I shake my head. That would seem desperate, and though we had a close call at getting caught the other day, I don’t want another close call.
The two boys laugh at something they shared and turn to us as we crowd closer. Jacob smiles at me, takes in my dress, and whistles. “You look hot tonight, Avery.”
Dustin slaps him in the stomach, and he bends over, clutching his abdomen. “No hitting on my sister.”
A blush creeps up my neck anyway, and I take a drink to hide that fact.
“Don’t you have a girl or something now anyway?” Ivy points out.
Jacob rights himself and gives Dustin an accusatory look. “You told her?”
Ivy waves a hand around. “We tell each other everything.”
Not everything,I correct in my head. But with any luck, Dustin will never know the secret she’s kept.
“So where is she?” Ivy asks, getting up on her tiptoes and looking around.
Sheepishly, Jacob glances down at his feet, tucking his lips between his teeth.
“She’s not here,” Dustin says for him. “I already asked.”
“Where the hell is she?” Ivy presses with a deep frown.
Dustin slaps Jacob on the shoulder. “My man is afraid of commitment.”
“I didn’t invite her because I didn’t want to give her the wrong impression.”
Ivy’s eyes narrow. “And just think of the impression you’re giving her by not inviting her at all.”
Jacob cringes. “Why is this so complicated?”
“You’re making it complicated,” I answer, realizing how hypocritical I sound.
He gives me a look for a split second, one that tells me he is, in fact, thinking I’m being hypocritical.
I shrug, and he sighs. “How do I make it less complicated?”
“Do you like the girl?” Ivy asks.
He reluctantly nods as though he can’t believe he’s admitting it himself.
“Then start taking her places. Dates. Football games. Walk her to class. It’s not that hard, Jacob.”
Dustin rubs the back of his neck. “Sometimes you guys make it hard. Sometimes we don’t know what the hell you want.”
Ivy leans into the circle we’ve created and winks at them. “Sometimes we don’t know what we want, either.”
I laugh as they start to bicker back and forth and look around to see if I know any other faces. I see a couple of girls from my classes, but we aren’t on friendship terms, so I don’t bother going over and saying hello. There’s a couple making out by the speaker on the other side of the room and beer pong going on in the dining room.
My perusal stops when I spot Reid, and I smile. He’s leaning against the wall and…I scowl. He’s talking to a girl. I don’t recognize her at all, and since Reid, Dustin, Ivy, Jacob, and I run in the same circles, it’d be likely that I’d know who he’d be having such an intense conversation with.
She laughs at something he says and touches his chest, and jealousy curls in my gut.
It’s nothing. It’s just a touch.
His hand comes up over hers, and he leans down and says something into her ear.
Okay, so maybe it’s more than friends.
