Page 209 of Something Rad
My jaw nearly comes unhinged as I take in the amount of people here. It’s easily the same amount of people that were at Denise’s holiday party, if not more. And the roster of people is practically identical, which doesn’t do anything to settle my nerves.
Speaking of Denise, my eyes catch on a blonde ponytail, and I spot her with Ginger Matthews and Kate Andrews sitting cross legged on the edge of the pool, laughing with one another without a care in the world. As if she can sense me looking at her, Denise’s head slowly shifts in my direction. My spine straightens as her eyes meet mine, and, for a moment, her expression is unreadable, her head tilting. I swallow against the sudden dryness in my throat, my hand that’s not in Alice’s clenching into a fist at my side. And then…
She smiles at me.
Or, at least, I think she does. It’s so subtle. The slightest lift of the corner of her mouth. The tiniest indent of her cheek dimple showing through. The gentlest nod of her head.
And then it’s over.
She turns back toward her friends, reinserting herself into their conversation like she never even left it.
Oh.
My shoulders relax, my brows pulling together.
Well, what am I supposed to do with that?
“Should we get a drink?” Alice’s voice sounds, bringing me back to reality.
“That’s a fantastic idea,” I reply immediately, my teeth practically chattering as I finally tear my eyes away from Denise. I’m not usually the first in line for alcohol, but I’m willing to take anything that will warm me up right about now. I follow Alice off to the side of the pool where everyone seems to be grabbing drinks from.
I scan over the choices, looking from the keg of beer to the random assortment of coolers filled with all sorts of cans and bottles. A gasp of pleasant surprise escapes me and my mouth instantly begins to water when I spot a familiar green bottle. I snatch the wine cooler from the cooler, opening it and taking a long sip from it before Alice even has a plastic cup in her hand and is getting in line for the beer keg. By the time she waits her turns behind three other girls attempting to use the keg, I’ve nearly polished off my bottle.
“God, these go down easy,” I mutter to myself, finishing off the last of the sweet wine.
“And that’s why they’ll get you in trouble,” a smooth voice comes from behind me.
I spin around, finding Paul standing right behind me. “Oh, Paul, hi,” I mumble. I push my hair away from my face, noticing how my cheeks already feel a tad warmer and my anxiety has somewhat calmed.
I have to admit, alcohol can be a beautiful thing.
I suppose, until it gets ugly, that is.
Paul grins, his eyes tracing my face. “Looks like you need another one of those.”
“Oh, um, I–” I start, and then, I don’t know why, but I start laughing.
“What is it?” Paul questions me.
“Sorry, nothing,” I chuckle. “Just…having déjà vu.”
I shouldn’t be laughing. Because if this moment is anything like the original moment that’s causing my déjà vu right now, we are in for a mess of a night. Last time I checked, nothing good has come out of Paul offering me a second wine cooler.
Paul just stares back at me for a moment, and I start to feel ridiculous, but then he lets out a soft chuckle of his own. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
I smile at him, holding up the bottle in my hands and letting out a breath of laughter. I assume our moment is over, and that, with the awkward ice successfully broken between the two of us, that Paul and I will now go our separate ways. But, clearly, Paul doesn’t see it the same way as he takes a step closer to me, his voice lowering an octave.
“We just keep finding our way back to each other, don’t we?”
My mouth falls open, my eyes immediately shifting over Paul’s shoulder, trying to find Alice. Unfortunately, she isn’t able to come to my rescue, her focus fully on getting the keg to work, one of the girls that was in front of her in line helping her along with a boy I recognize as Daniel’s cousin.
How many high schoolers does it take to make a beer keg operate?
“So, what do you say?” Paul asks.
My gaze returns to Paul in front of me. “What?”
His tongue pushes into the side of his cheek. “There’s no more of those wine coolers in this cooler.” He motions his thumb over his shoulder toward the cooler I just took this bottle from. “But I have some in my cooler on the other side of the pool. Want to go grab one together?”
