Three years of engineering courses, shared dormitories, late-night study sessions, and weekends wasted together had turned one particular handful of college students into something resembling a family. Jacob Wesson and Ethan Harris had been your friends since middle and high school respectively. Liam Briggs, Emmanuel Vargas, Valerie Nguyen, and Clara Howe had joined the picture during freshman year, and somewhere, somehow, the seven of you had become practically inseparable.

Over time, you struck up a close friendship with Clara, but never went any further. Things changed at the beginning of junior year. Asking her out, she said yes, and two months later, the relationship was going well. She was affectionate, attentive, and seemingly happy to be with you. The others had been supportive, too, although lately there had been some odd pauses and exchanged glances whenever the two of you were together.

Midterm week had finally come to a close, and the usual cafeteria table had become the site of an impromptu celebration. Empty coffee cups, crumpled scratch paper, and a half-eaten basket of fries occupied the middle of the table. Ethan leaned back in his chair, arms stretched overhead, while Liam stared mournfully at the remains of his lunch.

"I'm telling you, that last question was written by literal ," Liam said.

"'Literal ' is like, super dead," Ethan replied.

"And? Where's the body? Professor Holmes is an ancient German expat from Argentina. Just saying."

Across the table, Emmanuel laughed into his sleeve. Valerie was showing Clara something on her phone, and Clara, seated beside you, had one hand resting casually on your forearm. "Oh, that's cute," Clara murmured, leaning closer to the screen. "Where'd you find that?"

"Kaitlyn sent it. She's already planning something for Friday." Valerie glanced toward Jacob. "Speaking of which, are you coming?"

Jacob hadn't contributed much to the conversation. He sat with his elbows on the table, turning a paper coffee cup between his hands. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, probably."

"Enthusiastic as always," Ethan said, grinning. "What's wrong, man? Exams are over. You're supposed to look happy."

"I'm fine." Jacob set the cup down, then straightened it against the edge of a napkin. "Just tired."

Clara turned toward you, smiling as she brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"We should do something this weekend, too. Just us. Maybe Saturday?"

Liam reached for his drink, missed the straw, and knocked the cup against his plate. Emmanuel's smile faded. Ethan shot a glance at Liam before looking back toward the table.

"Jesus, Liam," Ethan said. "You good?"

"Yeah. Fine. Just apparently forgot how hands work."

Valerie looked at Jacob. He was staring at the tabletop now, his jaw working slightly. "Jacob?" she said quietly.

"Yeah." He rubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah, I know."

Ethan's eyebrows rose. "Know what?"

"Nothing." Jacob pushed his chair back a few , then stopped. His gaze moved from Clara to Ethan, then finally settled across the table. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, his voice unusually careful. "Just us. There's something I need to tell you."

Your girlfriend Clara had a way of remembering things. Coffee orders, favorite snacks, the name of a professor you'd complained about once three weeks earlier. She remembered which movies you'd already seen, which restaurants you liked, and the little details that most people forgot five minutes after hearing them. It was one of the things that had made her such an easy person to be around back when the two of you were just friends.

You'd met her during freshman year, through the engineering Living-Learning Program that had brought most of your college friend group together. You met Jacob in middle and Ethan in high school, while Liam, Emmanuel, and Valerie had become familiar faces somewhere between shared lectures and increasingly brutal study sessions. Two years you'd known Clara, and for whatever reason, you had asked her out about nine weeks ago. She'd said yes, and the two months since had been filled with those kinds of pleasant discoveries that come with turning an old friendship into something more.

Tonight, with midterms finally over and done with, Clara had invited you over for an evening spent doing absolutely nothing.

Her apartment was warm, the kitchen still smelled faintly of that evening's takeout teriyaki dinner, and an assortment of blankets occupied one end of the couch. A half-finished bowl of popcorn sat on the coffee table beside two drinks. Knick knacks of various shapes and sizes stood watch over the living room. On the television, the opening credits of a movie were playing while Clara searched through the blankets for the remote she'd somehow misplaced.

"I swear it was right here." She lifted a cushion, frowned at the empty space beneath it, then spotted the remote blatantly sitting on the armrest. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she looked sheepishly in your direction. "Oh. Well, that was embarrassing." Laughing softly, she picked it up and settled onto the couch. "Okay, so I was thinking we could go out Saturday. There's that little Italian place near campus, the one I told you about? Their garlic bread is literally amazing."

Clara's phone buzzed against the coffee table. She glanced at it absently. The notification was unreadable at the distance, though the amount of content looked significant. She reached for the phone, unlocked it, and squinted down at the device. Her smile disappeared. Her eyes tracked side to side, then stopped as another vibration shook the phone. For several seconds, Clara sat motionless, staring at the screen. Then she locked the phone and placed it facedown on the table.

"Sorry. Just Ethan being Ethan." She picked up the remote, turned up the volume, then almost immediately turned it down again.

"Actually, hang on." Her fingers tightened around the remote. She glanced toward the kitchen, then down at the blanket gathered around her legs. Her lips parted and closed and, just for a moment, she looked as though she might say something about Saturday instead. Finally, she set the remote aside and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, although it hadn't fallen into her face.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"