Page 108 of Breaking the Rules
Emma: I can Uber.
Hunter: Over my dead body.
Emma: Really? You'd die over me taking a ride share?
Hunter: Yeah.
Emma: That's a little melodramatic.
Hunter: So am I.
Emma: You really are.
* * *
Someone's parentsare out of town.
A big Brentwood house (in a perfect shade of Bruins blue) is booming with thewub wub wubof club music.
Its yellow fluorescent lights glow against the dark sky.
College students stand on the deck, sipping from red Solo cups. A few sit at a trendy green patio table, puffing cigarette smoke into the cool night air.
It's a normal party.
But it feels like I'm stepping into another dimension.
I haven't been to a proper college party since… Since Vinnie.
Fuck, that asshole doesn't get to be some sort of dividing line in my life.
There's no pre-Vinnie and after-Vinnie.
There's college.
I'm here at a college party like a normal sophomore.
Maybe my date isn't the most shining guy in the universe. Maybe he doesn't make my sex ache or my stomach flutter or my chest fill with warmth.
But it's like that saying goes.
I'm going to dance with the one who brought me.
I link arms with Collin as I step into the party. We pass friends playing a card game on the coffee table. Plates of snacks against the dining table. A row of bottles in the kitchen.
"Let's get a drink." I go straight to the makeshift bar. Fill a plastic cup with plenty of ice and rum and enough coke to make the whole thing palatable.
Collin fixes something with a lot of orange juice. "Damn, Em. You can put it away."
"Uh-huh." I swallow another gulp. Let the cheap booze warm my throat and cheeks. "This is your friend's party?"
He nods.
"Introduce me," I say.
"Yeah, sure." Collin leads me through the crowded living room. To a den around the corner.
Big leather couches. Clean white carpet. High ceilings. Skylights looking out at the stars. And those massive sliding doors that open to a lush backyard.
