“I’m kicking them out.” Ari wrenched the door open and stormed downstairs with me trailing behind.
We came to an abrupt stop in the living room. The guys were acting way too at home. Dennis was flipping through one of Ari’s textbooks, Sean was scrolling my downloaded games, and Mateo must’ve been exploring because he wasn’t even in the room.
“Why don’t they have any good food?” Mateo asked, coming in at the same time Dennis set Ari’s book on the table.
“This book is boring,” he said.
“And these games suck.” Sean gave up on my collection and moved to Ari’s books instead.
“Oh my god. Go away!” She stalkedoverto snatch one from his hand.
“Oh hey, when’d you guys get here?” Mateo asked.
I started laughing while Ari barely stayed calm.
“Let’s try this again,” she said. “If you people don’t go home, I’m not gonna finish studying and we’re not going to the party that you invited yourselves to. You can come if you want. I don’t even care anymore, but you need to get out.”
That was motivation enough for me.“Time to go.” I took Mateo’s arm and ushered him out the frontdoor.“You guys can’t just move in. Get out.”
“You don’t want us to move in with you?” Sean asked, smiling cutely as Ari practically shoved him past me. He stood beside Mateo on the porch.
“No.” She movedto Dennisnext but he shot her a warning look, then laughed when she shrank back in fright.
“Stop picking on her.” I did what Ari was too scared to do and steered him outside. I slammed the door on all three and locked it. Not that it would do anything; they seemed to pop up whenever they felt like it with no regard for locked doors or windows.
“You need to get rid of Dennis,” Ari said as we climbed the stairs.
“I don’t know. It’s kinda flattering. And it gives me something to do while you’re in class all the time. Plus, he’s not delusional, so that’s good.”
“Yeah, but he’s probably insane.” She stopped at her bedroom door.
“Yeah, well,” I shrugged and walked past, “what can ya’ do? I’m gonna finish getting ready.”
I continued to my room but before I reached the closet, something caught my eye. It seemed Dennis had chosen an outfit and laid it on the bed. I looked it over. It actually wasn’t bad. As a matter of fact, I would wear it.
* * *
“I can’t believe those losers never showed up,” I said, flinging Ari’s car door shut.
“Do you really care?” She hit the alarm before handing me her keys.
“Not really.” I wedged a nail between the key ring and fastened it to a belt loop on my shorts. I honestly didn’t. It was more the principle of inviting themselves and then not bothering to follow through.“Gimme your license.” I held a hand out.
“Why?”
“So you won’t lose it when you get trashed. You always lose things and forget who everyone is.” I took it from her and slid it into my mini wallet beside my own. I was in the middle of adjusting my cleavage when both hands were slapped away.
“Stop it. Your boobs are out enough.”
“What a dumb sentence. There’s no such thing.” I fought away as she tried to pull my jacket shut.“Murderer!” I smacked her face and took off running down the street, laughing as she chased after me. I stopped at a red light andstumbledforward when she collided with my back.
“If this were a movie, you’d be dead.” She spun me around and tugged at my top in an attempt to cover my stomach, but it backfired; now my stomach was mostly covered but I had twice the cleavage as before. She groaned and dropped her arms.“I give up.”
“As you should,” I sang, skipping into the street.
She caught up and latched onto my arm. “It’s that house right there.” She pointed to one that was overflowing with people. “I don’t care if you go off with someone but let me know first, okay? And promise you’ll come back when you’re done.”
“I promise.” I turned to her as we reached the front steps.“And you don’t wander off this time?”
