Page 34 of Honey Pot

“Mary!” Ella popped up from behind a table with a banner in her hands. “Help me with this?”

Grabbing the other end we hung the happy birthday banner against the wall with a few pieces of tape and stood back to admire our handy work.

“I’m glad you came,” she said with a smile. “Zoey!”

A petite brunette appeared from the stairs with a box in her arms. Struggling to carry it, she grunted and slid it against the floor, kicking it the rest of the way to us.

“Zoey Novak, this is Mary, the journalist interviewing the guys.”

“It’s nice to put a face to the name. Van said he’s never had so much fun in an interview.” She shrugged, not an ounce of venom in the girl. Zoey smiled, and it lit up the room, her big brown eyes full of life even in the dim lighting.

“Van is an incredible liar,” I laughed. “It went well though. He’s very…”

His interview had been a shit-show. He was sweet enough but getting him to focus on the topics at hand was torture. His mind wandered like a rubber ball bouncing trapped in a tiny room. It was hard to believe that he would be a fully licensed therapist in one more year. But maybe that was the point. He was welcoming and bright; even I had a hard time not telling him every single one of my problems.

“Polite?” I finished.

Both Ella and Zoey burst into laughter.

“So he ran you in circles, and you ended up talking about his comic book collection?” Zoey tilted her head.

“Weirdly accurate.”

“I’m pretty sure Van talked Zoey in circles until she agreed to date him.”

“Homecoming, freshman year.”

“You two have been together that long?” I asked, almost in shock.

“Van Mitchell with braces, bad look.” Zoey laughed. My mind couldn’t help but wander to Cael with braces, his stupid, sharp grin covered in metal. He hadworn them for two years and wore them like they were cool. Every kind in our grade wanted them by the time he got his off. It was the Cael Cody effect.

“The buzz cut was worse.” Ella rolled her eyes, and Zoey agreed.

“You’ll be going to law school next year?” I asked her. Van had mentioned briefly that she was studying.

“Yeah.” The mood dropped in the room.

“Are you being depressing up here, Sour Patch?” Cael yelled from the top of the stairs with a tray of shots in his hands. “I strictly remember saying that no one was allowed to be whiny today!”

“Says the king of complaints!” Zoey laughed. “No, we're just getting to know Mary.”

Cael flinched. I had never seen a man hate a name so much.

It only fueled my need to hear people say it around him.

“Shots for the pretty women.” He lifted the tray dramatically in the air.

“You could at least wait until the party starts, Misery,” Ella scolded with a smile as she took a shot. I looked at him, and he wiggled the tray at me.

“Because I’m not drinking, by proxy, I need the three of you as drunk as possible tonight,” he cooed. “I want you so loaded I can get drunk off your sweat.”

His eyes flickered to me.

“Ew.” Zoey rolled her eyes and took a shot.

Ella took her shot, smelling it with a dirty look on her face. Cael smirked at her and shrugged his shoulders as she shook her head. He turned to me and shifted his feet so I could reach it, but I didn’t take one.

“I don’t bite,Mary,” he said, showing off his pretty white teeth.

---