Page 28 of Summer Shot
“Technically he told Ryder,” Keith corrects Bren, earning him a fierce eyeroll from her.
“So? He’s a big kid. He can take care of himself,” Blaine states nonchalantly, taking a sip from his beer.
“He’s got someone taking care of him,” Ryder chimes in, back from the bar insanely fast. And surprisingly solo. It seemed to take Blaine at least three times as long to get a drink.
“Yeah, he’s with a lady friend in our pool.” Ryder waggles his eyebrows. “Told you he was fine.”
“That’s a very different text back than I got . . .” Libby utters softly.
“Enough about Tyler,” Blaine blurts out. “They have cornhole. Who wants to go play?”
“Who calls it cornhole?” Bren jokes with him as Ryder shouts, “Yes, sirrrrr!” dragging the “r” at the end out longer than necessary.
“I’m from the south,” Blaine shrugs.
“Dude, you’re from Florida,” Blake proclaims, standing up to join them.
“Which is in the south, bro, where we play cornhole.” Blaine shakes his head at Blake’s clueless comment.
“Fine,” Libby groans. “If you stop saying cornhole, I’ll grace you with my bag skills.”
“Deal,” Blaine agrees as a grin quickly stretches from ear to ear. Maybe it’s just the alcohol he drank, but he seems very smitten over Libby tonight.
“Let’s all go,” Bren suggests, eyeing me.
Lucas’ eyes meet mine. “Yeah, we’ll be there in a minute,” Lucas answers for me, reading my mind.
“I’m just worried about Tyler,” I start as soon as Lucas and I are alone.
“Blaine’s right, he’s an adult,” Lucas states. “He’s the only one other than me that didn’t drink before we came out. He’s probably just needing some alone time.”
Twirling the ends of my hair, I let out a weary sigh.
“I know, you’re probably right . . . but,”
“No, we are having fun tonight. No more worrying,” Lucas kisses my forehead, “Unless it’s about how I’m about to kick your ass at cornhole.”
“You don’t want to be on my team?!” I shriek back at him, excited to get my mind off Tyler’s Irish Goodbye.
Lucas stands up offering me his hand. “No ma’am, you know I love a bet.”
Swatting his hand playfully away, I tease him, “Be ready to lose.” I quickly dart away from the table calling back to him “Don’t worry, babe, I accept Venmo.”
“We are going to miss our flight if you guys don’t hurry up!” Bren’s shout fills the house. To no surprise, the guys rush at the last minute packing their things this morning. None of them packed last night except Lucas. How typical.
When we got back home last night, Tyler and his mystery girl were nowhere to be found. With the chaos of trying to get everyone out the door this morning, I didn’t get a chance to try to talk to Tyler alone this morning. The sound of his animated voice giddily gossiping about this year’s upcoming NHL draft with Keith can be heard from my seat two rows in front of him. At least he seems to be back to his usual self.
My stomach turns the entire flight home even though there wasn’t any turbulence. Anxiety weighs on me knowing Bren’s departure date looms and I’m going to be running the show on my own.
On the plus side, my Venmo balance was a little higher than the night before. I’m the bags reigning champion—take that, Lucas Donato!
Chapter thirteen
Laur
“SUZ!” Bren’s buoyant shriek fills our entire house and echoes off the walls with Suz’s arrival for one last hurrah.
Jaylin, my hippie, weed-loving roommate, who happens to be Suz’s girlfriend, takes Suz’ bag up to her room as the rest of us head to the living room. Plopping aimlessly down on the couch, my mind floats elsewhere. The first-round interviews start tomorrow. Thankfully they’re virtual, which will give me some practice before in-person rounds start.
