“Ty!” Serena shrieks as she stumbles, literally, onto me. “You’re here!”
I wrap my arms around her waist. “Hey,” I pull back to meet her honey eyes. I see the red cup in her hand sloshing around. “When did you get here?”
“Maybe like an hour or two ago.” She takes a sip of her drink as she looks around her. “I wasn’t sure when you were coming.”
“So you were waiting on me?” I smirk.
A burst of giggles comes from her. “Maybe.” Another sip.
“Easy on that,” I tell her, concern slipping into my voice. “What is it?”
“Jungle juice.” Serena points the cup towards me, making the liquid slosh again. “Want some?”
“I’m good, I drove here.” I place a hand on the cup, gently guiding it downwards. “How many refills have you gotten?”
“This is my first cup.” She says quietly.
“Let’s slow down, alright?”
As we chat, Priya and Grant approach us from another room, exchanging nervous looks before joining our circle. “Serena, we got you water,” Priya says, waving the bottle in the air before handing it to her.
Silence looms between us despite the loud music surrounding us. Serena’s gaze meets mine, a quiet struggle unfolding within her eyes. There’s something unspoken, hiding beneath her eyes. A flash of uncertainty and hurt crosses over.
Did something happen before I showed up?
“Everything okay, sunshine?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” She concedes, her tone softening slightly. “You’re right, I’ll slow down.”
I remove the cup and set it down on the table behind her. “Let’s walk around for a bit,” I suggest, a lighthearted tone in my voice as I steer us away from the center of the party.
“I’ll find you guys later!” Serena says to Grant and Priya as we walk away.
The warm contact of our connected hands feels comforting despite the hustle and bustle of partygoers around us.
“I should say hey to Beckham,” I explain, nodding towards the group. “Come join me.”
As we approach my friend group, I notice the nonchalant smiles on Beckham, Jared, and a random girl who doesn’t seem familiar. Her presence raises my eyebrows–she’s not from our school, which means she must be Beckham’s date. His arm wrapped around her confirms my suspicion. Serena tenses beside me, her body stiffening ever so slightly, but I offer a reassuringsqueeze of her hand. It’s clear she’s feeling uneasy, but I’m here with her, and that’s all that matters.
“Dude! Didn’t think you would show up.” Beckham juts out his hand for a bro-shake. “This is the legend himself,” Beckham adds with a grin, giving me a playful nudge.
“Legend?” Serena repeats with an arched brow.
Beckham laughs, nodding emphatically. “Serena, don’t you know? Tyler is a legend at parties.”
“Oh really?”
I give Beckham a don’t-you-fucking-dare look but he proceeds anyway. “He would get on any table, sing all the Justin Bieber songs he knows, and offer shots to anyone that walked by. Legend.”
“My rendition of As Long As You Love Me is,” I say, punctuating my claim with an exaggerated chef’s kiss gesture, “the best.”
“I didn’t know you were such a party animal.”
Serena’s gaze shifts to me, wearing an unknown expression I can’t decipher.
“Yeah, who knew Tyler was the life of the party,” Beckham chimes in, the teasing tone clear in his voice.
The unknown girl coughs to grab Beckham’s attention, “Guys, this is Emilie. Meet Tyler and Serena. She goes to school in Mooresville and cheers for their team.”
