“Brennan!” Cole shouted, enthusiastic and giggling and, oh, drunk already. “We’re getting drinks!”
Mari slid up to the counter dividing the kitchen and living space and started pouring a too-generous shot of vodka into her plastic cup, ignoring Brennan. Cole hovered in front of Brennan, relaxed and grinning, a step into his personal space, chin up to look at Brennan with the height difference.
“Hey,” Cole said, like he hadn’t already loudly greeted him.
“Hey,” Brennan said, soft and private.
“One of you fuckers do a shot with me,” said Mari.
Not so private, then.
Ten minutes later, they found a cozy, unoccupied corner of the room in which to hover, Brennan trying not to make eyes at Cole until Mari excused herself to refill her drink.
The apartment door opened a few yards from their spot, letting in a sliver of harsh fluorescent light from the hallway, and Brennan’s eyes shot over to see Nellie and Sunny arriving. Nellie’s hair was different, with extensions to give her long braids, and she had a miniskirt ensemble that made her look like not just a college girl, but a trendy, cool one. Sunny had her hair in a slicked-back ponytail, big cargo pants, a crop top, and big hoop earrings, like she’d come from a photo shoot. She probably had.
Nerves and excitement sloshed around in Brennan’s stomach with the jungle juice. The vampires were here.
Cole followed Brennan’s gaze and gasped when he landed on Sunny and Nellie.
“That’s them?”
He sounded so earnest and enthusiastic Brennan couldn’t help teasing him. “Want an autograph?”
“Maybe. That’s KeepItSunny on Instagram! She’srealInstagram-famous. She’s a vampire?”
“She’s like, the scariest vampire I’ve met so far,” Brennan said. Cole’s eyes lit up like a kid’s on Christmas morning.
“Aren’t you gonna introduce us?” he asked, looking up through his lashes and letting his Southern accent out like an absolute asshole. He knew exactly what he was doing.
“What could go wrong,” Brennan said, taking Cole by the wrist and doing his best to weave through the clusters of people toward the door. The feeling of Cole’s skin under his fingers made him more lightheaded than the alcohol.
Nellie caught Brennan’s eye and shot a hand up in an enthusiastic, high-reaching wave, and she and Sunny moved to meet him.
At least, he thought, with the party as a buffer, they couldn’t talk about the wholevampirething. He could only imagine the questions Cole might ask if he cornered Nellie or Sunny alone tonight.
Why, exactly, had he brought this on himself again?
Brennan let go of Cole’s wrist and didn’t have time to miss the contact before Nellie pulled Brennan into a hug. He startled forward into the embrace and stiffly but gratefully reciprocated.
“Brennan, this is amazing!” Nellie said as she released him from her grasp. “I haven’t been to a classic party inages!”
“It’s really quite frat-party-like,” Sunny said, a step behind Nellie, phone out of sight for once. Brennan couldn’t figure out if that was a good or bad sign.
Brennan made the awkward introductions, but it only got more awkward when Nellie turned her sights on Cole.
“Soyou’reCole!” Nellie said in an overexaggerated mom way, giving Brennan a transparently meaningful look. Brennan’s face burned.
“Allegedly,” Cole said in greeting. “Though it makes me nervous when you say it like that.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve heard only good things,” Nellie said. Then, “Extensively good things—”
“Let’s get drinks, Nel,” Sunny interrupted, while Cole gave Brennan a sidelong glance of amusement. Thank god for Sunny.
“Oh my god,yes,” said Nellie. “I wanna do a keg stand.”
“Let’s work our way up to that,” Sunny said, tugging Nellie away by the hand. “We’ll catch up with you guys.”
As soon as the space in front of them was vacated, Tony appeared and did a series of dramatic lunges, pointing at Brennan and Cole.
