“Thank you for having my back, Chase, you know what that means to me. But don’t make me look weak by running away.” A tear rolls down her cheek and her next breath trembles when she whispers, “My father did that, and look where hiding got him.”
Before I can reply, before I can do anything, she turns with my sister's hand in hers and walks away.
I reach forward when I watch Harlen’s hand fall to his side.
The red liquid inside his plastic Solo cup sloshes over the ledge, landing in a crimson puddle beside his black Chucks. A little preoccupied, his free hand is up the skirt of some girl I didn’t know, their tongues down each other's throats.
I snatch the drink, fall back into my seat and recline my head. I’m staring at the ceiling, downing the rest. Colors from the light machine bounce from every corner.
Blue, red, yellow and green,in a sequence.
It had been an hour since I watched Laiken and my sister walk back into the party. I had seen them in the kitchen earlier, and again, stumbling out of one of the many bathrooms upstairs. I’d been intent on keeping my distance, even if it was for a short while. I didn’t want to piss Laiken off any more than I had.
She had been right, leaving would have looked like she was bitching out. I just didn’t take her for someone who cared about what other people thought.
Perhaps I didn’t know the girl I considered a sister as well as I thought I did.
I blink, press my fingers to my temples. Her words from earlier loop and swirl and tighten, like a guillotine on my neck, the wordfragileon repeat.
Laiken Campbell was so far from fragile. She was resilient and brave and a pain in the ass, and I wanted to tell her that—I almost wish I had.
My pulse quickens in my neck, the thunder of what she thinks I think of her erupts in my ears.I cared more about what she thought I thought of her than I cared about a lot of things.Pushing to my feet, I move toward Harlen and tap his pocket. He slides his hand out from beneath the skirt he had it buried under, reaching in and pulling out a blunt. I take it, then slip out, and when I’m outside, I suck back a lungful of fresh air, trailing a flattened path through the dark wooded forest.
My Vans crunch twigs and leaves as I move deeper into the night, and when I find a tree with peeling bark, a thick trunk, I rest against it, pushing the blunt between my teeth, tasting pussy.
With a shake of my head and a laugh that slips beneath my breath, I set the end alight.
It’s quiet out here. The only noise coming from the thud of music crawling out of the solid brick walls, along with leaves that rustle closely and a crow that seems to squawk ominously. I slap at an insect that bites me on the side of my neck, listening to something scurry in a tree overhead.
I drop my chin and hit the blunt again when I hear movement, unmistakably made by a person.It’s light, barely there. It draws closer and I see the glistening bunny mask first, then her long black hair. It catches in the soft glow of the outdoor lights.
Aria corners the tree and rests against it, her bare shoulder touching mine. She nudges my arm and holds her palm out, curling her fingers back toward her, a request for the blunt.
I hit it again, then pass it over. And I’m not sure why—I don’t like her, don’t want to be around her, sure don’t want to be sharing a blunt with her.
I keep my eyes on the pitch-dark woods ahead.
She takes a pull, then hands it back, along with a Solo cup filled to the brim with the same red liquid I’d chugged down earlier. And when I feel how dry my tongue has become, I accept it, swallowing a mouthful.
“What do you want?” I rasp, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand before downing the rest.
She laughs. “Maybe athank you?”
I throw the cup away. “What the fuck for?”
“The drink, perhaps?”
Turning my head, my eyes land on her hazel ones poised in the small holes of her elaborate mask. There’s a challenge in them, and I hate that more than ever, because I love a good challenge, just not the kind that involves her.
I can’t stop myself; I laugh beneath my breath. “Fuck you, Aria.”
“You already did,” she whispers, her head tilted back, her full lips popping open, tongue tracing her stark white teeth.
When I don’t reply, she rolls the back of her skull against the tree until her eyes land on me. She pushes off it, her body pressing in front of me, her hands finding the belt at my jeans. Her mouth is so close to mine, strawberry tangling at the tip of my tongue.
“Please, Chase, just one more time,” she begs, unbuckling my belt.
My dick responds quickly, but my head doesn’t want any part of it.
