”

   “Okay,” I said instantly, not missing the way her voice, which had been happy and carefree since she’d arrived, was now serious and sullen.

   She reached into her purse and pulled out a small paper sack. She didn’t even have to open it for me to know what was inside. There were only two reasons a girl in college had anything in a small paper sack, and this wasn’t an occasion for condoms.

   “You think you’re pregnant?”

   “I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant. This test is a formality, really.” She said those words with not one bit of emotion, which was worrisome. If I thought I was pregnant, with any semblance of conviction, you could bet I would be hysterical.

   “How late are you?”

   “About four weeks.”

   “You’re a month late?”

   She nodded. I moved to sit next to her on the love seat. “Why haven’t you told me? Or taken the test sooner? If you’re four weeks late, that means you’re eight weeks pregnant, Liv. That’s, like, really pregnant.”

   “I know. I guess I was just hoping… ugh, this sounds terrible. I was hoping that I would become unpregnant.” I thought about her words for a moment and completely sympathized with her. “I didn’t, like, do anything to try and end the pregnancy, I guess I was just hoping it would go away on its own.”

   I reached up and rubbed my hand down her back.

   “I’m guessing you haven’t told Devon?”

   “Nope.”

   I wanted to ask her why not, but it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that she truly believed she was pregnant with his baby. “Well, do you want to get it over with?”

   She let out the longest and loudest sigh I’d ever heard, but then popped up off the couch and headed toward the bathroom.

   “Do you want me to come with you?” I wasn’t sure what best friend protocol was in this situation. Was I supposed to be in the room with her? Hold the stick? Hold her hair back? I didn’t know, but I’d do anything she wanted.

   “I can pee by myself, but if you could just be here when I come out, that’d be great.”

   “Of course.”

   Minutes ticked by and I was about ready to beat the door down when, finally, it opened. She came out, holding a little white stick in her hand any woman over the age of sixteen could identify from twenty feet away. She was only two feet out of the door when she lifted her eyes and found mine across the room, a depressingly sad smile across her face, as if she were trying to appear like she was happy.