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He was dead-on with that assessment, but I wasn’t going to deter him by agreeing. “I don’t know about that. Besides,you’returning out to be way more trouble than I ever would’ve peggedyoufor.”
His cheeks went a little pink, but he shrugged it off. “Not everyone is what they seem, Liv.”
I gave him a pointed stare, and his mouth hitched up the smallest bit. “Point taken,” he said, but our conversation was cut short as our teacher dove into plans for the next few football games—now that homecoming was out of the way.
The entire time she was talking, I felt Neil’s presence beside me like a warm hand drifting up and down my side. The phantom passes left goose bumps on my skin.
It didn’t make any sense.
My face fell into my hands, and I heard him quietly chuckling next to me.
I kind of wanted to strangle him. Or, you know, somehow find my way into his lap and grind myself up against him.
Sydney. Sydney was the best damn friend in the whole damn world. The room was spinning and there were three of her, so lucky me.
I wasn’t big on drinking. Like, at all. I liked to be in more control than that, but since as of recently I had no control over most of anything, I thoughtwhy the hell not,and here I was.
Some hot guy in too-tight pants and pretty eyeliner was in the middle of a conversation with himself because I wasn’t listening to anything he was saying. Something about being in a band.Weren’t they all?I mentally rolled my eyes. Or maybe I actually had rolled my eyes. Who knew?
I stood up and left him talking to the empty space in front of him. My head swam, and it took a few seconds to steady myself.
Where did Sydney go?
I searched the kitchen, and then the backyard.Nothing.I made my way down the hallway. “Sydneyyyyugghh,” I wailed. I was ready to go. More than ready. About five seconds from finding a place to drop into and pass out, but even in my haze, I knew that was a stupid idea, so, “SYDNEY!!” I shouted.
A door down the way opened and slammed shut, a disheveled Sydney left in its wake. She was fixing her hair as she huffed out a breath, glaring down at me where I’d slid to the floor. “You so owe me. That guy in there?” She pointed at the door she’d just escaped from. “He is so hot, and I sort of want to murder you right now.”
I didn’t feel bad. I was always D.D. and left when Sydney was ready. Tonight, it was my turn, because apparently, I couldn’t handle these growing feelings for Neil. Especially when there was no outlet for releasing them. This was the attempted outlet—Sydney’s idea, not mine. And since we were both obviously under twenty-one, it was Sydney who ran out of the liquor store with a twelve-pack of beer in her hands, and I who squealed us out of the parking lot in Wednesday like our asses were on fire. (Wednesday was my pretty black Jeep’s name, of course.)
But I digress, because this “outlet” wasn’t helping at all. If anything, I only wanted Neil more.
“I think I just should just call him,” I told Sydney as we made our way across some stranger’s driveway.
“What? Who?” she huffed out, all frustrated. She’d lost her patience for me, and that was rich, coming from her.
“Neil.” I pulled my phone out and unlocked it.
“Oh, no you don’t.” She yanked the phone out of my grasp.
I shrugged. “I don’t have his phone number anyway… But I could just DM him on Insta.” I went to steal my phone back, but she was far less inebriated than me. Whatever.
“Jeez. Desperate much?” she commented.
“Um, yeah, have you not been listening? I think thiswanthas spiraled intoneed.”
She scoffed. “Ew.”
“I know!” I shouted, throwing my hands up. “It’s disgusting.”
Sydney burst out in laughter, and I followed suit.
“Get your ass in the Jeep,” she said, and it was the last thing I remembered.
Working while hungover was the worst kind of penance for drinking when I knew I shouldn’t have. I hated every part of drinking, but I especially hated the way it made me feel afterward.
I barely passed for human the next day. Or… at least it felt that way.
“Here, boo.” Jax slid me another bottle of cold water. All was forgiven—mostly—because he’d picked me up for work today and brought with him some water, Advil, and a big,fat, heavenly burrito.