Page 48 of The Sun
He wet his lips with his tongue. “He’s pissed.”
“Why?”
“Stupid misunderstanding.”
I wanted to know what this stupid misunderstanding was. In my limited life experience, stupid misunderstandings between guys usually revolved around a girl. And seeing as how I had learned earlier in the night that Brandon and I were evidently a thing, I didn’t want other people to think I wasthatgirl. You know, the girl who thought a guy liked her when he was secretly banging some Lockhart guy’s prissy, rich girlfriend.
“Like,” I took a sip of water. “What kind of misunderstanding?”
Brandon glanced at the now empty doorway, and some of the tension that wrinkled his brow seemed to dissipate. “Nothing to worry about, babes.”
Babes?Why was I smiling at that? “Okay.” I nodded, pretending I didn’t want to pry, that I didn’t need more information.
The game that could have been retitled How Slutty Are You continued, neither me nor Daisy with our inexperience finding much to drink over. At some point between a question about toothbrushes and pornographic, one-hour photo development, Brandon was summoned to a game of beer pong.
“Never have I ever had a threesome.” That voice was deep and Southern and almost identical to Elias’.
The girls in the room all went doe-eyed when Judah Black stepped into the room, his unruly, dark hair covering half his face.
With a smirk, he chugged his beer. “What? No one else has had a three-way?” He laughed. “Shame.” His eyes locked on Daisy, and he winked before strutting off.
The little hitch to her breath didn’t go unnoticed, and I turned toward her silently mouthing No.
“Come on,” she nudged me. “I wouldn’t. I’m totally into Ben, but you can’t deny the appeal.”
“Oh, I won’t deny the appeal at all.” Those Black boys had the entire female population of Robertsdale’s attention.
From the kitchen, I heard Jenny’s annoying, high-pitched squeal. “Judah Black’s here everybody!” Daisy glanced sideways and gave an exasperated eye roll.
Emo Girl started with another round of questions, but I wasn’t paying attention. If Judah was here, chances were that Elias was as well, albeit I hadn’t heard Jenny announce his entrance like the emcee at a wrestling match.
Fifth bottle of water down, and I had to find a restroom. Of course, the one downstairs had a line six deep. “Shit,” I mumbled.
“There’s another one upstairs.” A petite blond stood behind me, swaying. Her eyelids looked heavy. She bumped into the wall and said,” Excuse me, sir.” She was either drunk or stoned. Possibly both. But she was out of her head, that was for sure.
“Come on. I’ll show you.” Her sweaty palm landed on my forearm, and she yanked me around with a lot more force than I thought she would be able to muster.
“You from The Dale?” That’s what the kids from Lockhart called the public school.
“Uh. Yeah.”
“Cool. I’m Laurel.”
“Sunny.”
“Hey, we both have hippy names. Were your parents hippies?”
Laurel was not a hippy name. It was a rich-girl name. “Um. Don’t think so.”
We stopped in front of the stairwell. An electric-blue ski rope had been tied from one banister to another. Attached to the middle of the barrier was a piece of notebook paper that read:Don’t Go Upstairs or I’ll kick your ass!
Laurel scoffed at that. “Whatever, Radcliffe.”
She crawled over the rope, slamming into the wall and slipping down a step before she burst into laughter. “I’m so messed up right now.”
“I can see.”
“You coming?” She started up the stairs on her hands and knees. I followed her because I had to pee, and I would never get rid of the guilt if she ended up drowning herself in the toilet, which, from the way she was struggling at the current moment, seemed plausible.
