Page 15 of The Pinkie Pact

"You guessed it. And now, she works on the Hill as a staffer."

She held out the pretzels, and I grabbed a handful. "For your mom?"

"God, no. My mom can't stand her." She covered her mouth. "Oh, crap, please don't tell anyone I said that. That's just something she told me, and Kieran would flip out if he knew."

Oh, the Emerson family drama was definitely entertaining, and I could see myself getting drawn into it already. "Your secret is safe with me."

Her phone buzzed. "Did you get the groceries?" She mimicked her brother's voice. "Yes, thank you," she replied.

It buzzed again, and she rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't looking for a thank you," she read aloud, "just didn't want some other starving student stealing your food."

Kara didn't bother to respond, and as I headed for my bed to sort out my books, I realized that Kieran could actually be pretty nice to Kara. My little shithead brothers didn't do crap for me. They were only sixteen, but still. They were the biggest assholes in the world.

***

After resting and binging on food, Kara and I started getting ready to head out for the night, each of us putting on our three bracelets. But since we were going to reggae night at some club, Kara broke out her little vape pen and smoked out. I only took one hit, though, after the last time. I needed to build up my tolerance again and be able to actually communicate with people in the meantime.

This time, we ditched our heels since we were walking, the cool night air refreshing. So far, I loved living in the city, such amazing architecture, culture, and history. So many times you could be wandering along, look up, and see some random embassy or federal government office.

As we walked, Bear texted me, "Hey, what's up?"

I let him know where we were headed, and he said he'd meet us there.

"Wow, I can't believe you actually heard from him," Kara said. "He's so hot."

"Yeah, he is. And nice too."

"Nice is always good."

"What about the girl you were with last night?" I suddenly remembered.

"Eh. We'll see. She was cute and all, just didn't have that... you know."

"I know."

I thought about kissing Bear. It'd been nice but, well, no fireworks. Not that I'd ever really experienced fireworks with anyone. That was totally a myth just put in books and movies to make it more dramatic.

"Hey, if you want to bring Bear back to our room tonight, I can make myself scarce."

"Really?" I asked. "Where would you go?"

"Just to the study lounge for a few hours." She glanced at me as we waited for a light to change. "A few hours should be enough, right?"

I laughed. "Definitely. But I don't know if I'm ready for that anytime soon. But same goes for you... if you bring someone back sometime."

"Thanks, babe," she said, smiling at me.

We walked up to the club and didn't have to wait long to get in, the bouncer waving us by when we reached the door. He didn't even glance at my ID or Kara's fake one.

"Would you believe Mr. Perfect got my ID for me?" She giggled as we entered the chill room.

That shocked me. "Are you kidding me?"

"Yeah. He said he wanted me to have a really good one, thinking I'd get into less trouble."

That sort of made sense.

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