I blink up at the girl I’ve practically grown up with and shake my head. “The only thing I’m going to The Pelican for is my paycheck. Levi and I aren’t getting back together. Even if I wanted to, my heart wouldn’t let me. It’s alreadybroken.”
Raven presses her lips tight as a swell of tears brim in her eyes. “He didn’t mean to do it.” Her voice grows small. I’ve seen an entire rainbow of Raven’s emotions, and yet I’ve never seen her so torn up. This catastrophe is precisely why she didn’t want me dating her brother. She knewhewas a hurricane waiting to rip right throughme. Maybe Mer wasn’t the bad guy in the relationship after all. Maybe he showed Meredith his cruel side before he ever did me. Although a part of me has a hard time believing Levi can be anything remotely close to cruel—even if I did see the text myself. It’s so out of character—I wonder if I knew himatall.
“Look”—Raven closes her eyes and swallows hard as if it’s taking all of her strength to say what comes next—“he’s been through a lot in the last few years. There are still things about my brother that youdon’tknow.”
“God, he sounds like a freak.” Lex steps in next to me as we ogle Raventogether.
“He’s not a freak.” Raven’s voice pitches, and her eyes grow wild with anger once again. “And would you stop getting so close to her? She’s mine. I licked heryearsago.”
The licking was actually literal. It involved a Ben and Jerry’s container we were warring over that happened to explode between us. I swear on all that is holy it was nonsexual in nature, but I swore I’d reenact that one day with a boy on the licking end of the creamy disaster. And considering the fact everything’s sort of a disaster these days, that whole licking scenario may never manifestitself.
“She’s mine, too.” Lex wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close. “You should come to yoga with me on Mondays. It’s the only way to start off the week. We can hit Hallowed Grounds after ifyouwant.”
“I wouldlovethat!”
“Oh, stop,” Raven barks. “The two of you aren’t having all that funwithoutme.”
“Actually”—I bite down on the smile budding on my lips because it’s kind of nice to have two people I care about battling it out over me—“I think it would be more fun if the three of us went together. You know”—I give an apprehensive glance up at Lex—“asfriends.”
Her head ticks back as if I struck her. “Friends.” She glowers atRaven.
“Friends.” I pull Raven into our unholy huddle and wrap my arms around the two of them. “I may not have the man of my dreams in my life anymore, but I have the two of you. That counts for something. Heck, it counts foreverything.”
Raven dots my cheek with a kiss. “So, you’re coming to The Sloppy Pelicantonight?”
Thoughts of that rustic jewel make me swim with sadness. “Only if the two of you comewithme.”
“I’m in.” Raven is quick to commit to the cause—anunrealisticone.
“I’m in.” Lex raises a sharp, dark brow like a bow readying to shoot an arrow—one filled withpoison.
“I’m in, too.” It comes out bleak anddespondent.
Faceit.
The last place on the planet I want to be is anywhere near LeviMasterson.
Anavy skyhangs heavy over The Sloppy Pelican with a smattering of stars spread across the expanse like shards of broken glass. It feels like a million years ago I walked through those oversized rusty dusty wooden doors and into a whole new world. As soon as I laid eyes on Levi Masterson, I knew I wanted to make him mine. Of course, I had no idea who he was or who he was soon to become in my life. But one thing is for certain—he had my whole heart before we ever said a word to one another. Sure, things got off on the wrong foot, but silly me thought it was just keeping with the theme of that God-awful day I was having. Once Levi and I hit our stride, I thought for sure there would be no stopping us. Peaches and Boobear forever and all that good stuff, but as usual I was wrong. He was just after a good time, and I was the young annoying thing or whatever horrible euphemism he used to put me down in that text he sent his sister. Levi and I were nothing but another run-of-the-mill disaster in my life. I should have known it would never work out. This ismewe’re talking about. Fairytales and happy endings happen to other people, not to walking disasters who curse everything they touch. I’m a calamity in the flesh, and for me to ever think I’ll have what the rest of the world has is nothing more than an illusion. Levi and I were a debacle in the making from the start. I should have read the signs. They allsaidrun.
“You ready?” Raven pats down the front of my dress as if we were going to homecoming. She thought it would be a good idea to don my sexiest little blue dress because she promised me this would be a night I would never forget. And shockingly, Lex agreed, but her reasoning was a little more in line with mine. We want to make Levi squirm. Lex, too, donned a tight little dress, red FMs to match. And Raven is set to stun in a white dress that makes the three of us look like a walking ode totheflag.
“I’m ready.” I tip my chin up, and the three of us walk together with our arms interlinked. Only we’re too wide to fit in the door, so we sort of do a little awkward sideways march beforedisbanding.
The restaurant is brimming with people, and it takes my breath away. “Oh my gosh!” I say, stunned at how even the overflow tables are filled to the hilt. The tips I could garner on a night like this could potentially buy me a brand new car. “It’s nice to see my menu upgrades are working their culinary magic.” It comes out a little toopissy.
Lex sneers at the establishment as if it were Axel himself. “And the band you implemented, and don’t forget the moodlighting.”
Raven gasps. “You did all that? My God, you singlehandedly turned this placearound!”
“You better believe it.” I pull my shoulders back as I ready to head to the bar, although I’m terrified to look in that direction in the event I see him. My heart beats so fast, so loud, it thunders right over the music flooding through the speakers as tonight’s band wails away. “Oh, look!” I crane my neck to get a better look at them. “They’ve got groupies dancing attheirfeet!”
Raven sighs. “Brody moved the furniture around and made room for a dance floor. This place is really turning out to besomething.”
“Yeah.” It comes out bleak—“a realitplace now that I’m not coming around anymore. I’d better get this over with before the ceiling collapses and leaves all of Hollow Brook in deepmourning.”
It takes all of my strength to look toward the bar, and I spot Axel standing near the edge talking to a couple of customers, both men in suits, probably co-workers from his father’s legal firm. I turn and cast a quick glancetoLex.
“Yougotthis?”
