Page 73 of The Sun
“He went home.” Sunny didn’t sound too disappointed at that, and I caught myself fighting a smile.
“Wait. Did he leave you?”
“No.”
I felt like a shithead for eavesdropping, so I pushed up. “He said he had to—uh—go back and get things ready.”
Ready?That caused me to pause.
“Oh. So is tonightthenight?” There was an excited lilt to Daisy’s voice, like Sunny giving it up to him was a milestone instead of a betrayal.
Only, I was the lone person who would use the word betrayal to define her sleeping with her boyfriend, because I was the guy she promised all her firsts to. My fingers pulled into fists. My skin crawled at the thought of her and Brandon in bed together. I took one final drag from my cigarette, that last pull burning my fingers. Just before I turned to throw it to the ground, Sunny stepped onto the top stair.
“Were you. . .” Her eyes met mine and went wide. “Listening?” She crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot while she waited, I guessed, for me to respond.
I tossed my smoke down then shoved my shoulders back. The classic riff to “Jessie’s Girl” echoed into the night. Maybe it was a combination of those lyrics and the condescending way she stared down at me from the porch, but something inside of me went on the fritz. It was like someone else was in complete control of my body. There is no way in hell I would have ever flipped Sunny the bird. But damned if I didn’t.
She glared at me, jaw dropped and eyebrows pinched together in an angry scowl.
I took my keys from my pocket and headed to the side of the house.
“Hey, bro! Where you going?” Judah shouted.
“Home!”
I barely made it past the pool of Jell-O before Sunny shouted my name. Next thing I knew, she had me by the arm, jerking me around to face her. “What were you doing, Elias?”
“Fucking breathing. Is that okay with you?”
Her nostrils flared. “Why were you listening?”
I leaned down, placing my face inches from hers and trying my hardest not to pull in her scent. If I did, I’d lose it. “I wasn’t,” I said.
“Bull.”
She didn’t budge, and neither did I.
“Why were you trying to buy weed from my brother?”
A wicked grin shaped her pretty lips. “Because I’m not as good as you or my daddy think.”
“Oh, is that why you’re dressed like this?” I looped a finger underneath her bra strap still on full display and popped it. “To prove a point? Or are you just trying to get fucked?”
There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on for ions before she clenched her jaw. “I hate you!” she said with icy precision.
Even though those words went straight through my chest like a machete, slicing and cutting, I managed a sick smirk that I hoped said I didn’t care. “Ah, come on, Sunny. I can do better than have you hate me.” I scooped her up. Her bare legs dangled over my arms, and damn, was I torn.
I didn’t want to let her go, but I didn’t want her to know how much I hurt. How much I still cared when she had stopped loving me long ago. So I carried her across the yard, staring right through her, swallowing the urge I had to tell her Brandon couldn’t possibly care about her the way I did.
“Put me down, Elias!” she shouted, pounding her fists against my shoulder and kicking her legs like an angry mule.
My shins hit the plastic rim of the baby pool, and panic tore across her face.
“By the way,” I whispered. “Good luck tonight.” I winked, then dropped her into the Jell-O. The party erupted in loud brouhahas. Pink gelatin exploded into the air, splattering my shirt.
“See if Brandon can get you that wet,” I said, giving her a hard stare before I strolled past the shocked partygoers and through the side gate. I wasn’t sure whether to be concerned about the sick satisfaction I found in thinking I may have taken a little of the fun out of her and Brandon’s special night.
21
