“You look amazing! So hot, so sexy. Boys will be drooling.”
She rolls her eyes in the mirror at my hyperbole, but I can tell she likes it, smiling to herself while slipping on her shoes.
At the same time, both of our phones explode with notifications.
“The boys must’ve won tonight,” Miranda says, grabbing her phone.
I grab mine too, and sure enough our mega family group chat is filled with congratulations and commentary on Will’s performance. Guilt and anxiety churns in my chest as I glance at Miranda. She still doesn’t know about Will and I being a thing. We haven’t really defined it and I don’t know how to tell her I’m casually having sex with her brother. I don’t want to lose her as a friend and I’m worried the longer I wait to tell her the worse her reaction will be. But at the same time, I don’t want to blowup our friendship if this thing with Will turns out to be nothing more than a three month situationship.
I send my congratulations in the mega family chat and personally to Will. I wonder if the team will come to SixtyForty tonight to celebrate the win. They usually do.
The two of us take some pictures for Miranda’s social media before leaving, and for a few minutes I really do feel like Old Kenny. We pose, examine the photos and try again until we have a picture we both approve of.
She posts it on her socials, something I haven’t let her do since the Carter incident. But I trust Miranda pretty much more than anyone else in the world, and I know that she would never allow people to bash me in her comments.
The second we step inside the bar, it's clear that this place is packed tonight. It seems like every football, lacrosse, hockey, and frat guy is here along with every sorority girl and half the female population of our school. Miranda and I link hands as she weaves through the bodies toward the booths that line the back wall. If the hockey guys are here, the back corner booths are where they’ll be.
“Hey boys,” Miranda says to the table, sliding her way into the booth next to Liam.
Will isn’t here, so maybe he didn’t come out tonight after all. A paranoia that he’s celebrating his win with another girl eats at the back of my mind. He hasn’t texted me back or asked about what Miranda and I are up to. He knows we’re going dancing tonight to cross it off my stupid list.
“Looking good, Kenny,” Logan says, “been a while since you slummed it with us.”
Logan winks at me, patting the space in the booth next to him, inviting me to slide in next to him. I do, the back of my legs sticking to the vinyl seats as I scoot in. Adrian comes out ofnowhere, sliding in on the other side of me, trapping me between their huge bodies in this tiny overcrowded booth.
Miranda is sitting on Liam’s lap, petting his hair, while he makes puppy eyes at her. Little does he know Miranda is seeing some mysterious golfer from U of M and his chances of taking Miranda home tonight are literally zero. Not to mention that I’m pretty sure Will has made it known that flirting is okay, but anything other than that is off limits with Miranda. At least that’s what’s been implied to me by a few of the guys over the years.
Adrian puts a heavy arm around my shoulders, a shockingly unwelcome advance. Just as I’m about to shrug him off and ask to be let out, he whispers in my ear, “Want to mess with Will?”
The weird tension in my chest loosens a little, replaced instead with excitement. “What did you have in mind?”
He flashes me a mischievous look. “Sit on the table in front of me.”
It takes a minute, but I arrange myself on the table, sitting in front of Logan and Adrian, my back to the room. Adrian hands me two open beer bottles. “Let’s see which one of us can chug the fastest.”
Logan is pretty much always down for anything drinking related and doesn’t question it. He and Adrian both lean forward, head back, mouths open, ready for me to pour the beers into their mouths. I hold my arms high up in the air, pouring the amber liquid as the table starts cheering and chanting “chug” around us.
Logan wins, leaning back into his seat, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, then holding up two fists in the air and whooping. Adrian’s eyes flick to something behind me before he leans in really close, lips brushing against my ear, theedge of one hand brushing against the outside of my bare leg. “It worked.”
I turn around to find Will glaring, two vodka cranberries in one hand and a beer in the other.
I stand up from where I’m seated on the table, take two steps over Adrian’s legs and hop down directly in front of Will, looking up at his handsome face. “Are one of those for me?”
He nods, thrusting the one with extra limes into my hands before sliding Mrianda’s across the table toward her, never looking away from me. We continue to silently lock eyes as I sip my drink, pinching the tiny black straw between my teeth while gazing up at him.
I’ve seen this look on his face before, the last time I was here actually, when that guy asked for my number. He’s jealous. I never thought I’d be one of those girls that likes a guy being all jealous and possessive over them, but it turns out I really, really do.
I down my drink and pull Miranda off Liam’s lap. “Let’s dance!” Glancing at Will as I pull her toward the dance floor.
This place is so packed that there’s not much demarcation between the dance floor and everywhere else. We stay on the fringes of the crowd, not deep enough into the throng of bodies to cut off my view of Will at the table.
Miranda and I dance to the music, bass thumping in my chest, hips swaying back and forth. I lock eyes with Will over some guy's shoulder when he leans down and asks me what I’m drinking.
My phone vibrates in my hand and I already know it's from Will. I’ve never in my life been the girl that does things on purpose to make guys jealous, but the way Will’s looking at me makes me feel so free and sexy.
Will:I’ll buy your drinks
He’s glaring at me in this smoldering way I find very sexy. I send him a wink before turning to Miranda and yelling over the music, “I need a break.”
