Page 148 of Catfish

“Do you offer—”

"Pass this down to Miss Shelton," Wade cuts in, handing his wine glass over to the man next to him to send down to me. "Has everyone decided what they'd like to order? Em gets cranky when she's hungry, and I don't want anyone to die while in this room."

Everyone at the room chuckles with responses of yes and, holy fuck, did Wade just try to tease someone in public? And did he just openly hand down his beverage to me?

Maybe my kiss did loosen him up a little bit. Now I just have to find some way to get him laid by someone who isn’t me.

A few moments later, we all place our orders, and our salads are brought out not long afterward to where I’ve already downed the rest of Wade’s wine. I'm not even three bites in when my phone starts vibrating in my purse. Trying to pull it out casually, Mila's name shows up on my screen.

“Emmy, I’m so sorry,” I tell her. “I have to take this call.”

She gives me a dismissive wave. “Go ahead.”

Pushing my chair back, I go to the corner of the room and quickly answer it. “Hey, what’s up?”

"Reagan, we really need you back here." The sound of muffled music plays in the background, and a loud shout follows.

“What’s wrong?”

“Um...these kids brought booze. And weed...and I think some cocaine.”

“Cocaine,” I loud whisper. “How in the hell did you find that?”

"Sadie walked in on some kids doing a line in the bathroom, and then we found—um, well, I was going to the freezer to grab some more salad dressing, and I found a group of kids having sex."

Fucking rich kids.

I should've honestly known. After crashing a bunch of parties in my day in Annesville, I knew what parties like this were like.

“I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Does Patricia, the mom, know?”

“She left.”

My eyes widen. “She left?”

"Yeah, she said—she said we had it handled. Like we're babysitters, Rea. I hated high school, and I don't—"

“Tell Sadie I’ll be there in fifteen,” I rebuff. “I got this. Don’t worry about it.”

"What should we do in the meantime?" Mila sounds like she's about to have a full-blown panic attack, and this probably wasn't the best event to leave my pushover cousin and a girl who grew up in a town of a hundred people to host a bunch of asshole kids.

“Keep an eye on the little douchebags Sadie caught in the bathroom. And breathe.”

I hang up, already feeling bad for having to leave Emmy’s party so early, but I don't need the cops being called. Nor the reputation that I planned and allowed underaged kids to get high and drunk at a Sweet Sixteen party.

Standing behind Emmy’s chair, I lean in to whisper in her ear. “Hey, something happened at the party, I have to jet.”

“Oh my God—” she begins to turn in her chair. “Is everyth—”

"I'll call you later and tell you all about it. It's nothing I can't handle." I raise my eyes to Wade's at the other side of the table, eating and half-ass listening to the man next to him. "I'm taking your boy with me as muscle."

Since he made me fucking come here.

Emmy chuckles and gives my head a pat. "Talk to you later, and be careful."

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