Page 6 of The Drop

I turn around the side of the house and do as she says. “Who are we picking up the president?” I quip and chuckle at my joke.

“No, idiot,” she snaps at me while typing on her phone and looks up at the street.

There is a dead end, but standing on the sidewalk is a girl covered head to toe in mud. I look over at Cami, and her expression is the same, mouth open in shock.

“B?” Cami says hesitantly, slowly getting out of the car.

The girl whirls around, revealing even more mud and leaves stuck to her front, face, and hair. “Cami,” she cries, walking towards her. “I fell down the stupid hill.”

She cries some more, and to Cami’s credit, she hugs the girl, who sobs against her and gets herself covered in mud. I look up the hill, and a fence surrounds what I’m assuming is the house we were just in front of, but you can’t see it with all the trees covering it.

The dead end is the end of the neighbourhood, and this fence goes on for longer than any of the other houses.

Who is this girl?

I get out of the car and stand next to my door, being unhelpful, but I am not sure what I can do aside from waiting. My phone buzzes from the centre console, and I reach over and read the text from Gunnar, saying some girls have been asking about me at the party. That lights a little fire under me, and I shout over to Cami. “Er, Cam, should we maybe get your friend out of here?”

“Right,” she says hurriedly, and nods at her friend for confirmation. “Right.”

She guides her over to my jeep, and I realise my back seat is about to get dirt all over it. The girl looks sheepishly at me, and I shrug back because, come on, she's covered in mud, what do I do, make her take a cab?

She murmurs a quiet, “I’m sorry,” before hopping in, and Cami gets in the back on the other side.

I get back in the driver’s seat and great, now I'm a taxi driver. I pull back around the corner and head home, guessing that Cami’s friend will not be coming back to the party with us.

“What the hell happened, B?” Cami asks, and I look into the rearview mirror.

The girl just shakes her head at Cami. “I climbed out of the bathroom window; I thought I could jump the fence, but I slipped down the hill.” She sniffles, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.

“No, I kind of guessed,” Cami says patiently, which is a side of her I have rarely witnessed. “But why were you climbing out the window?”

“I couldn’t go out the front,” she replies. “Everyone was waiting for me.”

“Waiting for what?” Cami catches my eye in the rearview mirror, her brows furrowed.

“For Josh to propose.” She cries again, and Cami says nothing, just rubs the girl’s back.

She has got to be the same age as Cami, so twenty-one, and someone is already trying to propose to her. Damn.

The drive after is quiet aside from this B girl’s phone vibrating every couple of minutes. Cami’s hand does not leave her friend’s, occasionally checking in with a whisper too quiet for me to hear.

Once we get back to the apartment, I park, and we all get out. Cami guides her friend to the apartment steps, and I walk to the bottom with them. “Are you heading back to the party?” Cami asks, and I nod in response. “Thanks for tonight, Grant,” she says in a rare show of Cami Logan’s gratitude.

“No problem,” I say, hugging her. “I hope she’s okay, and call me if someone needs their ass-kicking. I’ll round up the guys.”

She smiles and catches up to her friend, who has already walked up the steps, putting an arm around her shoulder.

I’m still watching as Cami unlocks the door, and I’m thinking the girl under all that mud might be beautiful. Like, stop-you-in-your-tracks kind of beautiful. She surprises me and turns and raises her hand in a small wave. I wave back and wait for them both to walk in the door, then I hop in my jeep, hoping I have not ruined my whole evening.

Chapter Five

Brooke

Mortified does not even cover how I’m feeling.

I am currently standing under the shower spray, still in my dress, watching the muddy water collect at my feet. Cami hasn’t pushed me for more information since we got into the apartment, and I’ve held it together so far, but now I’m feeling embarrassed about the whole thing.

My boyfriend and mother lied to me. Check. My mother is paying my boyfriend to stay with me. Check. Hot guy chauffeuring us back to Cami’s apartment after I fell down a hill and looked like a swamp monster. Check

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