He laughs. “Coming right up.”
I stare at the alcohol bottles lining the shelves behind the bar. Part of me wants to experience that mind-numbing bliss again, but another part worries about disappointing Beth again. Though more so, I want to make Beth and now Amber proud of me.
He places my soda down in front of me and I bring the glass to my lips. The carbonation burns my nose as I take a sip.
“Hey.”
Raquel settles onto the barstool beside me. “You okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, it was just really loud and overwhelming in there,” I nod back toward the party room. “Just needed a minute.”
Raquel opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted when we hear my name shouted across the room.
“Thea!”
I swivel on the barstool to see Jake making his way up to the bar.
“Oh, brother,” I groan as I roll my eyes.
“Did you talk to Emily at the festival the other day?” he asks. Fury burns in his green eyes.
“Yeah,” I answer, a bit hesitantly.
“She dumped me.”
“And that’s her problem, how?” Raquel asks.
“She saidyoutalked to her,” he huffs as he points at me. “I told you, my dad can ruin anyone in this town and that’s sland-”
“Oh,enoughwith your dad,” I snap, feeling bold. “If you don’t want me to say bad things about you, then you shouldn’t do bad things.”
Raquel snorts beside me.
“And just what are you laughing at?” he demands.
“Tiny man syndrome,” she says, holding her thumb and index finger barely apart. She giggles even harder now.
I don’t hide the laugh that bubbles out of my chest.
“You’ll regret this,” he says.
“ Jake, go find someone else to annoy,” I say, waving him away.
He opens his mouth to say something else but is distracted by a crash from across the restaurant. Raquel and I turn in the directionof the noise to see a waitress attempting to clean up two pizzas she’d dropped.
"Just remember, what goes around, comes around,” Jake says, bringing the attention back to him.
We swivel back on our barstools to face him. I sense a change in his demeanor. He seems calmer.
“Okay,” I say. “Whatever.”
“Buh-bye,” Raquel says to him, making a grand motion of waving. I take another sip of my soda.
Jake turns on his heels and barrels past another couple walking into the bar area as he heads for the front door.
“God, he is such a jerk,” I say as I turn back to Raquel. “I can’t believe I went out with him.”
“Yeah, even after I tried to warn you,” she says. “Though, I probably could have tried harder.”
