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the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
    “Then we’ll just have to prove them wrong.”
    “How?”
    “My dad grounded me for the rest of the week, so. . . .”
    “I thought he said for a whole week,” she interrupted.
    “You could hear?” Gage asked.
    “Not everything.”
    “Good. He started off grounding me for a week, but I talked him down to three days.”
    “That’s not so bad. Only three days.”
    “I’m a good negotiator. My dad and I are actually really close. He loves to fly as much as I do,” Gage said. “But there’s a catch. They said if I like you and want to spend time with you, then they need to get to know you. So you’re grounded with me.”
    “Your parents grounded me?”
    “Sort of,” he said, flashing a smile. “They said we can see each other while I’m grounded, but only if you come hang out here with us.”
    “ Us ?”
    Gage wrinkled his nose. “I know it’s weird. They do strange shit sometimes. But will you?”
    “Hang out with you and your parents?”
    “Yeah,” he said and took her hand again. “I know they’re going to love you once they get to know you. It’s going to be lame hanging out with them, but it’ll only be for a few days.”
    Layla bit the inside of her mouth. This was the craziest punishment in the whole world—Gage’s parents were punishing him by forcing him to spend time with them. It was actually kind of funny.
    “Gage?” his father called out from inside.
    “Time’s up,” Gage said. “I’ve got to get inside.”
    Layla took a step towards him, got on her tiptoes, and kissed him softly on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    *
    For the next three days, Layla came to his beach house after yoga. She and Gage spent the mornings playing cards and boardgames with his parents and drinking ice cold lemonade and sweet tea. In the afternoons, she and Gage would watch a movie or listen to music together on the sofa in the middle of the living room, open to the rest of the house, without the comfort of a blanket. And at night, as if some reward, they’d sit out on the back patio and watch the sunset, where it was just them, together, alone—though under the eye of one parent or the other inside.
    Gage thought the whole “grounding” thing sucked, but Layla didn’t think it was so bad. She knew it could’ve been worse, much worse. His parents could’ve told her grandmother, and then her parents probably would’ve found out. That would’ve ruined everything. Her summer would’ve been over. But instead she got to hang around a cool guy and his cool parents, who quickly found her sweet and well-mannered and the smartest girl their son ever hung out with. He knew he had his parents’ stamp of approval when his mother took a picture of them and put it in a frame next to his bed.
    But Gage wanted some time alone with Layla. He needed it. The kiss on the cheek seemed a lifetime ago, and the high from her lips had long since worn off. Sure, it was great to sit with his arm around her in the living room or to hold her hand on the patio under the stars, but it was time for more—more touching, more kissing, and whatever else she’d let him get away with.
    So when the “grounding” was over and the sun rose the next morning, Gage dashed to the kitchen, took the car keys off the counter, and hustled towards the front door. He placed a hand on the door knob, some long-awaited privacy in sight, when he heard his father’s voice at the top of the stairs.
    “Son, a word.”

CHAPTER THREE
    Layla gripped the golf club in her hands and wiggled her butt ever so slightly, getting ready to knock the ball through some metal posts then off a large triangle angled towards the final hole. Her preparation was solid, but she’d proven herself to be terrible at putt-putt. It took her at least 10 strokes to finish every hole, not to mention she twice hit her ball into a pool of water and once far off into the parking lot.
    But she didn’t care. And neither did