I sigh and straighten up, heading over to Tiffani as she pours herself a drink by the center island. I lean over her shoulder and move my lips to her ear. “I’m going outside for a smoke,” I tell her over the sound of the music.
“I’ll come with you,” she says, spinning around with a smile on her face. She presses the freshly poured drink to her lips and knocks it back, closing her eyes as she drinks it all at once. When she’s done, she slams the plastic cup down onto the countertop and crushes it beneath her hand. What the hell is wrong with everyone tonight? Is there something new in the air that I’m not quite picking up on?
Frowning, I take Tiffani’s hand and we slip outside into Dean’s backyard. The early evening sun is still beating down, and it’s so bright that I wish I had sunglasses. I lean back against the wall of the house and pull out my lighter and pack of cigarettes. I don’t smoke cigarettes all that often, but tonight, I am using them as my distraction since I am staying clear of getting drunk and getting high. I place a cigarette between my lips and light it, inhaling. The smoke burns my lungs.
“You know,” Tiffani says as she rakes her hands down my chest, “you’re actuallyreallyhot when you’re sober.”
“Yeah?” I say, and I exhale a plume of smoke straight into her face in an effort to get her away from me, but she doesn’t budge. It was so much easier to put up with her when I didn’t like another girl, and now it feels like the benefits of being with Tiffani just aren’t worth it anymore.
“Well, maybe not when you do that,” she says, wrinkling her nose. When the smoke clears, she moves closer to me, linking her armsaround my neck. She looks up at me. “Thank you for being careful tonight. I just don’t want you to embarrass me again.”
She thinks I’m doing this for her? She thinks I’m being responsible for once so that I don’t embarrassher? No. I’m doing this for me, for my own damn health so that I don’t nearly kill myself again. I’m doing the right thing for once, and for myself, no one else.
I smoke in silence for a few minutes while she buries her face into my chest, and our attention is captured when we hear the door open and close. We both look over, and honestly, I don’t expect to see Eden looking back at us. She must have just arrived. She hovers by the door, her posture radiating confidence, and if Tiffani wasn’t here right now, I would be all over her. Her dark, thick hair is straight for once, and her eyes are heavily defined, her lashes thick. She’s matched a skirt with a pair of Converse. She looks amazing.
“Can you go back inside?” Tiffani immediately snaps at her. She has a nasty streak when she drinks too much, and she’s about to take it out on Eden. “And, like, give us some space?”
“Back off,” I order, and Tiffani cranes her neck to glare at me. Normally, I wouldn’t ever stand up against her, but I refuse to let her speak to Eden like that.
Luckily though, Eden completely ignores her. Instead, she nods at the cigarette in my hand, concern crossing her features. “What are you doing?”
“Relax,” I say with a small smile as I place the cigarette back between my lips. “It’s just a cigarette.”
Her expression hardens and she presses her glossy pink lips into a bold line. “That’s all you’re gonna smoke tonight, right? Just cigarettes?”
I inhale another drag of the cigarette as I stare at her. If Tiffani wasn’t here, I would talk to her about this. I would be myself with her. ButTiffaniishere, so I have to stick to being Tyler Bruce, despite how much I hate him. “Go back inside if you’re just gonna interrogate me, sis,” I say. I narrow my eyes at her for a fraction of a second, praying that she realizes this is all just an act, and then I look away from her and back to Tiffani, pretending I don’t care. Tiffani laughs.
“We’re about to play shot roulette,” Eden states, ignoring me, acting normal.Good, I think.That’s what we need to do. “So if you wanna join in, then you should probably come inside.”
“I’m totally game!” Tiffani says, her attitude switching in a heartbeat. Now, she is suddenly beaming wide and skips over to join Eden, as though they are best friends. Even Eden makes a face at the sudden change.
“Are you joining us?” Eden asks me, cocking her head to one side as she watches me take a couple more sips of my beer. I’ve been holding it for so long that it’s warm now. And gross.
“Obviously,” I say sharply, rolling my eyes. I hate using this tone with her, but it’s my Tyler Bruce voice. Tiffani, drunk or sober, would most definitely pick up on it if I spoke to Eden differently than the way I speak to everyone else.
She shakes her head at me, and then both she and Tiffani disappear back inside. Shot fucking roulette? They’re all going to end up wasted in there. I stay outside for a few more minutes, finishing off my smoke and pouring the remainder of my beer into a nearby plant pot, then I finally head inside to join everyone else.
They are all circling the center island where the roulette wheel is set up, cheering each other on, and I awkwardly hang back a little behind Tiffani. I don’t really want to get involved, but I have a feeling I’ll be asked to take at least one turn. I look at Eden across the kitchen. She is between Dean and Rachael, and Dean has his arm around hershoulders and is yelling something into her ear over the music while Rachael is murmuring something into her other. Suddenly, Rachael grabs her wrist and pulls her away from all of us. The two of them disappear into the living room and then out of sight, and I almost charge after them. Rachael can be a bad influence and I don’t trust her with Eden, but if I grow too protective that would be suspicious, so I reluctantly force myself to stay put in the kitchen.
The game of shot roulette gets crazy real fast, with shots being taken and replaced every second as everyone becomes even rowdier. I am firing Tiffani disapproving glances every time she picks up another shot, but for once, she is the one ignoring me. Dean is also drinking way too fast, and I think Meghan may end up passed out before we even get to the damn beach.
“C’mon, you’re the pro,” Jake slurs at me as he throws his arm around my shoulders and shoves a shot glass into my hand. He spills half the vodka on the floor, and he is grinning at me as though we are suddenly best friends again. “Sober is boring. Drink up.”
Honestly, I don’t really want to go to this partycompletelysober, so I do give in and knock back several shots. I even crack open another two beers that I swig while everyone else finishes off the game, and by the time we are getting our shit together and heading outside, I am feeling a little tipsy.
Dean’s older cousin is giving us a ride to the beach, and his minivan is parked out on the street as he waits for us. As we are all piling out through the front door, my hand in Tiffani’s, I suddenly stop. “Wait. Where’s Eden and Rachael?” I ask.
“I’ll go find them,” Dean says, and he turns and heads back inside the house.
Jake and Meghan linger by the front door, but Jackson and TJ arealready diving for the van, and Tiffani is squeezing my hand and tugging me across the lawn. We climb into the very back seats, and she is so drunk that she swings her legs over mine, hooking her arms around my neck for support.
“Hey, Dean’s cousin, turn the music up!” she yells, and he does as he’s told, bumping up the music until it is pounding in our ears. Tiffani begins to grind against me as she dances, but I’m not paying attention to her.
I’m staring back at Dean’s house as Eden and Rachael emerge from inside. I don’t know what the fuck they’ve been up to, but they are both absolutely wasted. They can barely keep themselves upright as they stumble their way across the lawn, clinging onto one another, flanked by Dean, Jake, and Meghan. The five of them pile into the van and there aren’t enough seats for all of us, so Rachael sits on Eden’s lap and Dean squeezes himself into the back seats next to Tiffani and me.
I stare at Eden in disbelief as she laughs out loud. I’ve never seen her like this, and it’s making me really uncomfortable. I don’t like the thought of her drinking too much, of losing control and regretting it the next morning like I always do. Getting drunk like this isn’t her.
As we set off for the beach, everyone is so lively, jumping around the van and singing out of tune to the music, screaming their words. Tiffani is laughing in my ear. Jackson has the window rolled down and is waving his arm through the air. Jake is filming a video of all of us while he yells out another one of his shitty one-liners.
