Page 74 of The One

“Try ten minutes.”

“Same thing.” She sighed.

“You’ll miss this about me when you go to NYU.” I joined her against the wall, leaning my body on the sturdiness instead of balancing my weight on my heels. “You won’t have anyone to wake you up in the morning, or make sure you get to class on time, or pick you up from parties when you feel like death.”

Which was the perfect way to describe how ill she had been after she got home from Elijah’s party. She’d spent the entire next day in bed, unable to keep anything down.

Prom hadn’t been much better.

Rhett had gotten us a bunch of rooms at his father’s Beverly Hills hotel, and after the dance, that was where we went, and it turned into an all-night party. I’d never seen Penelope that drunk before.

Or that sick.

And when I tried to warn her and get her to slow down, she wouldn’t listen. She didn’t care about anything I had to say. She just kept going, and she wouldn’t stop.

Until her body couldn’t take any more. That had been when the puking started, and it had gone on all evening and into the morning.

“I have an alarm clock,” she replied, her arms crossing over her chest. “My classes won’t be far from my dorm, so it’ll only take me minutes to walk there, and I don’t need a chaperone at parties.” An arm dropped so her finger could tap my shoulder. “I’m doing just fine, thank you very much.”

I gave a quick peek at Rhett, his head turning at the same time as mine, our eyes locking.

I want you, he mouthed.

I felt my face turn every shade of red.

That boy couldn’t ever get enough of me.

I loved it.

Get over here, he then mouthed.

I can’t, I silently replied.

Lainey … now.

Not now.I shook my head.Later.

I returned my attention to Pen, wiping off some of the black liner that had bled from her bottom eyelid. I didn’t know how it had run already; we’d just got done doing our makeup minutes before I drove us here. But she was somehow looking a little disheveled, and when I finished touching up her liner, I adjusted her white cap so it sat straight on her head.

“You’re still going to miss me.”

“During the moments when you’re not a pain in my ass.” She nudged me. “Yes, I probably will.”

I could sense Rhett’s eyes on me, and I once again glanced toward the front of the line.

Ugh, that smirk is so handsome; I can barely breathe.

The minute his lips parted to mouth something else to me, I looked at Pen.

“I really want to ditch all this waiting and go smoke a joint,” she whispered. “Can you cover for me if anyone asks where I am?”

“That’s a horrible idea. Like, the worst ever. And, no, I can’t cover for you.”

“Why not?”

“Because this is our graduation, Pen. Something you’ve worked incredibly hard for. You need to be sober. And you need to be here even if it’s not starting for”—I checked my watch—“twenty-four minutes.”

“Rule follower.”