Page 9 of The Tip-Off
Gabby
“Morning,”Blair calls out as she appears in the kitchen, Wes on her heels.
I straighten on the bar stool and take another drink from the mug in my hands. “Morning. You two look adorable.” I smirk and Blair pulls on the hem of the long Valley basketball t-shirt. It looks like she literally took it off his back because her boyfriend wears only a pair of basketball shorts and a very satisfied smile.
He moves to the coffee machine and Blair takes the bar stool next to me. She slouches in her seat. “Last night was crazy. I’ve never seen so many people in one place in my life.”
“It was a lot,” I admit. “You want to head over to the gym and then grab brunch? I think a good run might clear the foam and alcohol from my head. I have to work tonight, too. Ugh.”
“Can’t. I have loads of laundry and packing to do. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“About offering to do my laundry?” I tease.
“No, although, if that green skirt you wore last week is dirty, I’m willing to wash it so I can wear it this week.”
“You’re in luck, I did laundry yesterday. Where are you and my fabulous green skirt going?” Blair and I have been swapping clothes since elementary school. Two closets are better than one.
“Did you ask her?” Katrina enters the kitchen with Joel just a step behind.
“Ask me what?” It suddenly feels like an ambush or maybe I’m just touchy from last night. I look from person to person trying to figure out what’s going on.
Joel answers for the lot of them. “Spring break in Mexico. You in?”
Blair bounces beside me. “Is there any way you can get off work? Joel’s family has a place and we’re gonna go lie on the beach and drink piña coladas,” she says dreamily.
“I don’t know.” The excitement in the room is contagious, not that I’d need any help getting excited about the idea of spring break in Mexico. Of course, I want nothing more than to go somewhere amazing with my friends for spring break. I mean, hell yeah, but I just started working at The Hideout and I have a sinking feeling the reason I’m on the schedule almost every day next week is because everyone else already put in to be off. “I work today, so I can ask. When are you leaving?”
“Tonight. Puh-leeeze.” Blair’s voice is pleading.
“You’reallgoing?”
Blair nods and squeezes my hand. “It’ll be so much fun.”
“It sounds amazing, but I can’t lose this job. My parents are holding firm on the whole not paying my rent thing. Let me send Brady a text and see if anyone can cover my shifts.”
I’m not hopeful as I type out the message to my boss and press send. It’s a darn shame too. I pick up my phone and add spring break to the list I’d started earlier this morning.
Nathan and Z enter the kitchen and we’re just one big happy family all squeezed into the space. Zeke and I make eye contact for the briefest of moments before his gaze darts away. Eventually he rejoined the party last night, but we didn’t speak again after I found out he’d been forced to act as my date. Instead, Nathan and I drank and danced until we were the last two people in the back yard.
“What is this?” Blair asks, looking down at my phone. “Do a keg stand, make out on campus—”
“Don’t read them out loud,” I plead. I’d written the list with a fresh determination to do everything I dreamt about before moving to Valley, holding nothing back, but this list is a little more detailed than I feel comfortable sharing over coffee with my best friends and their boyfriends.
“Seriously, what are these?” Blair bites her lip to try and hide her smile.
“Things I want to do before August.”
“Why August?” Wes asks, holding the mug to his lips.
A glance around the room confirms everyone is watching and listening intently. Except Zeke. “I want to start my senior year as a normal college kid. Not some sheltered weirdo.”
A weirdo whose friends have to force guys to go on dates with her. A fresh wave of mortification rolls through me.
“And doing the walk of shame,” Blair reads another item on the list. “Is going to make you normal?”
“The walk of awesome,” Joel interjects.
“Exactly. See, how will I know if I think it’s awesome or not unless I try it?”
