Lucky laughs so loud half the people around us stop to gawk to see if she’s tweaked.
“You wish,” she sputters as she quiets down. “Ava, I’ve seen the way that boy looks at you. If he’s about to spontaneously combust with anyone, it’s with this officer of the law right here.” She gives the badge I’ve pinned to my heart a tug. “Face it, that boy has it bad for you. I still can’t figure out why he’d take you on as his little sister—unless, of course, it was all a ploy to get near you. The two of you have been inseparable, with the exception of the last few days.”
I glance up at the Beta Kappa Phi house covered with overgrown plastic spiders, the girls draped all over the property in every jewel tone known to man in their slutty little costumes, the guys in their traditional frat boy garb with the exception of a few errant masks. But none of that has the power to hold my attention. My eyes zip right past the dizzying noise, the outright horrific elation a holiday like this demands, and I zero in on two people in particular, a couple huddled in the corner, heads knitted together as they come to some sort of agreement—most likely about their wedding day.
Grant and Darcy stand arched over one another as if working out the details of their reunion. I’m sure long distance couples have a long list of rules to abide by. I’m pretty sure Darcy has included a no little sister clause in there somewhere by now. I’ve got a feeling that she’s cleaning house, and I’ll be the first to go.
Harper gives me a mean squeeze as we come upon the frat house. “There’s no doubt that boy is having some serious withdrawals.”
“That may be so, but it’s not me he’s craving a hit off.”
A scraggly looking werewolf jumps in front of us and sends us shrieking. Rush plucks off his mask and howls for effect.
“Girls!” Lawson shows up by his side, holding out his arms as if to escort us inside, and both Lucky and Harper latch on to him. Lucky gives me a quick wink from over the shoulder.
“You can have the werewolf. Something tells me you’re about to have one wild night.”
“Right,” I say lackluster just as Rush picks me up and runs across the sandy pit with me. A shrieking laugh escapes me as he carts me around, bumping and gyrating all the way around the frat house. My body flexes over his shoulder, and my hands flail in the night air as I scream. But Rush just runs faster, holding on to my knees for dear life, or at least he’d better be.
The music turns up in volume, and Rush starts in on a side-to-side rhythm that has my dinner begging to show up to the party, and God only knows why this makes me laugh ten times harder. Tears rain from me as I pound my hands over his back, then lower still over that rock-hard stubborn ass of his.
“Enough!” I finally cry.
“Say uncle!” He gives his shoulder a pump, sending me into the sky.
“Uncle!”
“Say Uncle Rush is my favorite!”
“Uncle Rush is my favorite!”
A crowd of onlookers hoots and howls with approval. I’ve always known Rush was a crowd pleaser, but I never figured I’d become a human bullhorn in an effort to prove this.
“Say I love Uncle Rush! Uncle Rush is the best!” He gives a little tickle to the backside of my knees.
“I love Uncle Rush! Uncle Rush is the best! And I’m going to kill Uncle Rush and sacrifice his balls to a pile of dead goats if he doesn’t put me down right this minute!”
In one fell swoop, I’m landed back on my feet, wobbling like a drunk until Rush wraps me in his arms and stabilizes me.
“You’re a good sport, kid.” He drops a kiss to the top of my head, and just as I’m about to say something to contest exactly what a good sport I may or may not be, my eye snags back on that familiar couple, Grant with his glaring disapproval and Darcy with her unimaginable glee.
“Thanks.” I offer Rush a high five, and we head into the party together with our arms wrapped around one another’s waists.
Lucky is right.
I’m about to have one wild night.
Grant
Looksas if I’m about to have one crap night.
“That was insane.” Darcy leans in so close that for a second I’m convinced she’s going in for the kill. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to head to the little girl’s room.”
She traipses up the stairs in her starchy nurse’s uniform, and I exhale for the first time in days. I’ve never been opposed to the occasional big surprise. Those were, in fact, the very words she used in her text just an hour before she showed up at the gym and caught me off guard during practice. I had no idea she’d be back in town. I had no idea that she had a mid-semester break that spanned an entire week, and that it would somehow involve me, and inadvertently Ava.
Ava. My heart breaks just thinking about her. I wouldn’t have minded that simple kiss at the game, but something about crossing that line with her, combined with having Darcy there as an unwanted audience landed that kneejerk reaction in me, and it’s been a pile of shit ever since.
I get it. Ava is pissed. Worse than that, she’s hurt.
