“Hey.”
I jump sky-high with a shriek. “Jesus, Dustin! Scare the crap out of me next time why don’t you!”
Dustin, Austin, Prescott, Shelby, and Renee all have keys to the house and know the alarm code, which hasn’t been set yet for the night. While my heart rate calms down, I side-eye Dustin and take the mug of hot water out of the microwave. I add some honey and sugar, then dip the tea bag in. I haven’t spoken to Dustin since I last saw him at Ruby’s Diner. I don’t think we’ve ever gone this long without talking to one another.
He’s standing there with a hound-dog expression, his hands shoved deep into the front pockets of his jeans. “I’m just going to get it out. I miss you, Rory. I miss my friend. And I really fucking hate the silent treatment that’s been going on between us.” Lifting those soulful eyes up, he implores me with their hazel hue.
I watch him while taking a slow, long sip of my hot tea, wanting to make him sweat a little, but knowing I’ve already forgiven him.
I take another sip and put the mug down with a sigh. “I’ve missed you too, Dustin,” I tell him.
“Thank God,” he says and rushes over, enveloping me in a snug embrace. The music changes to a song with a faster tempo. “I was prepared to get down on my knees and beg if I had to, and maybe a few other contrite and demeaning things.”
“Hmm, I’ll make sure you do those after our next fight.”
“No more fights. They give me a migraine and a stomachache.” Dustin takes my hand, twirling me around in a pirouette until I’m laughing and dizzy. “We haven’t gone dancing in forever. When was the last time?”
I grab his shoulders with both hands. “Wasn’t it at that bar in Colorado?”
The gang and I went skiing last winter and stayed near Crested Butte. One night we found a local pub where the employees danced on the bar like inCoyote Ugly. I think that might have been the night Shelby and Prescott hooked up for the first time as they both disappeared after an hour.
Dustin dips me and pulls me back up. “No, I think it was that charity event in February.”
“Oh, right. The Valentine’s one where they did that bachelor auction.”
“Don’t remind me,” he groans and spins us around.
Dustin was one of the bachelors. He had to spend most of the night dancing with Mrs. Perkins, a much older woman who has been married and divorced three times and has a penchant for keeping boy-toys on the side. She tells everyone that it keeps her young. Dustin recounted to us the next day that he was lucky to get away from her alive and unharmed, saying she had tentacles for arms and kept trying to feel him up the entire night.
The song ends and Dustin takes a step back, bending over at the waist and giving me a bow. I give him a curtsy in return.
“Sunday cookout this weekend. You’re coming,” I tell him, grabbing my tea.
Dustin, always hungry, raids the fridge, taking out a leftover chicken and rice casserole. I hand him a fork from the utensil drawer, and he digs in, not caring that the food is cold.
“Special occasion?”
“Butch’s birthday.”
“Got it,” he says. “Seeing as I’ve been out of the loop lately because my two best friends wouldn’t talk to me, any news to tell?”
“Prescott hasn’t given you an earful yet?”
“Nope. Prez and I are still working things out. It was Austin.”
Nothing is sacred between the six of us. I swear, sometimes the boys are more gossipy than us girls are. Since I’d rather veg out on the sofa than have another heart-to-heart, I suggest to Dustin that he pick out a movie for us to watch in the theater room. Of course, Dustin insists we make a plate of nachos with salsa and bowls of popcorn to go with our movie.
Once we’re settled into the leather recliners, he lounges back, kicking up his feet. “Have you and JD talked yet?”
I throw a piece of popcorn at him, and he deftly catches it in his mouth. “I knew you weren’t going to be able to resist poking your nose into my business. I’m actually quite impressed that you waited a whole forty-five minutes.”
“That’s a yes then?”
“Yes. I know about Connor and Candace.”
“Anything else?” he asks a little too cautiously.
I’m about to ask what else could there be when my phone starts vibrating on the armrest where I placed it. Speak of the devil.
