Page 72 of Beginning Fate

I nodded. I had no doubt he would. Kylie was going to be okay and Denny would see to that and jump in to help if I needed him to.

The thought of returning to New York without the both of them made me sick to my stomach.

Sensing my worry, he reached out and linked our fingers together.

“We’re going to figure it all out. But we agreed that tonight we would just have fun, remember?”

I smiled. “I remember.”

“To the party then.”

True to his word, he drove us back to the house. As we walked up to it from the parking lot, I could feel the thumping of the bass from the music playing.

“Wow. Kylie is going to love this.”

“The music?”

“Well, yeah. She can’t hear it, but she can certainly feel that bass. When she listens to music, it’s always cranked up loud like this. Believe it or not, Kylie loves to dance.”

“That’s wild. I mean, we discussed it in class, but to actually see it will be a whole other thing.”

“I’m sure she’s there already. She and Autumn were super excited for tonight. They may have taken over your bedroom to get ready while we were on our date.”

“Our bedroom,” he corrected.

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Our bedroom.”

It felt like so much expectation packed in that statement. I wasn’t certain I was ready for that and we definitely needed to discuss some major long-term stuff before settling into whatever this is. But for tonight, I was just going to be young and carefree. Live in the moment, and all that stuff.

“Can we sneak in and change? I don’t want to stand out for being overdressed.”

“You won’t. I promise. Some of the sorority girls always overdress for these things, no matter what we say.”

“You told me jeans and tee-shirts.”

“There will be those, too. It really is a come however you want kind of thing.”

He wasn’t kidding, either. There were girls dressed up way more than I was and others in shorts and a nice shirt. Clearly, there wasn’t really a dress code for a party like this.

The second we walked in, red cups filled with beer were thrust into our hands.

“Welcome to the party,” Remy said.

“How was the date?” Monte yelled over the noise.

“Good,” I replied, but nodded in case he couldn’t hear me.

The music was deafening.

“The bar and dance floor are downstairs. Others choose to stay out of the chaos and chill up here,” he explained.

I looked around at all the bodies crammed into the room seemingly moving as one.

“There are even more people downstairs?”

I couldn’t even imagine it.

Denny laughed and shrugged.

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