“Jesus,” I say. There she goes, doing that thing again, practically scolding me. None of my friends would have even batted an eyelid, except maybe Dean. “Fine, I’ll get us a ride. Happy?”
“Yes,” she says.
Rolling my eyes, I throw my car keys onto my bed and then pull out my phone. I call Declan, because if there’s anyone who’ll be able to hook us up with a ride, it’s him. He answers on the second ring.
“Where the hell are you?” he snaps at me. “I’ve got a house full of people looking for hookups and only Kaleb and Liam are here. I need you and Warren to get over here ASAP.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m just coming, Declan,” I reassure him. He sounds desperate but also slightly mad at me. He clearly doesn’t want to get his hands dirty, and I wonder again about what I’m getting myself into. “Who’s driving tonight?”
“Kaleb is,” he says, his voice returning to its usual smooth, calm tone. “Or I can ask around, but everyone is pretty…well, not sober.” He stifles a chuckle.
“Give me Kaleb,” I say. I’m surprised he’s staying sober tonight. “Can you ask him to get over to my place as fast as he can? Couple doors down, actually.” Declan agrees to send Kaleb our way, and I say, “Thanks, man. See you in twenty,” before I hang up the call.
“Kaleb?” Eden asks.
“Kaleb’s alright,” I say. “He’s in college, but he still looks like a highschool sophomore. He knows how to have a good time though.” I laugh, because honestly, I’m realizing that maybe this is a bad idea. I shouldn’t be taking Eden to this party, but it’s too late now. I don’t mention that Kaleb’s a dealer, or that he makes a good profit from me.
Keeping my footsteps light, I make my way out into the hall and then downstairs. Eden follows behind me in silence, neither of us saying a word. I figure she’s smart enough to know that I shouldn’t be sneaking out, so I’m glad she just goes along with it as we discreetly slip out the patio doors into the backyard.
“Shouldn’t I have told my dad I was going out?” Eden asks.
She looks panicked for a moment, and she looks back over her shoulder at the house as we’re sneaking around it. “I mean, I get that you need to sneak out, but I’m not on lockdown. He’s going to kill me when he realizes I’ve left without telling him.”
“Don’t get worked up about it,” I advise her. “Just drink a lot and in a couple of hours you won’t care.” Which is probably the worst adviceever. Tyler Bruce is an idiot.
We walk down the street, away from our own house—too risky to get picked up there—and then hang around on the sidewalk almost six doors down. It’s dark and there’s a breeze in the air, but it’s still warm outside, and I lean against a tree, watching Eden closely. The more I think about it, the more I realize this isseriouslya bad idea. I’m testing my luck here. She didn’t tell Mom about the drugs last weekend, but I doubt she’ll let me off the hook a second time.
“Is it a big party?” she asks, meeting my eyes. She looks anxious now, most likely because I haven’t given her much detail on what to expect.
“Not too big,” I say, then shrug. I’m feeling nervous now too. She’s going to flip out when we get to this party. Honestly, what was I thinking? Sure, I didn’t want to head over there alone, butshit. Why did Iask Eden, of all people? I can’t bring myself to speak to her as we wait, so I kick at the ground and stare at the sky instead.
I’m glad when Kaleb rolls up in his beat-up Chevy, engine spluttering and all. He rolls down his window and leans over his passenger seat to look at us. “Get in, bro!” he says, and I flash him a dubious look. I’m not sure if I trust Declan or not when it comes to Kaleb being sober.
I climb into the passenger seat while Eden clambers into the backseat, and thank God the truck doesn’t reek of weed. Only tobacco.
“Who’s this?” Kaleb asks, eyeing Eden in his rearview mirror, scrutinizing her. He’s not a huge fan of strangers. He clearly doesn’t recognize her from last weekend, probably because he was so high at the time. He doesn’t know she walked in on us. “My, um…” I begin to say, but then my words get stuck in my throat. The word feels too weird to say, too foreign. She doesn’t feel like that word to me. I swallow hard and turn up the music, then finally choke out, “My stepsister.”
“Didn’t know you had one,” he says, then narrows his eyes at Eden even more, staring at her for a moment longer. Then, he finally begins to drive. “So how’ve you been, dude? Feels like I haven’t spoken to you in weeks!”
“I saw you on Tuesday,” I tell him, nodding along to the beat of the rap. Eden remains silent in the backseat, and I can’t turn around to check on her without it being completely noticeable, so I just stare out of the windshield instead.
“Shit, you’re right!” Kaleb says, and then howls with laughter as he smacks his palm to his forehead.
“How’s the party anyway?” I ask him. “Thanks for giving us a ride.”
“It’s alright. Pretty mellow. It’s good.” He shrugs and takes a sip from a can of Sprite that’s in his cup holder. “Good luck for when Warren sees you though.”
“He crossed the line,” I mutter. Am I supposed to be worried? I don’t give a shit about Warren. He shouldn’t have said what he did. I’ll hit the guy again if he tries anything with me.
“Yeah, a damn thin line,” Kaleb snorts.
We roll up to Declan’s place across town ten minutes later and of course, it looks pretty dead. The partydoeshave to stay under the radar. The cops would have a damn field day if they busted us. That’s why no one is hanging around out front. There’s no music to be heard. There’s only, like, four cars parked outside too, and that’s including us. The three of us jump out of the truck and Eden is asking, “Are you sure this is the right house?”
“Yeah.” I begin to head for the door. I really don’t know what she’s going to make of this. “Remember it’s a smaller party. Twenty people, max.”
I push open the front door and the music descends over us, drilling into my ears. I don’t know who the fuck is playing this weird techno shit, but it’s awful and someone else needs to take over as DJ. I glance sideways at Eden and she’s wrinkling her nose in disgust—the smell of weed in the air is impossible to ignore, and she’s not an idiot. She knows what it is. I can hear laughter and voices, and only a couple people are in the hall. I’ve been to one of Declan’s parties before, and I know he keeps all of the alcohol in the spare room down the hall, so that’s exactly where I head. Eden follows me, sticking to me like glue while Kaleb dashes off without another word.
As soon as we walk into the room, the very first person I lay eyes on is Declan himself. Although he expected me to be here earlier and sounded pissed on the phone, he greets me with a cunning smile. “Tyler, you made it,” he says, moving over to us. He gives Eden a pointed glance. “Who’s this?”
