Page 45 of My Last Dance

Mad?I frowned. I never liked Mark in the first place, but I was starting to get really bad vibes from their relationship. The way Mer was frowning, I think she was thinking the same thing.

As soon as we walked up to the concession stand, we came to a realization.

“We’re in Canada.” Mer rolled her lips together and popped her eyebrows up, as if asking,you wanna?

“I mean…itislegal,” I said, biting my lip. “I’ve never really drank before.”

“Me neither,” Ali said. “Mark warned me not to drink…” She eyed us with a secret little smile. “Should we?”

Her mention of Mark threw me over the edge. “Ya know what? Hell yeah, let’s do it. We deserve a weekend off. We’re always so worried about everything that enters our body, we can be normal for one night.”

Mer’s face lit up with delight, and I realized she was craving this just as much as I was. “Yeah, let’s be normal,” she said with a laugh.

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The three of us didn’t pay too much attention to the rest of the game. We chatted the whole time, probably annoying people around us, but it was better this way. For one, as soon as they boys joined us, we wouldn’t be able to talk as freely about girl stuff, and two, Mer really needed a distraction. Her nerves were pretty much shot from skating, so she needed this time to chill.

We stayed in the stands, giggling like crazy until pretty much the entire stands cleared out.

“Oh, shit!” Mer looked down at her phone. “We were supposed to meet the boys by the locker room hallway. Colt’s gonna be mad.”

Ali stiffened. “He is?”

“There you are!” Colt said, storming up the stairs wearing a black peacoat and beanie. His eye and lip were swollen from his fight. “Been looking all over for you three. I called you about five times, baby,” he said, his eyebrows pinching together in concern.

Mer tried her best to keep a straight face, but it was like when a teacher reprimanded best friends in class, and as soon as we all made eye-contact, we busted up laughing.

Colt’s features were etched with concern. “Baby? Are you okay?”

“They’re wasted.”

My neck snapped toward that voice, and it’s like something clicked in my brain, something that whispered,You, I’ve been missing you.

His eyes danced with the familiar mixture of happiness and boyish mischief, and it suddenly felt like it was just the two of us here, smiling stupidly at each other. A happy bubble grew inside of me, expanding and taking up all the space in my chest. Richard grinned, like he knew exactly how I was feeling.

Ali elbowed me, jostling me out of…whatever that was… and shot me a look as if asking,you good?

I stuck my chin up, trying to control my grin. “We’re not wasted, Richard, we were simply over-served.”

“Ha!” He threw his head back laughing, and I felt a triumphant little thrill race through me.

JP came up the other side of the aisle, closer to Ali. He scrubbed a hand over his damp dirty-blonde hair, making it stick up at odd angles, and his eyes floated directly to Ali. “Looks like you girls got into the alcohol, eh?”

“I’m eighteen, I’m allowed,” Ali said, but her voice slightly wavered, and she was suddenly wringing her hands in her lap.

JP’s face broke into a bright grin. “Course you are. It’s good to see you, Ali Cat. C’mere.” He strode forward to give her a hug. She popped out of her seat to greet him, but then tripped on a stair. He had to lunge to catch her around the waist. “There’s my clumsy girl,” he said with a deep chuckle while setting her back on her feet.

Her face fully relaxed after that, which was curious. She was a year younger than us, but she was usually so sure of herself. Something was going on with her, I just didn’t know what.

“Well boys, I think it’s time to play a little catch up,” Kappy said with a wicked grin. He shook out his dark wet hair before smoothingit back.

JP groaned while pulling a beanie over his damp hair. “Let’s get food first. That new place, Trivoli’s, looked good.”

“We have food at home, guys,” Colt argued.

“Ooh, Trivoli’s sounds like a fun place,” Mer pipped up.

“Yeah?” Colt’s neck spun around. “Yeah, let’s go to Trivoli’s.”

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