“She’ll be fine,” Leo said in a voice that didn’t sound too convincing.
I frowned in his direction. “Of course I will.”
Nate blew out a breath. “Damn it.”
“You’re such a drama king.” I pushed past him, starting towards the truck.
“Says the girl storming away,” he called after me.
“This is walking,” I said and turned around to walk backward. “Like a normal, responsible person does when their break’s over and they need to get back to work. You should try it sometime… when you’re not too busy babysitting me, maybe?”
He glared. “Nice. Let’s see if you can keep up that energy tonight.”
I glared back, accepting the dare. “Yeah, we’ll see.”
* * *
Who the hell was I kidding? I didn’t want to go to a party. I barely wanted to leave the house for snack runs.
Instead of coming up with an excuse, I kept my mouth shut as I waited for Nate to get ready. I tried to use my time wisely by doing more research about the writing mentorship. The application asked for two scripts. One original and one spec of a current children’s television show. I made a shortlist of potential shows I could write for and as the list got bigger, so did my anxiety.
Could I actually pull this off? I wrote for fun and hardly ever shared my work. This felt like a huge leap.
“You know, you can back out,” Nate offered as soon as he saw glaring at my computer screen on the kitchen counter.
My brother could be gentle when he wanted and seemed to save that patience solely for me. Most of the time, I was grateful. Tonight, I was annoyed. He was giving me an out when what I needed was a push.
I frowned and closed my laptop, grateful for an excuse to stop theorizing — even if the excuse was the bonfire. “Are you driving, or should I?”
“We want to get there while we’re young enough to enjoy it.” He grabbed the truck’s key and ignored my pointed look.
This annual bonfire was held on a beach too far out for tourists to bother visiting. The hosts were Calloway twins from Wylan Prep. They were stunning girls with perfect teeth and tans. They liked to party on the weekends - in between their golf lessons and college courses.
Most of Wylan’s elite got invited to the Calloway’s infamous parties, while people like Nate and I were usually left to hear about it the next day. My brother didn’t stay in my boat for long back in school. Once he became the talk of the town when he broke the high school freestyle record, everyone wanted to be his friend. He cycled through parties like he was being paid to make special appearances.
“You going to play carefree Kira all night, or can I give you these?” Nate dangled the keys from his fingers once we were out of the truck.
I slammed the door and started towards the pier, where I could already see clusters of people gathering. “I’m not going to be your designated driver if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Then how are we getting home?” he asked.
“Neither of us drink,” I suggested in an obvious tone. “We have work tomorrow.”
And I had to wake up at least thirty minutes earlier than usual to meet Leo for a run.
“Well that’s no fun,” Nate lamented. “I guess it’ll be public transport for both of us. Unless you have the funds for Lyft? Footing the training bill almost has me in the negatives.”
I scoffed. “A Lyft from this side of town to ours. Who do I look like? Daddy Warbucks?”
“Honest answers only?” he teased.
“Shut up. Just give me the keys.” I held out my hand. “I’m not sitting on a bus while trying to hold your head off my shoulders. For some reason, every ride I’ve taken with you has always ended with you drooling on me.”
“The motion is very soothing,” he defended as he tossed me the keys.
The beach was already crowded with what looked like the majority graduating class of Nate’s senior year. Most of these people didn’t give me the time of day back then. They seemed to keep to tradition as I meandered about the circle like a lost kid. Claire’s presence sent a wave of relief over my body. Once she saw me, she opened her arms to wrap me in a warm hug.
“You look beautiful,” she said, studying my twist-out with a look of awe. “I’ve never seen your hair this big.”
