“Me too.” We shared a silence. “I wonder how Ma will react?”
Before I could answer, Phoenix leaned down and rubbed his nose across my cheek, which caused the others to break off from their discussion about the news. “You smell so sweet.”
“Alright, lovebirds. Get a room,” Micah chuckled, kicking his foot in the sand towards us. He was smoking a joint, and I could smell the weed in the air. It mixed with the salt from the sea spray and burning firewood.
“After what happened last year, I thought you switched to vapes,” Nix coughed, eyeing the cigarette his brother was waving around.
“Vapes are for pussies.”
“If the cap fits,” Phoenix smirked as he grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. He chuckled as his brother flipped him off.
The background atmosphere still screamed after-game party, but it wasn’t as loud as the one from the previous year. As I looked around the other groups, I could see only a handful of people I recognized, and there was no one from my high school. There were just college kids, and the majority were jocks. I then spotted Cash with his arm around some girl. That didn’t take him long.
“So, what are you two up to after the party?” Micah asked.
Nix grunted from behind me. “None of your business dickwad.”
Micha took a draw on his blunt and then handed it to Hudson. “I suppose I shouldn’t ask. The image of my brotherdoingmy sister is not a good one,” he snickered.
“Micah,” Hudson said with a scowl.
“Imeant, are you coming back to the house, or…” His voice trailed off as Molly and I exchanged a look.
“Or what, you nosy fucker?” Nix huffed.
Micah seemed to struggle to string his sentence. “I don’t know. Going to a motel or something?”
“Nice, Micah. Romantic,” Molly added with a laugh. Luckily, Nix broke through the awkwardness.
“You’re such a dick, Micah. We’ll be going home. You know, that place where we all live?”
“Don’t get your pantyhose in a twist. I was just wondering how it’s going to work. You guys being together now.” Micah made the quotation marks with his fingers on ‘together,’ and Hudson punched him on the leg.
“Ouch? A man can ask, can’t he? I just want to make sure it isn’t weird for anyone.”
“You’re the one making it weird,” Hudson replied, rolling his eyes and blowing out a plume of smoke. Molly went to take the joint from his hand, but he held it up over her head. She had playfully gone to take it from him, but her BF shook his head. “Smoking is bad for you.”
“You’re a big fat hypocrite, Hudson Gage,” she said with a pout.
I watched, smiling as he tugged her onto his lap and nuzzled her neck. “I know, English. It’s one of the many reasons you love me.”
Phoenix then stated. “Look. You don’t have to feel weird around us at all. Just be yourselves. Harper and I will decide how we’re going to play it in respect of Ma.”
“Will you tell her?”
“We haven’t discussed it yet. Give us a chance. We literallyjustgot together, dufus,” Nix said with exasperation.
“I was only asking a question,” Micah grunted moodily, rolling himself another blunt.
There was an awkward pause as we all necked our respective drinks before Micah filled the moment with a reflective comment. “So, you’ve inherited a father and a girlfriend in the same fricking night, major head fuck.”
“Tell me about it,” Nix sighed.
“What about Storm?”
The conversation then switched to Storm.
NINETEEN
