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into the booth, content to listen. I haven’t had girl time
since Sophia, though back then we mostly talked about cute boys and
which girls would turn out to be busty cheerleaders when we got
into high school. It’s kind of strange to have Caddie yapping away,
pausing only to sip at her lemonade.
    It’s almost… Normal.
    “I don’t think I’d ever date MaXXX though,
given the chance. He’s hot, yeah. He’s totally orgasmic, but he’s
so…” She trails off and I feel my bag twitch. I reach down and open
the flap and Sync bursts out, buzzing like a bee.
    “MaXXX is perfect, just the way he is!” she
says hotly. “I would totally go out with him.”
    “You’re a robot,” Caddie says, stifling a
grin with her cup.
    “You never know; he could have a robot
fetish,” I pipe in, brushing my fingers against the glowing red tip
of Sync’s antennae. She hums and settles a little. “Caddie, this is
Sync. Sync’s been a friend of mine for years now. Sync, meet
Caddie.”
    “It’s perfectly possible,” Sync says. “In the
future, Luce’s going to find me an android body with long, sexy
legs and then MaXXX will look my way.” She sounds almost smug and I
have to laugh.
    A pimply-faced waitress takes our order—turns
out we’re both hopelessly broke, so to spite Mr. Rockwell, I use
the fifty he gave me—and eleven minutes later, we’re digging in to
steaming turkey manhattans, soaked in gravy. I cut mine with the
edge of my fork, taking a bite and burning my mouth. “Ouch,
hot.”
    “It just came out of the oven,” Caddie
chides, then takes a big bite. “Ouch! Hot!”
    I laugh, but I think that was her
intention.
    “So, you seeing anyone? Since you’re not a
lesbian and all.” She winks at me.
    “No.” My mind, on the other hand, has other
ideas. It flits to Iofiel, the boy who claims I’m his soul mate.
He’s beautiful in a wild way, his hair naturally spiky, no need for
gel, and his good eye the color of melted chocolate. It’s warmer
than the sun. Just one look and he gives me shivers. The pleasant
kind.
    Caddie raises an eyebrow. “Really? No
crushes?”
    Sync looks at me, but I’m already shaking my
head. For all I know, Iofiel was out on a prank with buddies. He’s
not something I want to discuss with an almost-friend. Not yet.
    “I’m not really in the market for a
boyfriend. What about you?”
    She ducks her head, dropping her voice to a
murmur. “You know Jale Halvers?”
    My turkey manhattan sinks to the bottom of my
stomach. Of course I know Jale. He’s my own personal cafeteria.
“Uh, yeah. He’s pretty rich?”
    “And hot.”
    “He sleeps through most of his classes.”
    “So? He’s got enough brains.”
    “He’s one of those people who will float
through life with no worries, just because he’s born into money,” I
mutter, shoving my plate away from me. That’s why I chose him in
the first place. If I got out of control and Jale died, well, no
big loss. His parents could just buy another son.
    She wrinkles her nose. “Well I think he’s
hot. I’ve been trying to get him to notice me. No such luck
yet.”
    “Want my opinion?”
    “On?”
    “Jale’s taste in women.” Slutty and cheap?
Totally not Caddie. She shrugs, so I go on. “Ever thought about
changing up your hair color?”
    “To what?”
    “I don’t know. Violet? Pink?”
    “I don’t know if it would look good.”
    “Well then, what about a pink streak? If you
straightened your hair…” I reach out, tugging a curled strand flat.
It comes down past her chin. “And put a bright streak in it, just
enough to set off your jaw line, I think you’d be really cute.”
    “So I’m too ugly for Jale Halvers?”
    “Wha—no! I didn’t say that!” Great, one
chance at a friendship with a girl who’s not afraid of me, and I
insinuate she’s ugly. “Really, Caddie, I—”
    “Lucy. Breathe,” she says, mocking me with a
grin. “I’m kidding. If I decided to get my hair done, would you
wanna come