Page 12 of The One

“I just need to go find some heels. Give me two seconds.”

Once she was gone, I got in front of the mirror and straightened the shoulders of my shirt. I adjusted the top of my jeans, moving the button away from my belly button piercing—something Pen and I had gotten right before we left Manhattan. Since our parents would never give us their signed parental permission, Pen had charmed the piercer so much that he didn’t even ask for our IDs. I then ran my fingers through my hair, the curls bouncing as I reached the bottom, and I swiped the edges of my lips to wipe away the excess gloss.

I didn’t know how the nerves weren’t showing on my face. I could feel them throughout my whole body.

Part of me couldn’t wait for tonight to be over with. I wanted to spend time with Rhett. I just didn’t want to talk about us. I wanted to focus on whatever happened next—whether that was us together or apart.

“Ready!” Pen yelled from the hallway.

I took a deep breath and a final look at myself in the mirror, and I grabbed my bag and met her at the bottom of the stairs. Our parents had gone out to dinner, so there weren’t any questions to answer when I took the keys off the peg in the foyer and walked out to our car.

“Do you want me to drive there?” Pen asked. “Since we both know I won’t be driving home.”

I hit the button on the fob to unlock the car. “It’s okay. I don’t mind driving both ways.”

She smiled before she climbed into the passenger seat. “God, I love having a DD.”

“That’s the only thing I miss about New York.” I got in and started the car. “I didn’t have to cart your drunk ass around.”

“Don’t act like you do it all the time. This is the first party we’ve been to since we got to LA.”

I pulled out of the driveway and lowered the music. “You’re forgetting that I drove home from the mall two nights ago. You know, when you were so high that you were seeing double. Or did you forget that?”

“That doesn’t count.”

I laughed. “Why not?”

“Because if you had fed me, like I’d asked, I would have come down enough to drive.”

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see them. “Mall Chinese food gives me a horrible stomachache.”

“No one said you had to eat it.”

“But you weren’t the only hungry one. I was too.” I turned at the next light, the GPS on my phone telling me we were only a few miles from the party.

“And your point is?”

I gave her a sideways glance. “I don’t even know. You’ve flipped the story so many times, I can’t even keep up.”

She turned up the music I’d just lowered. “One of my specialties. So … do we know who’s going to be there tonight, aside from Rhett? Hopefully, he’ll be bringing all his hottie friends.”

“I’m sure he’s not going to be there without them.” I looked at her again. “Why? Which one are you interested in?”

“All of them.”

I shook my head. “Pen …”

“Don’tPenme. You know I’m only messing with you. In a year, I’ll be headed back to Manhattan to go to NYU, so there’s no reason to get tied to anything. I just want to have fun. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate one of his sexy friends in the meantime. Like Timothy—oh my God, he’s delicious. I don’t remember him being so hot two years ago.”

“I feel like everyone has changed since we left.”

“How lucky are you that Rhett’s single? I mean, a guy who looks like him? Just think of all the girls, especially the cheerleaders, who have thrown themselves at him. Star wide receiver, getting all the ass?—”

“I’d like to not think about that, thank you.”

The GPS alerted me that the house was only a few away, so I parked on the side of the road behind another car.

As I turned off the engine, Pen asked, “Does he know?”