Page 2 of How to Break My Heart

My eyes wander toward where Aston is sitting. Unlike the other boys, he appears subdued. The girls around him try to touch him, but he’s uninterested.

I hold my breath, watching him intently, trying to ignore the butterflies creeping in. Yeah, okay, Aston is hot. But not once has he shown any interest or spoken more than two words to me.

When I sleep over at their house, he stays in his room and ignores me. About two months ago, I ran into him in the bathroom when he’d just gotten out of the shower. He yelled at me, and given that I was still in shock from seeing him half naked, things got awkward from there.

A six-pack, a towel barely covering his lower body, and water cascading down his chest… I was speechless.

Before that, he was just Maddy’s older brother.

I bite the corner of my lip, observing him quietly until Maddy tugs on my arm.

“C’mon,” she pleads as we walk down the slight embankment toward the bonfire.

Aston immediately spots us, shaking his head in disapproval. As he stands, the girls clinging to him nearly tumble off. He towers over all of them, his stance intimidating.

Maddy rushes over with her arms crossed, ready for battle. “I know what you’re going to say…” she begins. “But Daddy won’t find out.”

“He better not, or it will somehow be my fault. It always is,” Aston warns her.

Maddy grins, then makes her way to the keg. One of the other guys hands her a red cup, but Aston quickly swipes it away from her.

“I’ll let you hang.But… there’s no chance in hell you’re going home drunk. Deal?”

“Fine.” She sighs heavily before turning to face me. “Eva, let’s go get something to eat.”

I avoid everyone’s stares and have this sudden urge to chill by the snacks since no one else is there. It’s not like I don’t know most of the kids here from school, but seeing them here is a whole other scenario.

“Okay, we need a game plan,” Maddy gushes through a mouthful of chips, and a few crumbs fall out the side. “How do I get Camden alone?”

“Alone for what?”

Maddy laughs. “Eva, what do boys and girls do alone? You can’t bethatnaive.”

Are wereallyhaving this conversation?I’m not exactly a prude, but losing our virginity should be memorable, not at some senior party with a douchebag and his annoying toothpick.

“I don’t think you’ve thought this through…” I say gently.When did she become so careless?“This is a big deal, and Camden is… well, he’ll just take what he needs, and that’s pretty much it. Please don’t tell me you think he’s going to give up going to college and stay with you.”

Maddy bows her head, and her brows furrow. “No. I’m not stupid.”

“Okay, glad we cleared that up,” I mumble. “Look, kiss him, fool around if you must, but don’t make a big decision based on the fact that you think he’s hot.”

My reality check drives a wedge between us—I see it in her face.

Maddy wanders off to talk to some of the girls she knows, leaving me to mingle on my own. Some guy tries to carry on a conversation while stuffing his face full of pretzels, but it’s obvious he’s had too much to drink—he’s been talking for a solid five minutes about the brilliance of the person who invented the shape of the pretzel.

This is why I’m single.

The boys at our school are so…meh.

Bored and ready to abandon this lame party, I walk toward the other side of the house and away from the noise. It’s much quieter near the water, and as I slow my steps to take it all in, I trip on a small broken branch and fall onto the dirty ground.

“Crap!” I whimper as my knee begins to sting.

With great effort, I struggle to pick myself up, but a pair of black jeans appears in front of me. Slowly, I glance upward as Aston crouches to my level. His curly dark hair falls over his eyes, but he quickly slicks it back with his fingers to reveal his beautiful face.

“Already hitting the keg, huh?”

I shake my head, trying to cover my embarrassment. “I’m not Maddy.”