“Hmm,” I grumbled, pretending to look at my phone.
“What are you doing there all alone? Come over here.”
“Come here, June,” Marvin chimed in.
I would’ve liked to have told them that I was waiting for the girls, and I wasn’t planning on being around people like that, but in the end, I gave in. Maybe they would be able to tell me why their best friend had stood me up again. And I couldn’t even blame James, since he was in front of me burning what few neurons he had left in his brain.
“And Will?” This time the question came from Marvin, who was staring at me with eyes red from the weed.
“No idea,” I murmured.
In retrospect, I very well could’ve headed home instead of subjecting myself to being there right after the girls’ cheerleading practice. I was still wearing my uniform, and that stupid skirt that would’ve given me hypothermia. But I stayed there hoping to see William.
“Are you cold?”
Marvin approached me, apparently to put his arm around me. I backed away.
“Marvin,” James called before his friend could say anything else to me.
“Do you want it or not?” He passed around what clearly looked like a joint.
Marvin began smoking close to me, and I twisted my hair in a bun, as if that could prevent it from absorbing the smoke.
“Looks like Will’s not coming,” Marvin declared, offering me a hit.
“No thanks.”
“Yeah, it is cold,” the tattooed girl interrupted, batting her eyelashes at James.
He didn’t pay her any attention. Instead, he walked away. “I gotta take a break,” he grumbled brusquely, before going back into the club.
I fidgeted with my phone as I thought about what to do. I didn’t feel like texting Will. I hadn’t heard from him since the afternoon, and even though I was upset, I didn’t want to act like a clingy girlfriend. That, and we weren’t even together. Or were we?
I texted my mom.I’ve waited a long time. Will you come pick me up?
I had two options in the meantime: join the shit show inside hoping to make it out alive or freeze to death out here surrounded by these dumbasses. Jackson made me uncomfortable, Marvin’s stoned gaze gave me the creeps, and I hated James with every fiber of my being. The first option was better.
But since James had just walked inside, I decided to wait until he left. My biggest objective was to stay as far away from him as possible.
“You okay?” Jackson asked me at some point, biting his lip piercing between sips of his drink.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“You’re shaking, June.”
“I’m cold,” the girl with the bob whined, thinking Jackson was only talking to her. He grumbled, took off his jacket, and put it on her. “Here. But make sure you give it back to me before you go home. It was personally signed by Jalen Hurts.”
I thought of Blaze.
“Where’s Blaze?”
Jackson raised his blond eyebrow pierced with metal. “How the hell would I know? Eh?”
I shivered. I’d never wanted my mom to come get me as much as I did at that moment. Marvin was intoxicated, Jackson was so cranky that it seemed like he had an issue with the whole world, and the chick with the bob just took the last warm piece of clothing in the immediate area.
Damn California, isn’t it supposed to always be warm?
“Where are our drinks?” asked Marvin when James exited Tropical empty-handed, a foreboding look on his face. He seemed angry with his flushed cheeks and messy hair.
