Page 82 of Fun at Parties
“Quinnie,” Logan says when he spots me, wrapping me in a hug and lifting me off my feet. “Are you taking good care of Nate for me?”
“You lost your right to ask nosy questions when you ditched us in Tahoe.” I fail to sound convincingly grumpy. He shakes me back and forth, and I give up and laugh.
Behind me, Breanne is introducing herself to Nate. “You guys good?” she asks, but I don’t hear his answer.
I wiggle free of Logan. “Yeah,” I say. “Are you guys good?”
“We are,” Logan says. “And Nate’s going to beexcellentwhen my parents sell to him.”
Nate smiles at me. He doesn’t look as confident as Logan sounds, but he looks…at peace. “Why don’t you want to do it?” I ask Logan.
He and Breanne exchange a look. “I’ve had a tough year,” he says. “I want people to take me seriously, but I haven’t been doing anything to deserve it. So I thought a lot about what I want to do and decided I need a way forward.”
“That’s why he said this trip was his last hurrah,” Nate adds. “He’s got plans.”
Logan beams and throws his arms open. “I’m going to Harvard Law School!”
My brain scrabbles for a way to make sense of what he’s just said. “Like, to visit? For a…party?”
He groans. “See? My point exactly. Give me a little credit, I graduated college summa cum laude.”
Now that I think about it, I remember flipping through Bailey’s yearbook at her parents’ house once and spotting him in the National Honor Society photo.He was our valedictorian,she told me. It’s just hard to picture given, you know, everything else about him. “Holy shit,” I say.
He bursts into laughter. “I applied last year and got in, but I deferred once I got cast onBeach House: Ski Trip.I’m going to hang with my parents through the holidays, then move up to Cambridge early and intern at anonprofit until school starts. Once I’m a lawyer, people willhaveto see me differently.”
Logan is trying to look casual about all this, but his thumbs are twisted in his belt loops and he’s rocking on his heels, watching for my reaction. “I’m proud of you,” I say. “You deserve good things. And I fully expect you to win a murder trial within the year, just like Elle Woods did.”
He asks us to go back inside to dance—“I’m prepared to beg,” he warns, but he doesn’t need to. It’s the right way to end this adventure. Plus, what’s another three layers of glitter when you’re already covered?
“You okay?” I whisper to Nate on our way in.
“Yeah,” he says. “I really am. I understand where he’s coming from, I’m glad we talked it out, and I feel like maybe I can do this on my own.”
I squeeze his hand, and we spend the next two hours spinning and sweating and shouting the words to every dance hit of the last three decades.
When the lights come on, Breanne and I pop into the bathroom while the guys take on the task of figuring out how we’re all getting back to our respective beds. “I split my time between Nashville and L.A., you know,” she says as she washes her hands, her voice hoarse from singing. “We should get dinner sometime.”
“I’d love that.” I have to restrain myself from wrapping her in a bear hug. Breanne is a thoughtful, genuine person. I’d be lucky to call her a friend.
If she likes me too, maybe she’ll be willing to help me with All & Every. The fact that my mind even went there makes my stomach ache with shame. But there’s noguarantee I’ll have another opportunity to bring it up. “Hey, quick question?”
“What’s up?” She pats the sweat off her forehead with a paper towel.
A lump swells in my throat. We connected tonight, but if I ask her for a favor right now, she’ll wonder if that connection was real or calculated. She’ll trust me less, and she might be hurt. And I’ll be someone who knew she would feel that way and asked anyway.
I keep thinking of myself as a decent person forced to do things I don’t like because of my circumstances. But the things Idomatter more than whatever idea I have in my head about who I am.
I clear my throat. “Do you like Korean food? There’s this new restaurant I’m obsessed with. We can go there the next time you’re in town. No glitter whatsoever.”
She beams, and for once I’m sure I did the right thing.
Chapter 27
The first time I decidenotto check my phone immediately upon waking, it turns out to be a mistake.
It’s the persistent drone of a car alarm that jolts me into consciousness early the next morning. I groan, burrowing into the comforter to muffle the sound. It’s still dark outside. Nate slides his arm around my waist, pressing his face against my hair, which is still damp from the shower we took a few hours ago. The noise stops, his limbs relax, and his breathing goes deep and steady. How does a person fall back asleep so easily? Once I wake up, my brain and my body think it’s time to get going, and even exhaustion won’t convince them otherwise.
If I’m up, I should at least enjoy the moment. Nate and I won’t have many more opportunities to spend the night together. We’re due to check out of here by eleven, and then I guess we’ll head to Seapoint. He needs to prep for his solo pitch to Logan’s parents, and I need to spend quality time with Bailey once she gets home from her conference.
