“Time’s up, Romeo. We gotta go.”
I closed my eyes. “I hate him.”
“I know. I swear I’m all yours tomorrow night,” joked William, before taking my hand and squeezing it.
The chatter upstairs resumed.
“Too many people around. I gotta go. See you tomorrow night, June.” William leaned in and kissed me on the jaw. I felt a sensation of naïve sweetness and happiness that was immediately gone when I met James’s sharp stare.
15
June
“There’s a two-drink limit. Not one more, not one less.”
“What do you mean?”
“That way you’re happier but not drunk.”
The girls and I had locked ourselves in William’s bathroom for five minutes, really as soon as we got there. Amelia and Poppy wanted to fix their makeup, and I’d followed them because I didn’t know where else to go. The living room was empty except for a few guys, and there was no trace of William.
“Does this really look good on me like this?” Pointing at the dress I was wearing, I asked Poppy because I wanted the truth.
She played with a piece of purple-and-blond hair. “Yeah, but your boobs are too big for it,” she replied without thinking.
“What? Oh jeez, I gotta change,” I exclaimed in a panic. Amelia gave us an icy death stare.
“Obviously, the rules are different for Poppy. One at the most. Otherwise she’ll talk your ear off about her imaginary rabbit.”
“His name is Mr. Rabbit, and he’s not imaginary. He just gets out of his crate a lot, so Amelia’s never seen him. But I swear he’s real, June.”
Poppy’s naïveté made me smile.
“Besides, I don’t need to drink. I can have fun with or without alcohol,” she added nonchalantly, without realizing she’d made a dig at her friend.
Amelia glossed over those words, maybe because she was too busy putting blood-red lipstick on her thin lips. She turned around when she was satisfied and then started arranging my hair without asking me, separating it with her hands.
“You look great, June. Can I put some liner on you? It’ll make your gorgeous blue eyes stand out.”
The compliment made me even more skeptical.
“No, thanks. Why’d we come early?” I asked, perplexed.
“To test the waters. To do a vibe check and see if we match it. Do I have to explain everything to you?”
“And we’re hiding in the bathroom because?”
I kept asking questions that seemed ridiculous to her, but everything was new for me. I’d never been invited to a party, let alone one that was being hosted by the guy I liked. It was automatic—as soon as I thought of William, I started checking myself in the mirror.
Amelia was a little taller than me, but she was much willowier. And that difference was emphasized as soon as I’d agreed to wear one of her tight minidresses.
On the one hand, I was reluctant because we weren’t the same size, and I wasn’t used to wearing provocative clothes. On the other hand, I was tired of spending my evenings in bed listening to Taylor Swift as I watched true crime documentaries. I also wanted to feel the rush of feeling beautiful for an evening.
Of course, I wasn’t expecting Amelia to wear a black minidress so similar to mine. And while her dress fit her like a glove, I felt like I was going to burst out of mine at any moment. I kept pulling it down on my thighs and up on my cleavage.
“Where’s Ari?”
“With Brian.”
