“Yeah, who’s Riot?” Gwen chimes in. Her blueberry-blue eyes gleam, and the sunlight catches the auburn highlights in her dark-brown hair.
Arie tears up. “I love you guys. I’m glad we were roomies freshman year.” She puts out her hands with her palms up. “Let’s make our last year count. Let’s throw caution to the wind and live fully. Whatever challenges come our way, we’ll face them head-on. Whatever trials and tribulations we face, we’ll say bring it.”
“Hey, that’s my mantra,” I say.
The girls laugh.
“Per Ever’s mantra, bring it. We’ll be stronger for it. Who’s in?”
“I am.” My chest swells with pride at how strong Arie is.
Our lives mirror one another. She and her family lived in a housing development in Alexandria, two hours north of Dumas. I grew up in a similar housing development in Montgomery, a big city two hours south of Dumas.
Arie’s mother had her first child when she was fifteen. Arie and her three half-siblings have different fathers. Her mother, Patti, is pregnant with her fifth child, and kids number four and five will have the same father.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Fred is “the one” for Patti. He was a nice enough guy when I had dinner with Arie and her large and loud family over the summer break.
Arie’s dad is in prison. My dad is in the slammer too. My mother died of an overdose when I was fifteen. Thank goodness my brother, Ty, was old enough to be appointed my legal guardian, saving me from spending time in foster care. Too bad he wasn’t around enough to keep me out of trouble.
“Me too. Gosh, I miss you guys.”
Gwen’s cheery words pull me out of my thoughts. Their positivity is the reason I love my besties. From the get-go, they understood the world to be unkind and unforgiving. Yet, they remain hopeful.
“We don’t hang out like we used to,” Gwen says. “We should change that and remind Riley and Syn of our ‘we ride together, we die together’ pact.”
“Hear, hear,” Arie and I say in unison before we break out in obnoxious laughter.
We always hung out during our freshman and sophomore years until classes and studying became intense and time-consuming.
Not to mention Gwen is helping her folks more at their lavender farm, and Arie spends her free time renovating houses with her half-brothers. Or, she’s with her bestie, Cooper. Riley and Syn have also been busy lately with life outside of school.
I miss hanging out. We would ogle the hot guys on and off campus, share our post-graduation plans, and ship our future kids. How lucky am I to have made friends for life in my first year of college?
For the rest of my time with my friends, I watch DU’s rugby team scrimmage while they give the coeds and a few guys in the crowd a view of their sweat-dampened bodies glistening under the sun.
Not that I’m into college sports or the “fine” guys on campus. Those are Arie’s interests.
“Hey, Ever, Braxton asked about you.”
“What? Why?” My head swivels to my right so fast that I swear my brain jostles in my skull.
Gwen stares back at me with narrowed eyes. “I said the same.”
Gwen has mentioned that her brother calls, but this is the first time I’ve heard of him asking about me.
Crap! What did I do to catch Braxton Bliss’s attention from prison?
2
EVER
“And?” Waiting for Gwen’s response, I swallow down my nervousness.
“He asked how you’re doing. I said the same as before and after you met him. Then he asked whether your brother was still pissed at him. Before I could answer, he said, ‘Never mind,’ and that he’d ask you personally when he gets out!” she whisper-yells. “Did you communicate with him recently?!” She glowers. “I mean, why would he ask about you after four years of not bringing you up?!”
My insides knot. Yes, why?
I shrug. “You know he’s the last person I’d ever contact.” I wipe my sweaty palms on my leggings. The sun is intense. “I won’t speak for the others, but I’ve stayed away from your brothers, all of them, ever since you asked us to.”
