I turned to Summer. “We should definitely play.”
“YES!” she cheered. “You’re my kind of girl, Hazelnut. Wewillbe partying more together. Honestly, I start to like you more than some other people here,” she added, shooting an annoyed look at Luke.
“Yeah,” Ethan chuckled. “It’s like when you two are together, Luke gets more grounded, and Hazel gets braver.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” I laughed. “I can’t even picture a grounded Luke.”
“Don’t mind them, it’s just the weed talking.” Then he turned to Ethan. “I’ll ground you to the floor in a second, you dipshit.”
We burst into laughter as the blunt reached me. I took a small hit.
“Okay, I’ll start,” Summer said, turning to Ethan. “Truth or Dare?”
“Truth.”
“What’s your biggest regret?”
He paused, lost in thought, then gave her the biggest smile. “Not marrying you sooner.” Summer blushed, tucking herselfunder his arm. He kissed her temple, and they melted into their own world. It was sweet—unlike Logan, who dragged out an “aww” before turning it into a fart sound and a thumbs-down.
“Boring.”
I chuckled. It was the opposite of boring. It was delightful. There was something quietly powerful about seeing love that soft, that easy. No games. Just two people completely at peace with each other.
For the next hour, we delved into a mix of funny dares and wildly inappropriate truths. There was Summer slapping Alex with a warm tortilla every time he laughed. Me revealing I say goodbye to my plants every time I leave the house. Alex eating pesto-orange jam-vinegar burger. 911 was on standby. As a chef, Ava was probably dying inside.
By the time the pizza arrived, we were laughing so hard my cheeks ached, and somewhere between “I dare you to pierce Logan’s ear” and “who was your first kiss, and was it terrible?”—the air between Luke and I shifted. Just a little. Just enough.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Logan asked nervously, searching my eyes for reassurance.
“Of course, you’re gonna be the cutest lawyer in town,” I said, trying to contain my laughter while tying my hair into a ponytail. Luke watched me from the corner of his eye, as if trying to figure me out. I tried to avoid his gaze since apparently I couldn’t be responsible for my body when I looked at him.
I grabbed the vodka bottle Ethan handed me to sterilize Logan’s ear and took a sip. For courage. This time, I couldn’t avoid his gaze. Luke watched me, mouth open, amused and shocked. “It’s like I don’t know you.” I felt the same. I winked at him, and a laugh tumbled out as he crossed his arms and shook his head in disbelief. Somehow, his reaction made me feel like the coolest person ever.
“Put this on your earlobe.” I handed Logan the ice, then sterilized the needle with the lighter Luke handed me, which was funny because his touch felt like the flame itself. I tried to ignore it so he wouldn’t burn me. Failing, might I add.
‘God, this is the best vacation I have ever had,’ was the last thing I heard before performing a precise yet painful puncture through Logan’s earlobe.
The chaos slowly settled, turning into laughter. Someone passed chips around, and a speaker played a mellow playlist. With night fully draped over us, the mood slowly shifted. Looser, warmer, more honest. Some truths surprised us more than others. Some were heartbreaking.
“Truth,” Norah said to Ava.
“Reveal a secret about someone here, without saying who.”
“Do you all even know how this game works? It’s supposed to be a truth or dare for the person, not about someone else,” Alex argued. Summer smacked him with the tortilla.
“Chill out, woman. I wasn’t laughing.”
“I didn’t hit you for laughing. I hit you for saying something dumb.”
Alex rolled his eyes and turned to all of us, searching for support, but found none. We were too stoned and entertained.
“Okay, let me think.” A long silence followed, and suddenly the air got heavy. Norah’s face dropped as she looked at Logan. “I’m not sure this counts since it’s my secret, too.” She took a deep breath.
“A couple of months ago, I...” she paused, her lip quivering. “I had a miscarriage.” A sharp inhale swept through the group. Logan squeezed her hand as her eyes filled with tears. “It happened when Logan was out of town. I didn’t tell him at the time and wanted to wait until he got back home. I couldn’t bear to call any of you, even though I love you all so much.” A sad, apologetic smile appeared on her face.
“Anyway, later, I went to buy every bottle of wine in the store and ran into one of you.” Everyone glanced around, searching for clues. We all listened in shock to Norah’s confession. “I broke down and cried on the supermarket floor.”
“Norah,” Summer whispered.
