“Why would Fletcher being with Casey make a difference?”
“Tate, we’re not stupid. There’s always been something between the two of you, and you’ve tried to ignore it, but it’s always going to be there until you finally move on.”
“And if I—”
“There she is.” I turn around to a smiling Ember extending her arm with a coffee. “For you.”
“Thank you.” I grin, taking a long drink. “This is exactly what I needed.”
“So, I’m the only one who didn’t get lucky, I take it?” Maia asks and takes a drink of her coffee.
“Declan and I didn’t sleep together. We just enjoyed each other’s company.”
We get into the car, and Brinley starts it up, cranking the heat.
“Birthday girl?” Maia leans forward from the backseat, her eyes glued to Brin.
“I’m not one to kiss and tell.”
I chuckle.
“Actually, you very much so are the type of person to kiss and tell. We knowtoomuch about your sex life.”
“That’s not true!” She gasps.
“Brin, we were friends for all of five minutes before you asked me if I masturbate,” Ember adds. “I almost had to leave your place because I wasn’t sure how to react.”
“I did do that. To be fair, I’m just very comfortable and open.”
“Our point exactly.”
As we hit the road, the car falls silent, with just the faint music from the radio drowning out the silence. I think we’re all still tired after last night and slowly letting the coffee bring us back to life.
“I hate to interrupt this beautiful quiet, but Maia told me there was a girl with Fletcher last night while we were getting coffee, and now I need to know all the details on that.”
“Her name’s Casey. She went to our high school.” I don’t look at them as I respond; I don’t know what my face will look like, and I don’t want to give myself away.
“And she was a total bitch,” Brinley adds.
“Brin.” I rub my temple.
“Okay, maybe not Mollie-level bitch, but she always had anI’m so much better than youattitude.”
She’s not wrong about that. Casey and I never really saw eye to eye. Not that we needed to, we weren’t friends. But she alwaysmade passive comments about people, including me. Just like she did that day in the grocery store.
“I hate people like that.” Maia cringes. “We had a girl like that at our high school; she tried to seduce Cam in the boys’ locker room our junior year.”
“It didn’t work.” Ember takes a drink of her coffee. “Cam let her down as gently as possible. Unfortunately for her, it didn’t take long for word to spread about the incident.”
Ember’s eyes land on Maia, and Maia throws her hands up in defense.
“It wasn’t me, I swear. I would never humiliate someone like that, even someone who went after my boyfriend.”
“Yeah, well, Casey once told Tate her field of study wascute, but you know, in that really condescending way. Like you could see the bitchiness in her eyes.”
I can’t believe Brin remembers that. We had to post our majors and where we planned to attend school on a giant map during the last month or so of our senior year, so everyone could see how spread out our senior class was going to be. When I put my pin on the map, she said,'Oh… music. That’s… cute.’And then she stuck her pin on the map, gave me the fakest smile, and walked away.
Like, sorry, Casey, not everyone wants to go to a fucking Ivy.
