Page 2 of Rivals

She sighs and rolls her eyes. “He wasn’t like that. He only asked about you.”

I shrug. “Okay, then he thought my ass looked great in these jeans. Either way, he’s gone and I’m starving. Can we please go get some pizza now?”

“You’re impossible Sutton.” Evanna begins to walk towards the car. Once we’re heading towards the local pizza place, we like to frequent Evanna asks, “How’d you do tonight?”

I smile. “I made more than enough to cover rent and utilities and maybe even a little extra.”

Evanna smiles. “That’s great!” I drive along with the traffic and the night air blows through the car. I smile as Lenny Kravitz comes on the radio. Evanna looks over at me and we instantly start singing along. Lenny was our favorite singer for years.

Evanna and I grew up together in a roundabout way. I was seven when my father was pulled out of my life. I was shoved into the foster care system. It was a rough three years until I was finally placed in a more stable home. That family managed to keep me until I was sixteen but luckily, Evanna lived next door with her single mother who worked three jobs to make ends meet. Evanna was caring and kind. She would just sit next to me for hours, reading some book because she knew I needed the silence. She grew to become a constant in my life. Having my father yanked away from me had shook my entire world. Throughout the years we’ve always had each other’s backs and always will. She’s my sister through and through.

I grab the first parking spot and we climb out of the car. “Are you really not going to call that man?”

“Oh my gosh Evanna! I love you but trust me when I say this, he isn’t legit!” I tell her as we stop in the middle of the parking lot.

She throws her hands up in the air like she’s frustrated with me. “You don’t know that. You didn’t even talk to him!”

“I didn’t have to. You just have to think about it logically and not with your optimistic mind,” I tell her.

Evanna crosses her arms and glares at me. “Says the pessimist. I’ll drop it, but I think you’re making a huge mistake by not at least calling and hearing him out.”

I smile at her even though we both know it’s fake. “Noted, now can we get the damn pizza?”

“Yes, let’s go get your pizza.” We order and take a seat. Evanna pushes her very un-appetizing looking salad around before she finally asks, “So, are we going to Jakob’s tonight?”

I sigh. Jakob Lane is...was my on again, off again boyfriend until I caught him making out with another girl. Needless, to say I left him quicker than he could offer an apology or some lame ass excuse out. However, Jakob is part of our group of friends and he always throws the best parties after the races. Actually, they aren’t so much parties as get-togethers. They’re pretty tame in comparison to some of the other stuff going on. The problem is I haven’t talked to Jakob in weeks. I haven’t been to one of his parties and I avoid him at the races. I’m not sure if I want to change that now. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what to do with him.”

“Is he still bugging you about getting back together?” Evanna asks.

I shake my head. “No, he actually stopped that a couple of weeks ago. I just don’t know if I can be in the same room as him and not want to rip his head off right now,” I admit to her.

“I get it. I do. Besides, I think he’s crazy! I mean, everyone knows you are the hottest thing in town. I mean if you’re going to cheat and throw away a relationship shouldn’t it be a requirement that you at least upgrade?”

I laugh, leave it to Evanna to make me laugh at the situation that has caused me the most pain lately. “If only it worked like that.”

“Well, it totally should, but anyways I say we go and have some fun. Besides you were right, your ass does look great in those jeans and I’m sure Jakob will be kicking himself once he sees you again since you’ve been avoiding him,” she adds.

“I haven’t been avoiding him,” I lie.

Evanna is busy texting on her phone so I think the subject is done, but then she looks up and smiles. “Great! Then you won’t mind that I just told Ty that we’d be there in a bit.”

I grimace then realize that Evanna and Ty have been spending a lot of time talking lately. “So, what about you?”

“What about me?” she asks.

Oh, this is going to be good. Any time Evanna tries to deflect you know she’s got it bad. “You and Ty?”

“There is no me and Ty. I just want to go have some fun and show off this awesome secondhand dress I found. It’d be a tragedy for no one to see it.” She stands up and collects her plate. I follow her but with every step I take there is dread filling the pit of my stomach. If tonight can go smoothly then maybe Evanna will be satisfied for a while.

As we pull up cars are everywhere. “Are you ready?” Evanna asks.

“No time like now, right?” I tell her, as I climb out of the car and follow behind her. I’m sure I should seize the moment or something like that but right now I just want to go back and hide. We open the door and all I can think is here goes nothing.

Two

Sutton

I wake up to a splitting headache. The stench of alcohol still hangs in the air and I’m stripped down to my bra and underwear which is not what I normally wear to bed. I don’t recall much from last night after we arrived at Jakob’s. I roll over and see a bottle of water and two white pills lying on my nightstand. I reach over and grab them. The door opens and Evanna appears. “How do you feel?”

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