“Dean is a good person. Maybe if you didn’t judge people so quickly. Spoke to him. You’d see that.”
“How dare you,” she scowled. Her attention suddenly flicked to something beyond my shoulder, and she dropped my wrist. “Do you mind? This is a private conversation with my daughter.”
I pivoted quickly to find Dean standing in the wide doorway, hands in his pockets as his eyes drifted from my wrist to my face. “You okay?”
Mom interrupted snidely. “Everything is fine. Lily will be back outside when we’re done here.”
“I didn’t ask you,” he replied, keeping his eyes on me.
She gasped. “Excuse me—”
“No.”
Her attention snapped to me. “What?”
I breathed in deeply through my nose. Adrenaline raced through my blood as I frowned at the floor and backed away. “I think I’m going to go...”
“Lily,” she hissed. “Don’t be stupid—”
“I’ll see you at work.”
That’s if I had my job after this.
I turned on my heel and put the kitchen, and my mother’s shocked face, behind me, breezing through the house, aware of Dean trailing behind as I stepped out the front door. But I didn’t stop. If I did, it would give regret time to seep into my thoughts and force me to question ever standing up to my mother. I marched straight for Dean’s car, grateful when he flicked up the locks before I reached for the handle and climbed into the front seat.
“You forgot this,” Dean said as he sat down in the driver’s seat, holding up my bag.
“Oh, right. Thank you.” I took it quickly and clutched it in my lap.
“You good?”
“I’ve never talked back to her like that. Ever.” I swallowed and closed my eyes. “Can we just get out of here?”
“Where’d you wanna go?”
“Anywhere.”
Chapter 32
Lily
We drove to a part of the city I had never seen before. Someplace westward in Brooklyn that consisted of large, rundown buildings and abandoned parking lots. The sidewalks were moderately busy, and small takeaway joints and bodegas were open.
I should’ve been warier, heading to a place I didn’t know, with a guy I barely knew, but I trusted Dean. There were no red flags that I could see. Instead, I was too busy thinking of him getting arrested for streaking. I struggled to picture him doing it voluntarily. When I did picture it, I reminded myself he was right beside me.
A gated parking lot came into view, shadowed by the tall buildings and packed with cars. People meandered all around it too, most heading towards a large warehouse at the back where lights and music hummed from inside.
A party in the afternoon, probably to celebrate the long weekend. Nothing sinister.
As we drove through the open double gates, barely hanging on their hinges and resting against the wire fencing, I took in the surroundings curiously. Part of me (the part ruled by my parent’s prejudice) wondered how legal all of this was, while the other part had me leaning forward slightly to gaze up at the old building as we parked alongside one of its graffiti-covered walls.
“I know this probably isn’t what you had in mind when you said you wanted to go somewhere else,” Dean said, moving the gear stick into park. He sat back in his seat, eyeing several partygoers stumbling by his window. “Seb sent me the location while you were talking to...what’s-his-name. Said he had no one to hang out with here.”
“It’s fine, honestly...” I trailed off as I watched one of the partygoers hand out little bags of white powder to his friends. I swallowed my nerves and pulled my attention back to Dean. “I need the distraction.”
He was reading my face. “Say the word and I’ll take you home.”
Back to an empty apartment where I would be alone with my thoughts of regret and guilt about how I acted towards my mother. She would expect me to call her and apologize, but I wasn’t ready for that conversation yet. I wanted to let this freeing feeling last just a little longer before I faced the consequences of my actions. Plus, I had never been to a party like this one (again, because of my parents), and seeing as today’s theme seemed to be all about me stepping out of my comfort zone...
