Eli kicks me hard from under the table. “I’m headed to the poolroom. Go ahead and grab dinner before headingback.”
Grant and Lawson excuse themselves, and Sunday drops into one of the seats across from me with her mouth openwide.
“Wow.” Her eyes enlarge, lemon yellow with a whisper of lime. “So that just happened.” Her cheeks pique withcolor.
Serena comes by and picks up the dishes. “Eli Gates just dropped a hundred to pick up their tabandyours. He said I could keep the rest!” She bounces on her feet, and her red hair springs like flames. Serena is Sunday’s cousin, and I’ve known her as long as I’ve known Sunday, but we’re not as close. And seeing that Sunday and I aren’t close at all by Western standards, it’s saying a lot. “Eat cheap, would you.” She shoots me alook.
“Cheeseburger, fries, a peanut butter shake.” I nod toSunday.
“Ugh.” She threads her fingers through the hair at her temples. Sunday’s hair has always looked illuminated from the inside, like some otherworldly artifact, fairy floss, something not found in nature but wholly beautiful like Sunday herself. And here I can hardly bring myself to look her in theeye.
What did she mean byso that just happened? It’s such a glib way to describe what happened between us I don’t even know how to respond to it. But I will. I’m determined to put it behind us. The last thing I want is for there to be any weirdness between Sunday and me. A part of me wants to laugh. There will be weirdness for decades to come. You don’t sleep with someone who is about to be family and not have repercussions. Especially if you’re me. I’ve never gotten away scot-free with anything in mylife.
Sunday takes a breath. “I’ll have the same.” She makes a queasy face at Serena. “Why do you think Eli is buying my dinner?” She tugs on her bottom lip with those milky white teeth, and suddenly I’m hungry to take a bite of something elseentirely.
Serena bucks with a silent laugh. “Because he wants to buymydinner, of course. He’s been after me for weeks.” She glances at her red glittery nails as if getting Eli’s attention was a hard-won trophy. And he seems to be for a lot ofgirls.
“Oh, right.” Sunday sags as Serena takes off to make all our burger dreams come true. “I guess it was just a one-off to him then.” She pumps her shoulders. “It was stupid of me to think it was anythingelse.”
I glance in the direction of the kitchen, not getting where she’s going with this. And just like that, I decide to tear off the bandage that’s crusted over the wound Iinflicted.
“I want you to know that I take fullresponsibility.”
She shakes her head, her eyes squinted at me as if I were skidding out of focus. “What?”
An abrasive breeze stops abruptly at our table, and we find ourselves staring up at Lucky Madden, Lawson’s plus one. Her brother owns a tattoo parlor in Jepson that’s been on my hit list for a whilenow.
“No way!” she says with marked enthusiasm to Sunday before holding up a hand, and Sunday reluctantly slaps her five. “Ava just added up the total, and your little FU to Prescott just put Cutler in the lead by two hundred fifty thousanddollars!”
“Oh my God!” Sunday’s face lights up. “That’s incredible. I had no idea we were raising that kind ofmoney.”
“Wedidn’t raise that much money.” Lucky giggles under her breath. “Youdid. A measly thirty grand was all Cutler came up with on its own, and once you utilized your superstar powers that’s when the mega bucks came rolling in.” She says the wordsrolling inwith air quotes. I don’t know what they’re talking about, but it’s a hell of a lot of money, so in that sense I’m pretty damn impressed. “Just write a check directly to the shelter. Of course, it’s tax deductible, but I’m sure someone as financially savvy as you has already figured that out. Prescott raised forty-three grand, so we would have been dead in the water without you. Every person in Cutler is hailing you as a hero. I’m proud to call you one of my own, girl.” She lifts a hand before disappearing to the back where the poolroom sits. Lucky and Lawson are never far apart forlong.
“Congratulations,” I say as Serena drops off the food and shakes before darting in the direction of the poolroomherself.
But Sunday doesn’t look too pleased with herself. In fact, her face has gone white and she’s pushing her plate myway.
“That means I have to come up with over two hundred thousand dollars by Christmas. How in the hell am I supposed to do that?” Her eyes spring wide, pinning themselves to mine, and it’s downright hypnotic. A visual of that night comes back to me, the exact moment my body dove into hers, her eyes sprang wide, and she looked right at me much in the way she’s doing right now. It’s the only moment I can recall with any lucidity, and I wonder if she remembers it,too.
“Easy”—I say—“you take from the people you raised it. How’d you plan on getting the funds?” I take a quick swig of my shake and moan. Peanut butter and chocolate. It’s damn good, second only to Sunday—I’m guessing and I’m pretty sure I’mright.
“I didn’t.” She searches the table as if looking for clues. “I told my viewers I’d donate a quarter for every view. It’s not possible I got that many views. I never get views when I’m not doing a demonstration or unpacking a giant box of goodies sent by retailers or cosmetic companies. Trust me, outside of my makeup bag, nobody cares about anything I have to say.” She plucks out her phone and begins scrolling like mad before jumping in her seat with a jolt. “Oh my God. A few of my vlogger friends shared it and it went viral!” She holds the phone out for me to seeit.
“Eight hundred eighty thousand views.” I shake my head. Shit. “Go back there and tell her you got in over your head. Everyone will understand, I promise. It’s not like you’ve got real donations pouring in that you’re hoarding. I’ll go withyou.”
“Ha. And face Eli? No way. It’s bad enough I’ll have Cutler Tower up in arms. Not to mention the gloating this will entitle Prescott Hall to. I’ll go down in history of the dormitories as that one student who tarnished Cutler’s good name forever.God.” She exhales, exasperated, and I can’t help but note her chest pulses with the action. I can’t believe I had her body, the girls in my mouth, and I cannot for the life of me recall it properly. Or at least I hope I had them in my mouth. If not, it was an opportunity missed that I should never forgive myself for. Sunday’s body has been worshipped from afar by both my alert state and subconscious for as long as I’ve knownher.
I blink as if doing a double take. “What do you meanfaceEli?”
Her pretty pink mouth opens and closes as she leans in with a newfound fire in her eyes. “We got wasted Friday night, remember? I had my sights set on Eli for whatever reason and—well”—she closes her eyes a moment, and I can see the regret etching itself over her features without missing a guilt-riddled beat—“at first I thought it was you, but then I saw his flannel on the floor.” Her watery eyes meet with mine. “I gifted Eli Gates my virginity like it was—” She snaps her fingers. “What’s Eli’s favoritefood?”
“Sushi.” All hints of a smile have roughly dissipated, and I’m momentarily pissed she thinks she slept with Eli. And her virginity? What the hell was she thinking? She wasn’t thinking. And neither was I. That stupid beer pong game had eaten all our braincells.
“Sushi”—she makes a face. “I set my virginity on a platter like a roll of Negi Hamachi and handed it over tohim.”
“Negi Hamachi.” An awkward bout of silence clots up between us as we try to digest the unappetizingmetaphor.
“Anyway.” She bounces back before ejecting herself from her seat. “I have to get out of here. I need to come up with a way to give the shelter the money I promised them, and before you even think it—there’s no way I’m groveling to my father. I don’t care if he is showing up for the wedding. I swore I’d never grovel to him for cash.” She starts to take off, and I grab ahold of her by theelbow.
