one thing straight: I wa

e, his art looked like it belonged in an expensive gallery and not some crusty campus sketchpa

n I was in love. No

p, inne

tragic Victorian ghost haunting the Wi-Fi for Dante's attention. Nope. Dante was old news, like expired yogurt. And instead of wasting

ving. Most

pable of keeping my cool around people I liked (which

-

iture, trying to figure out why everyone in the 1500s looked so dramatically bored in their pai

y pen like it owed me money w

in ar

one of them might be mine. Like he *knew* I would be melting int

r thing like it was waving a tiny fla

aid, trying not to sound lik

anded me the cup like it was no big deal and casually sat dow

, and then immediately regretted it. "I mean, um, th

real* smile. Ugh. W

untain of books. "Botticelli or

eirdly long neck and absolutely zero joy in her soul,' and Titian's like, 'Let me pa

of laugh that made you want to bottle it and

thought Renaissance portraits were like the original Ins

You did *not* just say Bottice

s*. She's literally standing in a giant seashell with her

library, which earned me a death glare from the librarian. I t

from my eyes. "But I swear, if you call Mich

"I mean... it ki

RIA

-

things kind

ept bumping into each other, except it didn't feel like coincidence anymore.

together. Then texting. (Okay, mostly memes and ug

o gut-wrenching anxiety every time I sent a text. Just two nerds talkin

but Adrian refu

the way his hair fell over his forehead when he was deep in thought. Maybe sometimes I imag

Rig

be productive. I really was. But Adrian had his sketchpad out, and he wa

on?" I asked, leanin

it. For my portfolio. I

ed. "Ca

en flipped th

enaissance

and shading, but it was *me*. Sitting at a library table, coffee cup in

fr

id, stupidly, becau

eah. Sorry. You looked... peaceful

t's-wow. It's really good. You made

"Well, you

Of course not. We were still in that weird in-between space. But something *shifted* in tha

-

ight, I call

d, flopping onto my bed lik

ou've been doodling hearts around

stic researc

ion with lemon bars

aid, smiling i

voice got serious in that way that made my chest

ed. "I ho

l replace all his pencils with slightly-to

e terr

t's why yo

ke the Dante-disaster, where I plummeted headfirst into a pit of e

? It felt be

fe

e