“Hey!” Evan protested, laughing.
It was close—closer than I expected. We were down to two cups each, the crowd pressing in tight, everyone yelling suggestions and trash talk. Emily’s hair had come loose from her ponytail, and she was flushed, grinning, absolutely locked in.
She leaned close, her shoulder against mine. “Front left. I’ve got this.”
“I believe you.”
She took the shot. The ball arced through the air in what felt like slow motion, bounced once on the rim of the cup—
And dropped in.
The deck exploded. Tyler started barking like a dog. Noah screamed like he was wasted but was just hyped on caffeine. I grabbed Emily and spun her around, both of us laughing as she shrieked.
“THAT’S HOW IT’S DONE!” Emily shouted, pumping her fist.
Evan drank, shaking his head. “You guys are disgustingly good at this.”
“One more,” Remy said, eyeing our last cup. “We’re not out yet.”
He lined up his shot with that same precise focus he brought to calling races. The crowd went silent. The ball flew—
And missed by an inch.
I didn’t even think. I just lined up and shot, barely aiming, riding the high of the moment, and tossed it.
Bam, it went in.
Chaos. Pure chaos. The Riverside guys swarmed us, Emily jumped into my arms, Remy was laughing despite himself, and Evan was already challenging the next team forming up at the table beside us.
I caught Emily as she slid down, both of us breathless and grinning like idiots. The lights overhead flickered, music pounded, and everything felt absolutely right.
She looked up at me, eyes bright, cheeks flushed. “We make a pretty good team.”
“The best,” I said, and kissed her.
The crowd around us whistled and cheered, but I barely heard them. For once, I wasn’t thinking about the next race, the next practice, the next thing I had to prove.
This was good. This was exactly where I needed to be.
Everything else? I was leaving it on that river.
The scholarship pressure. The constant grind to stay ahead. And the video. Thatfuckingvideo.
I still hadn’t told Emily about it. Couldn’t tell her. She’d worry, freak out, try to fix it. That was who she was—she wanted to help, to solve problems, to make things better.
But this wasn’t her problem to solve.
This was mine. And I’d deal with it... eventually.
Tonight, though?
Tonight I was just a guy at a party with his girlfriend, winning at beer pong and not thinking about anything else.
Tonight was easy... and I needed easy.
Chapter 6: Alex
Greek Row was alive with noise and light. Bass from multiple houses thumped through the night air, competing for dominance. Groups of students moved between parties, their voices carrying across front lawns, laughter mixing with shouting.
