Page 7 of Sugar Rush
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, boy. Just what I’ve always wanted.” It wasn’t the charity auction that had put me in a bad mood, but I didn’t really want to talk about Andrew and how skeeved out he always made me feel.
“Oh! I forgot the other thing,” Dani suddenly blurted out, once I was strapped into the passenger seat of her car. “Julio wants me to meet him at this party tonight. You should totally come! There’s going to be some other people we know there, too.”
“Like who?” I asked, trying not to sound as unenthusiastic as I felt.
She rambled off some names, most of which were people we’d gone to school with, none of whom I was particularly thrilled at the idea of seeing. High school had been easier for me than most, but I’d never made a deep connection with any of my other classmates. All my friendships, besides with Dani, were sort of superficial.
“I don’t think so. I’m really tired.”
“You don’t have to stay long,” she said, glancing over at me with big, brown, pleading eyes. “I’ll be totally nervous if I have to show up by myself.”
“Okay,” I relented, because I knew there was no point in arguing.
Anyway, she would have done the same for me if I asked, so it was only fair. Dani Santos had been my best friend since elementary school. I’d spent more nights at her house than I could count, and same with her at mine. She’d counseled me as well as a 10-year-old could when my mom had finally succumbed to her cancer diagnosis. She was unendingly loyal, and I needed that in a person. People could be so flaky and flighty, and I really despised those traits. That was a big reason why I’d never gotten particularly attached to anyone else at school, even though I had tons of friendly acquaintances.
I was always invited to parties, always involved in the important experiences like planning the prom and the yearbook committee. I had friends from all the different cliques and groups, from the theater kids to the football players and cheerleaders. But if I could be honest, high school ending felt like a huge relief. I was ready to start something new and fresh.
“You think Kieran’s going to be there?” She asked, reminding me that Julio had been in the same grade as Kieran, meaning they probably shared some of the same friends.
“I don’t know,” I answered quickly. I’d been avoiding bringing him up all day because Dani could usually tell if I was feeling weird about something and I knew she’d eventually be able to drag the truth out of me. I hadn’t even really finished processing what had happened with Kieran, let alone feeling ready to talk about it. “He, um… Seemed kind of hungover this morning.”
She made a little sound of acknowledgment before sighing. “Too bad. Your brother issohot.”
“Stepbrother,” I corrected her automatically. She knew it bugged the crap out of me when anyone called him that, and she loved teasing me about my stupid crush on him. Little did she know, my crush might not have been as stupid and hopeless as we’d once thought. “And you have a boyfriend now, so you can’t say that.”
“My eyes still function, Jordy,” she informed me. “Hot is hot.”
I didn’t really have an argument against that.
The crush I had on Kieran could be described in very short terms. Pathetic and all-consuming. He’d basically been my dream boyfriend since I’d started being aware of my own sexuality. It had only gotten way worse since I’d presented as an omega.
I’d always been completely convinced that he would never see me as anything other than someone he was vaguely fond of and didn’t mind hanging around sometimes, that he also happened to be forced to share a bathroom with.
But that was Sober Kieran. Completely Hammered Kieran had really flipped the script as of last night. And now our cozy little All-American stepbrother dynamic had morphed into the social equivalent of a minefield. A really sexy minefield. If such a thing could exist.
The rest of the ride consisted of Dani gushing about her new relationship, which was fine with me, since I only needed to contribute minimally to the conversation.
“So I’ll pick you up for the party at like 8:00,” she told me as we pulled into my driveway.
“Sounds good.”
“And take a nap. You look like a zombie.”
Only a true bestie could be so brutally honest.
We’d only been at the center for a few hours, so no one else was home yet. I wanted to crawl back into bed, but I had to take my insulin and force down something resembling lunch. The app on my phone that was connected to the sensor in my arm had my dad’s phone registered as a caretaker. Meaning if my levels were over or under the safe range, not only would I get an alarm notification, but he’d get one too. And knowing him, he’d probably send an ambulance to the house without even calling to check if I was fine or not. He was a little paranoid about the diabetes stuff.
My mom had only been gone for about a year when I was diagnosed. I got really sick all of a sudden, and when my dad rushed me to the ER, it turned out I was in ketoacidosis and pretty much almost dead. I stayed in the PICU for nearly two weeks.
I was pretty sure that whole thing had traumatized him more than it had traumatized me. He’d never actually said the words out loud, but I’d known what he was thinking. He’d already lost one of the two most important people in his life. He couldn’t lose the other one, too. Since then he’d been a bit overprotective about my health. More than a bit. That part had gotten way worse since presenting as an omega, too. But he was my dad and I loved him and he always meant well, so it was fine.
I popped the cap off my insulin pen and wiped the end with an alcohol wipe before twisting the needle on. I had my routinedown to a dull, tedious science after doing it a billion times. Turn the dial to my dosage, push the injector to get rid of air bubbles, stab it into my abdomen, count to ten, pull it out, and properly dispose.
Once I’d finished that, I forced down a hard-boiled egg I’d already had stored in the fridge and a couple of whole-grain crackers with string cheese. Good enough for a few hours of interrupted peace, I was sure.
At the top of the stairs, I stopped and stared at Kieran’s closed bedroom door for a moment. Now that I was alone and didn’t have to worry about any random mind readers that could have been wandering around, I allowed myself to think about him again, and what he’d done the night before.
I sent a text to my dad letting him know I was taking a nap so he wouldn’t come up to check on me when he got home, and about the party Dani and I were going to, before collapsing onto my bed.
