Page 33 of The Truth About Love

“Of course, it’s okay. I’m just grateful you let me drag you here in the first place.”

Her shoulders relax as the tension slowly leaves her body. “We’re friends, right? Coming with you to your boyfriend’s birthday party is the sort of shit friends do, or so I’ve heard.”

Friends.

The word, still so unfamiliar to me, makes me feel a little brighter when Marlowe uses it to describe us. It’s the ultimate compliment. I might not have a lot of experience with them, but yeah, Marlowe Eriksen is definitely my friend.

My first and only friend.

Maybe even my best friend.

I don’t say this, of course. We’re not the kind of friends who tell each other mushy shit or cuddle when one of us is crying. We’re straightforward, no nonsense, uncomplicated kind of friends.

We’re simple.

And it’s perfect.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Girl, look at him.” We both glance to Auden, who now has his lips and nose pressed into my neck, his arms clinging to me like he’s a child and I’m his comfort blanket.

Yeah, I’m sure we look pretty cosy right now, and I know he all but told me he thinks he loves me just minutes ago, but I’m not kidding myself into thinking he’s my boyfriend.

Marlowe’s phone dings with an alert that her Uber has arrived and she disappears into the night with the promise to let me know when she’s home.

For a while after she’s left, I just sit and watch the party going on around me. Auden snores gently into the crook of my neck and I absentmindedly run my fingers through his hair as I people watch.

Freddy Haines stumbles across the sand towards the bonfire, a petite girl with dark hair marching along behind him. Her face is a putrid red, her screwed-up mouth firing off venomous words that I’m not close enough to make out, but the hostility in her tone is loud and clear.

When I catch his wrist to get his attention, I swear the girl actually snarls at me.

I ignore her.

“Hey, Freddy?”

His red eyes blink slowly as they focus on my face. “Summer, hey.” It takes him several more moments to notice his best friend slumped on my shoulder. “Oh, damn, is he asleep?” He coughs a laugh into a closed fist.

“I’d say so, yeah.” But my sarcasm is lost on him as he picks up one of Auden’s arms and lets it drop. “Think you can help me get him to his truck?”

I saw Auden’s red Chevy parked up on the boulevard on the walk here earlier.

“He’s way too hammered to drive, Summer,” he says, all too stern and serious.

“You don’t fucking say.” I roll my eyes. “Obviously, I’ll drive.”

He grimaces. “I don’t think he’ll like that. He’s never let me drive his truck before.”

“Well, he’s not really in a state to give me his permission right now, so he can suck it up. You gonna help me or what?”

The girl with the black hair is still shooting daggers at me.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll help.”

Together, we hoist Auden out of the chair and drag his comatose body up the beach. I lift the keys out of his front pocket, checking that he’s still got his phone and wallet on him, before climbing into the driver’s seat while Fred gets him settled in the passenger side.

I drive us back to my house, thinking he can just crash in my bed like he does sometimes since I have no idea where he lives. I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to get him up to my bedroom though.

Thankfully, I don’t have to worry for long.

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