Chapter One
When my best friend, Skyler, told me about this party in the Hollywood Hills, I was less than enthused.
The last thing I wanted to do was fight traffic for the privilege of watching her flirt with some guy, but I didn’t want to let her go alone, either.
She was determined to go and friends don’t let friends go to parties without backup, so Vaughn and I were tagging along. I was riding shotgun and Vaughn was wedged into the tiny back seat of Skyler’s convertible. The top was down and a summer breeze ruffled his thick, dark hair.
“Why are we driving all the way to L.A. again?” I asked.
“I’ve been talking to this guy…” Sky replied, her gaze trained on the car in front of us, but she was biting her lip. That meant a long night ahead.
I didn’t even try to suppress my groan. “Skyler.”
She’d been my best friend since I first came to live with Granny Mariotti. Granny had been running story time at the library, where Skyler and I had fought over a copy of Mama, Do You Love Me? Pretty ironic, since we’d both been ditched by our own moms, but Granny made us sit and read the book together. We met Vaughn at the library story time a few weeks later.
Skyler took a turn too fast and Vaughn made an exasperated sound. My gaze darted to the back seat, but he was looking down at his phone. Probably texting Ashley.
Now it was my turn to let out an exasperated groan, but I was mad at myself. Why couldn’t I get over my crush? Luckily, Vaughn had no idea how I felt about him.
I’d been tempted to do something about it so many times, but it was too late now. He had a girlfriend.
“I wanted you to get dressed up and flirt with boys,” Skyler added. “You might meet someone, too, you know.”
I groaned louder this time.
“Tansy only likes to flirt with me,” Vaughn teased, and I tried not to squirm as heat flooded my cheeks. He had no idea how right he was—and if I was lucky, he never would.
“Meet single dudes.” Skyler clarified with an eyeroll. “You, my friend, are very taken.”
“Ashley and I broke up,” Vaughn replied. Succinct.
I turned around to study his face. He didn’t seem to be suffering, but I had to check. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not eating ice cream and listening to sad boy band music,” he said. No trace of emotion in his gray eyes or in his voice, but I knew he often tried to keep his feelings hidden.
“Hey, that happened once,” Skyler said, bugging out her eyes comically.
Vaughn and I laughed like she wanted us to, but it was nervous laughter. Although Skyler wasn’t BFFs with Ben & Jerry any longer, she still hadn’t recovered from Connor, and we all knew it.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Vaughn said. “And I don’t want to analyze it to death.”
“When did this happen?” I asked.
Vaughn was silent but then finally supplied details. “Three days ago.”
“Three days ago?” she asked. “Wasn’t that right after Christian asked you out, Tansy?”
Why was she changing the subject? I wanted to know why Vaughn and Ashley had broken up.
“Christian Choi or Christian Guerra?” Vaughn asked.
I slid her a look. What are you doing?
She gave me a look back and shook her head.
Vaughn’s lips tightened. “They both asked you out?”
“Yes,” I said.
“They’re both assholes.”
“I thought you liked Christian, both of them,” I said.
He looked at me like he wanted to say something, but instead, he just shrugged.
“You snooze, you lose, Sheridan,” Skyler said to him.
“What are you talking about?” I asked her.
She kept her eyes on the road, but there was an aggravating smile on her face, like she knew something I didn’t.
I looked back at Vaughn. He was blushing. For a second, I wished I could read his mind, but it wasn’t possible, not even for a Mariotti witch like me.
I could feel warmth on my own face, too. Vaughn’s single for the first time in forever.
It shouldn’t make a difference, but it did. It felt riskier somehow. For the first time, I noticed Vaughn was more dressed up than usual. He wore a gray button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans that fit him perfectly.
I leaned back in the passenger seat and closed my eyes. “I’m glad we’re hanging out tonight.”
“Me too.” I heard the smile in Sky’s voice, and I felt warm inside knowing I’d put it there. There’d been something off about her the past few weeks. I’d blamed it on her breakup with Connor, but maybe it was more than that.
Skyler put on a song from a band I’d never heard of. “Play The Drainers,” she commanded, and the voice-activated playlist started.
We listened in silence for a few songs. “The Drainers?” I asked.
“They’re a newer band. Don’t you just love them?” she asked. Which meant she wanted me to like their music. I did not like their music.
In the back seat, Vaughn snorted but cut it off when Skyler glared at him in the rearview mirror.
“Vaughn’s a music snob, but I thought you’d like it,” she told me. Vaughn wasn’t a snob, not really, but he was a talented musician and pickier than most.
“Emo’s not really my thing right now.” I settled for a polite but evasive answer. It wasn’t strictly true. Emo was my thing if it was done well. Which…this was not. The lead singer hadn’t found a note he didn’t like—even the off-key ones.
She bounced in her seat, in no way fazed by my lack of enthusiasm. “It will be.”
The party was off Mulholland, and Skyler took the turns with reckless abandon, which made talking for the next ten minutes nearly impossible as my stomach was firmly lodged in the back of my throat. When we pulled up, there were cars lining the street.
Skyler circled the block, but there were no parking spots to be found within a mile radius. She stopped at a red light and turned to me.
“We’re going to be late,” she said. She had tears in her eyes, which seemed extra, but she’d been more emotional lately.
“Do that thing you do,” she begged.
“Skyler, you shouldn’t ask her that,” Vaughn said sharply.
“It’s not a big deal,” I said.
“Your granny wouldn’t want you to use your magic on this,” Vaughn pointed out.