Xander.
He was standing behind me, close… and staring down at me with hooded eyes.
No; actually… he was staring at my chest.
Granted, I’d gotten boobs since the last time he saw me. I mean, I had them before, they just weren’t all that impressive.
Now they made whole army platoons double-take. And rock stars fucking stare, apparently.
“Hey… Xander,” I said, kinda breathless. I almost melted, actually.
He didn’t look up right away.
Then his eyes kinda dragged up to my face. He stared at me for a solid five seconds, at least, his eyelids lowered, before I saw the change in his eyes.
His hand dropped from my back. “Hey…” he said, recovering awkwardly. “Courteney. Didn’t recognize you.”
Oh. Well, that was gross.
“Okay?” I couldn’t seem to get anything else out of my mouth.
“Who’s your friend?” He glanced at Shay, almost… guiltily?
Why was he acting so weird?
I found my voice. “This is Shayla.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said, offering his hand. “Xander.”
Shayla shook hands. “You know my brother, I think. Johnny.”
“Johnny O? Right. Cool.” Then he frowned, glancing around. “Is Cary here?”
“No,” I said. “He’s not coming.” Cary never told me he wasn’t coming. He didn’t tell me about the party at all. And he definitely didn’t know I was here.
But I knew he wasn’t coming.
“Oh. Well… hey. Have a good time, kid.”
Kid.
The word froze me, like an icicle rammed down my spine.
“Don’t stay out too late, huh?” he added.
Then he tapped me on the side of my shoulder with his knuckle, in the most awkward gesture in history.
He nodded at Shayla, then disappeared through the crowd. He practically ran away.
He didn’t even stick around to talk to me.
At all.
He didn’t ask how I was. Didn’t even make small talk, likeHey, it’s been a long time. How’ve you been?
He didn’t care how I’d been, apparently.
He called mekid.
