Page 31 of Toxic Wishes

One lesson I took away from college that wasn’t in my chemistry books is that most good-looking people tend to be the most insecure. It was the only time I was grateful for my dad, who made me rely on my brain and not my looks while growing up.

I pulled into the driveway and took in the beautiful Ozark mountains. Josh’s brother was in real estate, so he said he had a couple of houses he rented out here. If this was his rental house, I wondered what his real house looked like.

As I waited for Josh to arrive, I texted my cousins again. I wasn’t even sure if they would show up since they were all unreliable, but if they wanted to see me, they knew where to find me. When I looked up, I saw two pairs of headlights. I knew one car was Josh’s, so the other must have been his friend, Chris. I got out of the vehicle at the same time the guys did.

“Yo, Asher. You are ready to have some fun!” Josh says, holding up a brown bag. Chris was carrying two other bags of liquor and a beer pack.

“You know, just because we got our Bachelor’s Degree doesn’t mean we need to kill off our brain cells like we don’t need them anymore. We still have years of school left.” I told him.

“Let’s just get shitfaced for once and act like we don’t have huge careers ahead of us.”

I shrug. “Fine, I guess we deserve it.”

“That’s my girl.” he says, holding up a hand for me to high-five it.

“Chris, this is Asher. I mean Abigail.”

It was rare for Josh to call me by my first name. I hated it when he called me by my last name because it reminded me of Blake’s nickname, but now I find it comforting.

Chris gestures to the two bags of alcohol he is holding, and I give him a smile with a short wave. “Hi.”

“Josh says you're smart as shit, but I told him, for you to hang out with his dumb ass, you couldn’t be that smart.”

“The smartest people can do the dumbest things, right?” Sarcasm slips from my lips.

“C’mon, let's start getting things set up.” Josh says.

I offer to take one of the bags from Chris as we walk up the porch steps, and as soon as we walk inside, the views take me off guard. There were windows everywhere, making it feel spacious and so gorgeous. You could see the Ozark mountains from here, and I forgot how pretty greenery can be. California is beautiful, but I missed the four seasons. The simplicity of living here, the spread out housing, and the best thing of all, no traffic. I forgot how much I missed not having to rush or plan to leave an hour early to get to my destination on time.

“Do you guys mind if I freshen up while you set things up here? It's been a long day, and your girl needs a little pick-me-up,” I tell the boys.

They both say no at the same time. Chris pops open a beer, and Josh starts setting up the bar with orange juice, cranberry, coke, and tomato juice so that people can have something to mix the alcohol with. This is what I loved about guys. They were low maintenance when it came to getting ready. I went outside to grab my bag, and when I realized I didn't know what room I was staying in, I asked Josh.

“It's the first door to your left upstairs, and it has its own personal bathroom.”

“Nice,” I say as I carry my bag and head that way.

Twenty minutes later, I was refreshed and put on tight-fitting jeans, high wedge heels, and a cute top. I pulled my hair tie out, letting my curly hair fall down my back. My hair is curly but not tight curly cues, not anymore. When I was younger, all my cousins were fascinated with how tight my curls were and always teased me about them, but as I grew older, they loosened and resembled a loose curl or a tight wave. Another thing I loved about my hair was that I fluffed it up, and it looked like I spent hours on it. I put on some mascara and was done. When I walked downstairs, I could hear voices, so I assumed people were already there.

I approached the kitchen, and about seven people were standing around and talking. Mostly guys.

“Is this the chic you invited?” One of Josh’s friends asks, looking disappointed.

“No, well, yeah, but she’s my friend. Guys, meet Abigail. We had genetics, human anatomy, and chemistry together and pretty much two classes yearly for the past four years, haven’t we?”

Josh never liked to tell people how we met, which I was perfectly okay with. We kept it between ourselves.

“Yup.” I make a popping noise at the end. , “I'm Abigail.” I held out my hand.

I was such a nerd.

“Nice to meet you,” one guy says. Two guys approach me and shake my hand like I’m one of the guys, and another is invested in his phone texting a girl. The other guy waves and the one standing beside him says, “Nice rack,” as he takes a swig his beer.

“Billy, seriously? Do you have to be a dick so soon? We are just getting started,” Josh says

“What? She does have nice boobs, that’s a compliment the last time I checked.”

I took a deep breath and headed to the bar area to pour myself a drink. I was going to need to get drunk fast to survive the night.

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