“I forgot my phone in my car,” I shrugged, rolling my eyes. “I’ll be right back. I’m parked out front.” I turned to leave, but Killian’s voice stopped me.
“I’ll come with you,” he said quickly, already standing before I could protest. “I mean, it’s dark, and we’re not exactly in the best part of the city.” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Cherry’s amused smile and the knowing look she shared with Lucas.
“Sure,” I mumbled, because I wasn’t really sure what else I was supposed to say.
Killian didn’t speak as we walked toward the entrance, and neither did I. I barely knew him. Cherry’s words from before the party last night echoed in my head. Killian said he’ll only go if you go.
“My car’s right there,” I said once we stepped outside, pointing toward it as the warm summer air wrapped around us. He nodded, the confident smirk he’d worn inside gone, replaced with something quieter. Shyer.
I unlocked the door and leaned into the center console, grabbing my phone. The screen was empty when I pulled it out, which didn’t surprise me.
“Got it,” I said awkwardly as I shut the door. Killian nodded again, still silent. Alright. Guess I’m doing all the talking. Or so I thought.
“Blair, I, uh… you know…” he started as we headed back toward the restaurant. His voice trailed off. I turned to look at him and found him scratching the back of his neck, his eyes bouncing between the pavement and my face. “Sorry,” he laughed nervously. “I’m not usually this bad at this.”
“It’s fine,” I said, mostly because I had no idea what was happening.
“I was just, uh… wondering if you’d want to hang out sometime this week?” he asked. He looked so nervous that, for the first time since I’d seen him tonight, I noticed how cute he actually was.
I opened my mouth to answer, but instead, a yelp escaped me. For the second time in two weeks, I hadn’t been paying attention to where I was going. I collided with someone head-on, stumbling backward, already bracing myself to hit the pavement.
Except I didn’t. Strong hands wrapped around my waist, steadying me before I could fall. And this time, they weren’t unfamiliar. I was pulled upright, barely catching a glimpse of his face before his mouth was suddenly at my ear.
“How’s this for colliding, Yellow?”
I only looked at Austin for a second. Long enough to register the familiarity of the moment before it tried to become somethingelse. His eyes met mine easily, like he wasn’t surprised to see me standing there, like this was a continuation instead of a coincidence. I was aware of his hands at my waist in a detached way. Not flustered. Not overwhelmed. Just aware. Like noticing the placement of punctuation in a sentence you’ve already read once.
Less than twenty-four hours ago, I’d told him to leave it to fate. I’d said if we were meant to cross paths again, we would. At the time, it had felt safe. The kind of thing you say when you don’t expect to be tested on it immediately. And yet, here we were. The thought didn’t scare me. It didn’t thrill me either. It made me curious. Curious enough to wonder whether fate had a perfect sense of timing, or if she had heard me personally testing her. I didn’t step back. I didn’t step closer. I just let the moment exist, filed it away as something to pay attention to later, and waited to see what he would do with it.
Then Killian spoke, shattering the moment. “Portwood?”
Killian’s voice snapped Austin’s attention away. His smile faltered, slipping into something closer to irritation. He kept his eyes on me for one heartbeat longer before finally turning toward Killian. As he did, he stepped back, his hands falling away from my skin.
“What’s up, man?” Austin asked. His tone wasn’t friendly. The irritation underneath it was unmistakable.
“And Levi, what the hell are you guys doing here?” Killian continued, completely missing every hint Austin was giving him. It wasn’t until Killian said his name that I noticed Levi standing beside Austin. He wore an amused expression, a smirk tugging at his lips that stood out against the warm brown of his skin. He nodded at Killian, his face otherwise unreadable. “Actually,it’s great that you are,” Killian went on. “I was going to call you tomorrow anyway. I need to pick up.”
“Levi wanted to catch the game,” Austin said quickly. “We don’t have anything on us.” He turned back to me as he finished the sentence. My brows lifted before I could stop them. I knew exactly what Killian meant. Drugs. Austin seemed to catch my reaction immediately. He shook his head once, sharp and deliberate, then raised his hand to his mouth, his thumb and index finger pressed together like he was holding an invisible joint.Weed. Not what he knew I was thinking.
I tilted my head, still studying him. Austin sold weed, apparently. The realization settled surprisingly easily. It felt like another piece clicking into place. He hadn’t been at the drug house because he was an addict. He’d been there because he sold weed. And selling weed was worlds away from the twisted, cold, deadly reality of opioids.
“The real question is, what are you doing here, Yellow?” he asked after a beat. His smile returned, but something else flickered behind it. I was probably imagining it, but it almost looked like suspicion.
“I work here,” I said, shrugging instinctively. A small wave of self-consciousness washed over me as the words left my mouth. Austin and I came from different worlds. His was wealthy, polished, only minutes away but somehow an entirely different universe. In his world, teenagers didn’t need jobs to survive.
“You work here?” Austin repeated, his eyes drifting toward the restaurant before returning to me. “Wearing this?”
“Wait,” Killian cut in, looking between us. “You two know each other?” I understood his confusion immediately. Austin and Ididn’t just come from different worlds. We were different kinds of people entirely.
Austin spoke before I could open my mouth. He let out a chuckle first, then said, “Well, we should. She was in my bed last night.”
Silence settled over the four of us as his words hung in the air. Killian’s gaze bounced between us like we were a math problem he couldn’t quite solve. Levi’s teeth showed as his grin stretched too wide to contain itself. He was clearly enjoying this. Austin, though, just looked at me like he was daring me to argue.
The awkwardness hit me all at once, and I rushed to explain. “Cherry was there too.”
Killian’s eyes widened even more. Austin’s smile grew, his lips pressed together as he fought back laughter. We all knew why.
“It wasn’t even your bed,” I added quickly. The moment the words left my mouth, I knew they were wrong. Killian’s confusion only deepened. “It wasn’t that crazy,” I shook my head. “We barely even spoke.”
