Page 53 of We Are the Stars

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Positive. Now go.” He waves us out the door and we take off in a daze.

I hustle to the back room to grab my bag. When I come back out, Carsen’s waiting by the front door for me, talking with Cal.

“You did good, kid. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Carsen nods.

I walk up to him.

He holds his hand out; I place mine in his.

He leads; I follow.

***

“You have your own house?”

I take a gander around the large kitchen we walk into. It’s massive, and rather fancy looking. An island with granite countertops draws my attention before I slide it over the massive double refrigerator and oven, shiny hardwood floors, small four-person table, and then to the large bay window looking out over Lake Q.

This place is insane.

“Yep.”

“Are you even old enough for that?”

“I am.”

“And how old are you again? Forty?”

He grins. “Some days it seems that. I’m twenty.”

“Same age, nice.”

“You want something to drink? There’s water, beer, soda, coffee.”

“Blech. Coffee is the worst. I’ll take a soda, please, but first, a question: where and/or how did you acquire the beer if you’re only twenty?”

He grabs our drinks and hands mine to me. He twists open his water and takes a sip before answering. “One of my roomies is of age.”

“Are they here?”

Carsen nods. “They’re lurking in the hallway as we speak.” He cranes his neck as he yells, “Hey, assholes, stop creepin’ and get in here.”

“We’re shocked is all,” an auburn-haired boy in sweats and a t-shirt says as he strolls into the room. “You’ve never brought a girl home before.”

“Even though you kept turning us down for snuggles, we still held out hope you batted for our team,” another guy adds.

“Keep on dreamin’, boys.”

“Oh, we do, Carsen. We do.”

The boy with auburn hair turns my way. “I’m Nate. You must be Elliott. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

I raise a brow at Carsen, whose ears are turning pink at the ends. “Nice to meet you, Nate.”

“And I’m Blake,” the other guy says. His eyes are a piercing green, a stark contrast to his dark hair. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

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