Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
I drop down in front of my car, leaning back on the chrome bumper and hanging my forearms over my bent knees.
And Dylan’s gone from me again…
I half-suspect this was Kade’s plot, but I laugh to myself, because I don’t think he could’ve predicted any of this.
He moves to the driver’s side and disappears for a moment before he’s next to me, sinking down on the ground at my side.
He uncaps a flask and takes a swig. Tears slowly dry on his face.
He doesn’t look at me as he passes the alcohol.
I take it, swallowing a hefty mouthful. Our dad’s homemade Irish-style whiskey. I can tell, because the Irish make it with barley. He works hard to try to impress my mom’s very Irish father, to no avail.
The old man drinks the hell out of the whiskey, though.
I hand it back.
“Was your…” Kade broaches. “Was your first time okay?”
I smile a little, because I didn’t realize I wanted to share it with someone until he asked.
I nod, looking over at him. “Yeah, it was good. It was amazing.”
“She treated you right?” he asks softly.
My chest swells, remembering making love to her in the back of this car and knowing I’ll never sell the thing. Ever.
“Yeah,” I tell him.
We sit there for a minute, and I know there are things to talk about—first and foremost being if he’s going to be okay with me and Dylan together if I can win her again, because it’s too late to go back.
And then there’s school and his friends and coming home…
But before I can worry too much, he twists the cap back on the flask and looks over at me. “Why don’t you take me to a Weston party?”
Dylan
Weston is alive tonight.
There isn’t a single street without people on it and barely a house on Knock Hill not pumping light and music into the neighborhood.
I barely see any of it, though.
Parking up the lane, which is as close as I could get to the house, I slide through the crowd, between bodies, overflowing cups, and an impromptu game of football in the middle of the street. “Slip to the Void” blasts from the speakers sitting in the windows of Hunter and Farrow’s house, and I don’t know if anyone is doing the car-vibrating-sex thing, but there are plenty of people making out.
Entering the house, I hear laughter and quickly dry my eyes as I step toward the living room. Blankets and pillows sit in a pile on the chair as Codi and Mace rest on the couch, laughing at something on Mace’s phone. Codi wears my jacket.
Their jacket now, since the Pirates lost.
I lean on the wall. “My babysitters tonight?”
But Farrow comes out from the kitchen, shoving a drink in my hand. “Come on, we’re getting lit,” he tells me. “Weston won. Time to celebrate.”
I blow out a breath, looking down at the yellow-brown drink with ice in it.
“You don’t care, do you?” Farrow teases.
“I do,” I tell him. “I’m happy Weston won.”
I take a drink, tasting rum and juice.
“We’re going to be sorry to see you go,” Farrow tells me, moving to the windows to look outside.
“I have till Sunday.” I swallow another gulp. “You guys still have time to make me into a ghost.”
Farrow chuckles, and I plop down on the arm of the couch, grabbing a handful of Cheez-Its from the box.
“What are you going to do next year?” Farrow asks me. “College?”
I sigh, hating this question. They want our senior quotes and future plans for our captions in the yearbook at Falls High, and of course, I know what I want. I just don’t know how to say it in a way that doesn’t sound like Unemployed or Moving to L.A. to be an actress! Everyone will assume I’ll be living at home for the rest of my life.
“If I go to college,” I say, “it’ll be because I’m scared not to. I know what I want to do with my life, and I don’t need a degree.”
“It’s gotta be nice, though,” Mace chimes in. “Having time to figure stuff out. My dad got kicked out when he graduated from high school, and I have to start paying half the rent when I do.” She flashes me a smile. “But at least he’s not kicking me out.”
I sit there, silent. I whine because I have choices? Everyone should be so lucky.
Cheers go off in the street, and I rise, taking my drink with me.
“Seriously, you guys go party,” I tell them. “Go have fun. I’ll be right here. Upstairs asleep.”
Farrow just watches me.
“Are you sure?” Mace asks as Codi looks up at me.
“I’m exhausted,” I say. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
I head upstairs, away from their stares, and close myself off in my room. In a minute, I hear the door shut downstairs as they hopefully join the crowd. I slip off my clothes, except for my T-shirt and underwear, plug in my phone, and cast a look to Hunter’s dark bedroom window before I climb into bed.