“Is that why you don’t want them to be together?”
James narrowed his eyes before exhaling a cloud of smoke.
“I’m gonna destroy her if it’s the last thing I do,” he concluded.
I shook my head, but he looked too serious to be joking. James always felt protective of William, and I couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t easy for Will to get into a relationship with someone.
“You’re wrong. That’s not how it’s gonna go. I saw them onstage. They really like each other.”
I saw him suck the vape pen smoke greedily, as if he wanted to drain the whole thing in one drag.
“What stage?”
I lowered my window, too, to get all the smoke out.
“You weren’t there. They kissed in theater class.”
He raised an eyebrow. “In front of everyone?”
“What, does that weird you out, James?”
“They fought.”
“They fought because you made them fight,” I corrected him.
“Bullshit,” he retorted, frustrated.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Will’s crazy about her.” Yeah, I liked a little gossip every once in a while.
“Bullshit,” he repeated before glaring at me. “Look, don’t talk to me anymore about that stupid fucking bitch. So can I sleep here with you?”
“As long as you don’t make goo-goo eyes at my grandma.”
“What the fuck are you talking about!” He burst out laughing, and looked outside again.
The piercing on the left side of his mouth distracted me. For a moment, I lost sight of the road.
“I mean the last time I saw you bantering with her in the kitchen you were buttering her up.”
“I was just convincing her to make edibles out of her cookies for me.”
“Yeah, by telling her that she was the most beautiful girl you’d ever seen when she was young.”
“But now she loves me, so shut up, Jax.”
We laughed together until we got to my house.
I waited for James to finish vaping and then turned the key while putting my finger to my lips.
Obviously, he didn’t pay any attention to me and started laughing even louder as we entered the living room.
He stumbled, and as big of a guy as I was, drunk James was really heavy to support.
“Quiet down, for Christ’s sake!” I hissed under my breath.
“Shh,” he whispered mischievously in my ear.
His warm breath gave me chills. I felt my lips tremble.
