The more they talked about university, the more my hands started sweating. I slipped them into my pockets and hoped someone would change the subject. I thought about doing it but didn't want to make it obvious that I wanted to talk about something else.

Then Caroline turned to me. "What about you, Javier?"

Her words sounded slow and deep as they left her mouth.

"What about me?" I tried to play it off like I didn't know what she meant.

"College," she smiled, "are you excited yet? I don't remember where you said you were going."

That's because I didn't say.

"We're both gonna be at McGill," Liam threw his arm over my shoulder.

"That's in Montréal, right?" Caroline asked.

"Yup," Liam nodded, "home of the Habs and the best smoked meat sandwich in the Great White North."

"Are you planning on taking commerce, like Liam?" Sofia said.

"No, I'm not," I replied, hoping the questions would stop.

Liam chuckled. "Well, I wasn't always going to do business—I wanted to be in the NHL."

"Hockey?" Sofia asked.

"Yup," Liam continued, "but my dad said a commerce degree was a safer bet."

"He's a smart man," Sofia smiled, "and commerce isn't that far from economics."

"They kinda go hand in hand," Liam smirked.

Sofia's smile said she picked up on Liam's not so subtle hint.

Caroline turned to me again. "So are you going to pursue a medical degree like your mom and dad?"

I shrugged. "That's the plan."

"Have you looked up which of your classes have the best profs?" Sofia asked.

I pushed my hair back. "Uh, I haven't had a chance to look yet."

Well, that's the lie I keep telling myself anyway.

Sofia started going on about how important it was to try and get into the best class sections because they fill up fast. When she was done, Liam mentioned how Patrick (his brother) recommended avoiding early morning classes at all costs.

Caroline's eyes briefly met mine, and it seemed like she could tell something was up.

"But you still have lots of time to figure that stuff out," she flashed that pretty smile. "So what else do you have planned for us in Italy?"

My heart skipped a beat. She totally gave me an out.

"Well, there were these gardens I saw that looked—"

Liam cleared his throat, interrupting me. "Gardens are nice; I mean we should definitely check them out. But I think we could split up like Sofia and me, you and Caroline. Then we could check out a few different things like after the garden and before lunch."

Real subtle, bro. You want to be alone with Sofia. I get it.

Sofia nodded, "That's actually a good idea. We can cover more ground that way."

Caroline gave Sofia a quick side-eye before looking at me. I think she just wanted to make sure I was picking up on our friends' less than subtle hints.

"Yeah, I'm okay with that," I said.

"We just have to make sure we text each other," Caroline added, "and we should agree to meet outside the restaurant ten minutes before noon."

"Of course," Liam replied, "we can do that."

"Perfect!" Sofia beamed, "Now, I think we should take a group picture for the first leg of our trip."

"How are we gonna do that?" I asked...

Sofia had us squeeze onto one seat to try and take the picture. In the end, I was pressed up against Caroline, who was next to the window. Liam was next to me, and Sofia ended up sitting on his lap (which I'm sure neither of them minded) while she took the group selfie.

"Got it!" Sofia exclaimed.

Then Liam whispered something in her ear before the two of them jumped up and slid into the seats across from Caroline and me. The grin on his face told me everything I needed to know.

"Let's see the picture," Caroline said.

"It's a good one," Liam smiled with his arm now around Sofia.

Sofia slid the phone across the table. Caroline picked it up and inched closer to me until our shoulders were touching. I suddenly found it hard to breathe. It was a nice picture, though. We looked like we were having a good time, especially Caroline and that made me happy.

And for the first time since we left, I realised that the button-down shirt I was wearing over my white-t was the same colour as Caroline's light blue dress.

"We managed to get a smile out of you here," Caroline gestured to the phone.

I shrugged. "I think I smile a decent amount."

"Not in your pictures," Caroline said, "I've seen your Instagram."

"Right?" Sofia joined in, "he's usually got that 'I'm trying to be a GQ Model' look on his face in most of his pics."

"Well, that or a misunderstood artist," Liam joked. "Sorry, bro. But we do have receipts."

As I shook my head and smiled, the train started slowing down. A few minutes later, it came to a screeching stop. A quick glance out the window confirmed that we were in Ventimiglia.

Liam and Sofia got up and started walking towards the doors. I stepped out to let Caroline walk in front of me before making our way to the exit. When we got off the train, Liam and Sofia were waiting for us on the platform.

We looked around for a minute, trying to figure out how to get off the platform. Then we saw some people going down some stairs and started walking in that direction. Liam and Sofia strolled ahead of us holding hands.

"Hey," Caroline said, putting her hand on my shoulder.

She was looking up at me with a concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I just wanted to apologise for earlier."

"Apologise for what?"

"Asking you about school—it seemed like you didn't want to talk about it," Caroline continued, "but I didn't realise that until afterwards. I really wasn't trying to pry—"

"No problem," I interrupted her. "It's not your fault. Don't feel bad. You didn't know that I—"

"Lina!" Sofia shouted.

We turned our heads and saw Liam and Sofia running towards us.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Caroline's grandmother is coming up the stairs!"