‘There’s the whole wedding breakfast to sit through. We can’t leave yet.’
River groans, massaging her forehead.
I rub her arm. ‘I’m sure those guys weren’t laughingatyou. They prolly didn’t even recognize you.’
‘Oh, they recognized me. And now everybody at school will know I was here.’
‘So what? It’s just a wedding.’
‘I didn’t wanna be singled out, Jake! I just wanted to blend in and be like everybody else. Do you know how hard it is to transfer schools before senior year?’
She looks like she’s gonna cry. ‘I get it. I’m sorry. This is all my fault. Look, we’ll just stay for a little food then get an Uber home, okay? Is that alright?’
She nods stiffly, holding the tears on the inside. ‘You wanna hear somethin’ funny?’ I say.
‘What?’ she asks.
‘You know the bridesmaid I pointed out? Lemon? Samantha Conway wants me to take Lemon to dinner.’
River brightens, wipes her eyes. ‘You are not serious. She looks like a crazed stalker.’
‘A crazed stalker who I now have to ask out on a date.’
‘Woah. Is she, like, gonna arrange it or something?’
‘She wants me to ask Lemon to her face.’
‘That’s insane.’
‘All true. Cheered you up, though, didn’t it? And if you see anybody laughing at you again, tell me. They’ll have me to deal with.’
I hold my smile, but in my mind, my sister is right. Something tells me Lemon Conway has more than a little crush on me, and that taking her out on one date is not gonna spell the end of this. She’s the boss’s granddaughter. She has power over me already, and I’ve barely said a word to the girl. Worse still is that I’ve been at this wedding for what seems like a decade, and I haven’t even gotten to speak to Serenity yet. I look around, hoping to catch a glimpse.
Except she’s nowhere to be seen.
Chapter Nine
Serenity
I’m standing in a corner at the back of the main house, at the French doors that open out onto a pretty veranda. The wedding breakfast is over. There’s an open bar and for two hundred guests, this party is just getting started. The light outside is beginning to fade. In a separate part of the grounds at the Country Club, a grand festival tent over a dance floor is decorated with pretty, twinkling fairy lights. Behind it, palm trees surround a network of narrow paths leading to a golf course.
I check the time on my phone. I gotta be back at Surly’s in three hours. I need to check in at home with my dad first, maybe grab him some dinner from some of the hors d’oeuvres that are still being circulated on platters, even though we all just ate a delicious three-course meal.
I’ve been keeping my head down. Some of the CMC are tearing it up on the dance floor, alongside some of the Mutineers players and their partners. Even Kathleen is busting some moves. Jewel tried to persuade me, but I don’t have the heart right now.
I swallow. I feel like the worst kind of buzzkill.
I straighten when I see him. Brody Conway in deep conversation with another man. He stops on the veranda and Brody places one hand on the man’s shoulder as the two shake hands. I sink further into the shadows, but the moment he’s alone he raises his eyes to me.
I turn and bolt, crashing into a waiter carrying a tray of hors d’oeuvres.
‘Oh! Oh my god, I’m so sorry!’ I exclaim.
The waiter looks at me. He looks atallof me, his eyes burning a trail down my body, yet he can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ he smirks.
‘Get this cleaned up,’ a voice commands from behind me, and for a moment, my eyes drift shut. It’s the voice from Surly’s. If I needed confirmation, that was it.
