“I walked away.”
She looks at her. “Good. Can you change the music so we can dance?”
I look down at Mara. Lucy isn’t with her, so I look around. I spot Lucy in three seconds. I walk around my sister and Mara. “I’ll do something about the music.”
Lucy is leaning on the kitchen island with her hands wrapped around the Solo cup. She’s staring at nothing. I get the feeling she has no idea that G and Mara walked away. I go to the fridge and grab a new beer, and then I lean against the counter next to her.
“You good?” I ask.
She looks at me with red-rimmed eyes. It does something to me to see her like this. I have two sisters, so I have a lot of practice knowing when a girl has been crying.
“Yeah,” she says softly, looking around the room. She finally realizes that Gianna and Mara walked away. They’re across the room now.
I lift my shirt and use the bottom hem to open my beer with my teeth. She watches me. The cap falls to the ground as I take a swig. I lean down to pick it up and smell her perfume.
It’s a beat of silence that I can’t take, so I ask, “What’s in your cup?”
She looks in it. It’s almost gone. “The punch. Gianna made it for me and claimed that it’s Percy’s famous mix.” She drinks the rest of it. “It’s good.”
“Does it taste good?” I ask.
She nods, drinking the last sip. “It’s fruity.”
“Want a beer?”
“Sure,” she says.
I grab one from the fridge, lift my shirt, and open it with my teeth.
“I don’t think that’s good for your teeth.”
The cap drops to the ground. I put my shirt down and pass her the open beer bottle.
“Thank you.” She grabs it from me and takes a sip.
“You never come to these things. Was that part of the pact with my sister?”
Her cheeks turn pink. “Not exactly. Gianna made me come tonight.”
“That tracks.”
She looks at the beer in her hand. “It’s been a — yeah. It’s been a day.”
“Yeah?”
She nods and doesn’t elaborate.
I don’t ask. I take a sip of my own beer and watch her over the top of the bottle. She looks back at me, and I feel her sorrow just from the contact. I want to ask, but I know I shouldn’t. I barely know this girl, and I’m supposed to keep it professional because she’s my tutor.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” I hear myself say.Shit.That’s crossing a boundary I know Gianna will kick me for later.Why the hell would I ask her that?
She looks up at me, and before she can reply, Mara enters the kitchen.
“Lucy, there you are. Get in here.”
Lucy looks at me for half a second, and then she goes.
I stay in the kitchen and drink the rest of my beer at the sink. I look out the window at the back porch. The fire pit is lit. Two figures are sitting on the steps. I rinse the bottle, put it in the recycling, and push off the counter.
