Page 27 of Steps

“Wild.”

She bursts out laughing. “Damn, girl. Yeah, Iknow. They drink, smoke, dabble in other vices, right?”

I frown. “Don’t make it sound like I’m an anomaly.I’m just saying, it’s a whole different… scene.”

“That I’d like to see, to be honest.” Hershoulders droop. “I’m always either working or helping to take care of my mom.I never get to do anything fun these days. It’ll be cool to actually party andbe a kid for once.”

I offer a sympathetic smile. “I get it.”

She eyes me innocently. “So, are we going later?”

Naturally, her puppy look makes me cave. “Okay.We’ll go to the party.”

6

Varen takes off and doesn’t show himself again forthe rest of the day. Kenya stays with me until that evening, and we have dinnerwith Daniel and my mom.

I decide to be honest about the party and see ifmy mom will let me go.

Daniel appears a tad hesitant, but they still sayyes since we’re going together.

Kenya wears what she already has on, but I changeinto a romper and flats and let down my curls. We leave shortly after eighto’clock, and she drives fifteen minutes to Back River.

My anxiety kicks in as we park in the swarmed lotand make our way to the water. The bank is crowded with teenagers. Some Irecognize from our high school. There’s a bonfire blazing in the middle while abunch of people surrounds it drinking and dancing to pop music.

I search the many faces for Varen. I didn’t spothis car in the lot, so who knows if he’s even here.

“Damn,” Kenya mutters. “Well, this is lit.”

“Yeah,” I chuckle nervously. “A lot of people.”

Someone touches my back all of a sudden, startlingme. “Geez.”

Varen swerves around to stand before me. “Still sojumpy.” He passes a look between us. “Glad you came.”

“Yeah, this is pretty cool,” Kenya says, peeringaround.

He shrugs. “It’s all right. Something else to doon a Saturday night.”

“As oppose to?” I question, squinting at him.

Varen smirks, then lifts his beer to his mouth.“Oh, do you want anything to drink?”

“I’m good,” I tell him, remembering how the littleI had last time gave me a headache.

Kenya perks up. “Sure.”

He leads us to the coolers and motions to one ofthe guys talking in a group. He nods for us to go ahead.

She picks out Budweiser and sips a little. “Ooh.”Eyeing me, she says, “Don’t worry, T. I won’t go crazy.”

“Good.”

“If you don’t want your own, you can have some ofmine,” Varen offers me. “Up to you.”

Drinking from the same can?

Indirect kiss.

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