Page 41 of From Now On

“Okay, it’s notthatlong of a story,” I amend. “But it’s one I would prefer to stop talking about. I almost died of mortification.Multipletimes.”

My traitorous best friend just laughs.

Rylan looks confused. “Why wouldyoube embarrassed?”

“Because I didn’t knock, and it was my fault I couldn’t tell he wasn’t in bed because of the pillow wall, and we don’t really know each other, and I…” I shake my head and pick up my concealer again. “Just a weird part of the trip.”

Rylan looks even more confused. “Pillow wall?”

“Eve’s a restless sleeper,” Harlow explains. “If it makes you feel any better, Hunter was worried he made you uncomfortable.”

“Make me feelbetter?” I exclaim. “Harlow, that makes me feelworse!”

“Relax. I told him you enjoyed the show.”

Now Rylan is laughing. Glad I could provide some pre-game amusement.

Actually, I’mnotglad. I’d like to go back to pretending Dickgate never happened.

“You’d better not have,” I threaten.

For all her teasing, I don’t think Harlow would be that bold on my behalf. She has no idea I like Hunter, and she knows I’m in a weird place right now.

I wish I was the girl who thought to sayI enjoyed the showafter accidentally seeing a hot guy naked. But no, I’m the girl who hid in the bathroom and then compared him to a Michelangelo sculpture. It was supposed to be a compliment, but I don’t think it came out that way.

A loud bang rattles the door hinges, making the mirror I was using to apply my makeup bounce.

“Was the sign really necessary?” Aidan calls from the hallway.

Harlow and Rylan dissolve into giggles. They taped aNo Boys Allowedsign on my bedroom door when we came upstairs to get ready to go out to a local bar. The boys were so busy watching hockey they didn’t even notice Harlow writing on the piece of paper she found in one of the kitchen drawers. They had me sketch a hockey player at the bottom, and Rylan’s contribution was drawing a red X over him.

I actually did a pretty good job of recreating Holt’s jersey, if I do say so myself. Athletes aren’t my usual subject matter.

“Go away, Aidan!” Rylan shouts back. “We’re busy!”

There’s a loud sigh on the other side of the door.

“Hayes, how much longer?” Conor’s voice this time. “Do we have time to make nachos before the second period?”

“No nachos!” Harlow answers. “We’ll be down in five minutes.”

“We should have just made them,” I hear Aidan grumble. “Forgiveness over permission and all that.”

“They’ll have food at the bar,” Conor replies.

Receding footsteps sound, and their voices fade. I don’t hear Hunter’s. He must have stayed downstairs, in the living room/his bedroom. I still feel guilty about stealing his bed. I should have asked more questions about the rental the night I agreed to go, but I wasn’t exactly thinking straight between the vodka and the breakup. It feels like I’ve inconvenienced Hunter a lot this trip, and being indebted to someone you want to impress is not a great feeling.

I finish my makeup, then stand and stretch. My muscles are stiff from sitting most of yesterday and today. I should have gone for a walk before showering.

Harlow wolf whistles as I drop my makeup bag on top of the dresser. “Damn, Eve. The surfer guys will be all over you.”

“If you say so,” I reply doubtfully.

Harlow keeps insisting there’s a large population of eligible bachelors in this town, but I have my doubts. It’s not like we’re spring breaking in Cancun with two hundred other colleges.

“No, it’s true,” Rylan tells me. “There weretonsof cute guys when we went to the grocery store this morning. And a bunch of them said they’d be at Sand Bar tonight.”

“Assuming Aidan didn’t scare them all off,” Harlow adds, smirking. She glances at me. “He got a little, uh, possessive earlier.”

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