Aubrey huffs, squatting and almost falling onto her butt. “Umm, exactly. I don’t sit around thinking about those thugs just like I don’t ponder all about herpes, and neither should you, bitch.”
We laugh at her, Piper rolling gloss over her lips as she looks down at Aubrey, who’s still rummaging around in her bag.
“Oh my God. You said thugs? Really? You sound like an eighty-year-old woman.” Piper bumps her polo-covered shoulder to my arm. “And who are you kidding, Aubs? You told me you’d let them do bad things to your body after we saw them.”
“Oh really?” I beam, eyes jumping to Aubrey, whose own are now narrowed on Piper as she stands.
“Never happened,” Aubrey offers, almost sincerely.
Piper raises her brows. “Liar. Liar. Pants not even on fire because you’re slutty.”
A laugh cracks in my chest, even though I try and hold it back. Aubrey joins in before saying, “I hate you,” making us all laugh even more before my head sweeps back over my shoulder to steal another peek.
The ball bounces off the backboard and bounds over toward where Hunter and his friends are. Baseball Cap jogs up, motioning for it back, but Shephard, Hunter’s best friend, holds it in his hand, staring them down.
“The ball,” he requests, only barely friendly, but nobody moves.
Whoa.
Piper and I exchange a nervous glance, her whispering, “Are they going to fight?”
All eyes in the park are fixed on them. Piper grabs my knee as Fight Club cracks his neck, stalking toward Hunter’s crew. Everyone in the park is buzzing with the anticipation of a battle. Even me, seeing as my mouth refuses to close as I watch with eyes open wide.
“Roman.”
Calder’s command shakes my chest and halts Fight Club’s—now known as Roman—steps. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until Aubrey laughs, and I suck one in.
“Oh yeah. Not thugs at all. Come on, horndogs. Let the animals entertain the masses. I have a surprise.”
Aubrey grabs my wrist, tugging me off the wall, and I nab Piper’s wrist, making us a little chain gang as Aubrey hauls us away. But I glance back, only to see Calder staring down Hunter until the sound of the ball bouncing on asphalt becomes a waved white flag.
Damn. That was intense.
3
Sutton
Piper and I follow quickly behind Aubrey now that the almost throw-down is over. We disappear behind the bathrooms before coming to a stop.
“What are we doing, Aubrey?” Piper laughs before blanching. “Eww, it smells like pee back here.”
I smile, saying, “Boys’ side,” before dropping her wrist.
Aubrey looks over her shoulder, then puts her finger to her lip, telling us to be quiet, before holding her hand up. She wags her perfectly arched black eyebrows while shaking a small white-and-red square box.
“Look.”
I slap a hand over my mouth, laughing as Piper stares between us.
“Oh my God. You stole cigarettes.” Piper smacks my arm. “She stole cigarettes.”
Aubrey opens the box, and I lift my chin, trying to peer past her hands. She hands a long white stick to each of us before digging around her purse again.
It’s so dumb, but we made a pact a couple of weeks ago during a sleepover that quickly became a joint breakdown over how shitty and uneventful high school has been. I came up with the idea of a list of ridiculous stuff we wanted to check off our high school experiences before we graduate.
This is Aubrey’s because she’s obsessed with Audrey Hepburn and thinks channeling her through smoking will improve her luck with boys.
Piper’s is to sneak into Manhattan for a whole night because if there were ever anyone who wanted out of this town and into the real world more than me, it’s Piper.
Mine is to lose my dumb virginity. I’m done with the idea of falling hopelessly in love and sharing some magical experience. It’s not happening for me.
So, now I kind of just want to get fucked and move on. Just rip the Band-Aid off so that when my real life starts, I’ll be ready for it.
“Dammit. Dumb lighter—” Aubrey mutters to herself.
“Are we really doing this?” Piper questions, looking around nervously.
I get her nerves. But we’re doing this. Aubrey lifts her head for a moment, letting out a frustrated breath.
“We’re in high school, Piper, and the worst thing we’ve done is nothing.”
“You’ve done plenty,” Piper counters, rolling her eyes, making me laugh again.
“Regardless.” Aubrey huffs. “I need a life. We need a life. Junior year’s been a wasted experience with boys that don’t like me back.”
She lowers her voice to sound like my dad. “And lame ‘you may only attend parentally supervised parties,’ thanks to Sutton’s overprotective dad. We finally all got cute at the same time—braces off, boobs on. We can’t chance another gap year.”
I internally cringe because she’s right. The fact that they’ve lived my miserable party existence with me and never complained makes them the truest ride or dies. And she’s right—freshman and sophomore year was like RIP to love. I can’t even think about it. I may have PTSD over my hair alone.
“Don’t worry, Piper,” Aubrey continues. “God will forgive us. And if the extra Hail Mary those witches made me say counts today—then my soul is safe.” She gives us a wink. “At least until next week.”
I bump a hip to Piper’s, who smiles back, giving in. Aubrey looks inside her bag again before holding up the lighter victoriously.
“Got it.”
She steps in closer, the click sounding around us as I lean forward. I’m trying to act like a natural, even though I don’t know what I’m doing.
Piper’s watching me, pointing a finger toward the butt.
“I think you have to, like, inhale really big to make it stay lit.”
The burn filters into my mouth as I take quick draws like I’ve seen my father do with his cigars, but it doesn’t stay lit.
Aubrey smirks, clicking the lighter again to relight mine.
“I bet your criminal shares these with the girls he sleeps with, like after doing the deed—they lie there naked and share a cigarette, letting the high they feel fade away as they smoke.”
“No, like a deep inhale,” Piper instructs, taking hers and pretending to inhale dramatically to show me.
So I suck in, hollowing my cheeks as the tip glows red, just before my chest heaves, rejecting my stupid idea and leaving me in a coughing fit.
Piper starts smacking my back. “Oh my God, Sutton. Are you okay?”
Aubrey cackles as I open my mouth to speak, only to heave out another cough just as footsteps accompanied by a husky voice turns the corner.
“Oh fuck,” Aubrey whispers, still laughing, shoving the pack back into her bag and hiding the evidence of our stupidity. We’re like stooges, turning in circles and bumping into each other as I keep coughing.
“You good?” The rough baritone makes us freeze. Aubrey’s laughter murdered.
Rich chocolate-brown eyes stare back at me—Roman.
He’s focused on me. And what was so hot about him from far away feels intimidating now. Especially since his question might’ve seemed friendly, but he definitely isn’t.