Page 62 of Enemies to Prom Dates
“They can be with the right person,” Chas said, bouncing Star on his lap, making her giggle.
Fitz came over and handed me a cup. “You watch it. You don’t put it down. You need to go to the bathroom, you hand it to me. If you do put it down, and you want another beer, you tell me. Got it?”
“Yes, Dad,” I said instinctively, then frowned. My father had never once given me a warning on how to behave at parties. Never a lesson about the spiking a person’s drink out of spite or even just for the fun of it.
Or for something more sinister.
“Wait a minute, did you two come together?” Chas asked.
“We did,” he answered.
My sister looked at me and she didn’t need to say anything. I could hear the questions teleporting through the air.
When did this happen?
I knew you were into him!
Why didn’t you tell me?
OMG!
I answered with a shoulder shrug, a body shake and a head nod. Then I took a sip of beer.
“This is awesome. We can go on double dates!” Chas said. “I don’t like any of Star’s friends, but I like you, Beth.”
I smiled. “I like you, too, Chas.”
“What do you mean you don’t like any of my friends?”
“They’re all uptight bitches,” Chas said. “You’re too nice for all of them.”
“That’s sweet,” she said, clearly not offended by his assessment. She kissed his cheek, then he used his finger to turn her and chin and…then they were making out.
I turned around because I did not need to watch my sister make out.
“Should we?” I made gesture like we should go and work the room. There was drinking in the kitchen, dancing in the living room. We made our way downstairs to what was an expansive playroom. There were six people playing beer pong, including Ed.
I watched as he deftly tossed the ping pong ball into the Red Solo Cup across the table. It landed and the demands todrink, drink, drinkwere shouted by everyone playing.
“Do you see anyone doing anything out of the ordinary?” Fitz bent down to ask me.
“Yes, I see you hanging out with me at a party. That is very out of the ordinary.”
“Your face is turning red. Are you getting a little tipsy, Bennet?”
I was and it was another surprising thing to find I liked it, too. It made it okay for me to press a little closer to Fitz, to work my hand around his waist so that my fingers could slip under his shirt and touch the small of his back. This was me touching Fitz like he was mine to touch.
“We’re supposed to be in the spying phase of the night,” he said. But the look in his eyes said he was ready for the finding-a-private-spot part of the evening to begin. God, those purplish-blue eyes. They really were too perfect.
“Fitz, Beth,” Ed called out to us. I removed my hand from under Fitz’s shirt and took another sip of my beer to distract myself. I was barely halfway through my first cup and I could feel my face flushing and my blood running hot.
Or was that the Fitz effect?
Fitz greeted him with a nod.
“Hey, you know Wick is here with Gigi, right?” Ed said.
“What?” Fitz asked. “She didn’t say she was coming tonight. This party is too old for her.”
