Page 16 of Wasted Memories
“Stella, really?” Emerson cut her off and fished her phone out of her back pocket. “Shit. I didn’t realize how late it was. We should go.” She looked up at me. “Thanks for the jacket, Wesley, but you can have it back. I’ll be okay for a few minutes until our ride gets here.” She began to unwrap herself from my coat.
“Keep it. I’ll get it back from you some other time.”
I saw chills rise on her arms the moment she took it off, holding it out to me. “I can’t.”
“Why?” I didn’t take it from her. No way in hell was I leaving her out here in a fucking tank top.
“Jett will get mad,” Stella piped in, answering the question for her.
“Seriously, Stella?” Emerson pushed the jacket at my chest and I grabbed it in my fist, not taking my eyes off her. Stella’s comment seemed to sober her up real quick.
“I’ll be right back, I have to let him know we’re ready to leave.” Emerson walked away and put her phone up to her ear.
I turned to Stella, who was finishing off her beer while watching Emerson. “You see her mood change?” I wasn’t sure what she meant until I looked back at Emerson.
It looked like her confidence had poured right out of her, her shoulders slightly slumped, her fingers making anxious taps on her thigh. I didn’t know what to say back to her because I didn’t need Stella to know that I did notice it and that I was pissed about it. She was fine minutes ago, enjoying herself. Now she had an entirely different aura about her. “I think he’s drunk.”
“Who?” Everyone here was drunk. She was going to have to be a little more specific.
“Jett,” Stella answered.
Taking the phone away from her ear, Emerson turned around and walked back over to us, not making eye contact.
“We have to walk. Everyone here is too drunk to drive, and I don’t feel like sleeping on the beach with the rest of them.”
“What about Jett?” Emerson didn’t reply. It was pretty obvious Stella already knew the answer to that.
Emerson grabbed her sweatshirt off the log and hugged it to her stomach in a tight ball.
If she really thought she could walk home buzzed, wearing the thinnest top known to mankind, in this cold, and get there before sunrise, she was crazy.
This was definitely not how I imagined spending my night.
“I’m not drunk,” I pointed out. They looked confused, so I guess I had to spell it out for them. “I can drive you two home.” I didn’t have anything else going on tonight and I couldn’t drive away knowing they were out here trying to make it home on foot.
“You don’t have to do that,” Emerson said as Stella spoke over her.
“That’d be amazing.”
They were eyeing each other, looking ready to start throwing daggers at each other, when I handed my jacket back to Emerson. She had this guilty look in her eye when she took it from me.What was the harm in a drive home?
Chapter Six
Emerson
Stellasatinthepassenger seat, cramming me into the middle between her and Wesley. Of course, it was my luck that he didn’t have a back seat in his truck. The only bright side was that the heat was cranked, thawing my frozen skin.
I was still irritated that she’d insinuated those things about Jett in front of Wesley. My relationship was none of his business, and I didn’t know what Stella was trying to do. Leave it to her to stir things up.
That’s why I loved her though. She kept life interesting with her unpredictable scheming.
“You can drop me off first, my place is closer than Em’s.”
I rolled my eyes. I should’ve seen that coming, but the alcohol was tampering my better judgment. She had that conniving look in her eye whenever she was up to something. Whatever she was thinking, I wished she’d stop. Despite us being best friends, I didn’t need her interfering with this part of my life. I was fine with the way things were.
Jett put so much on the line to help me when we got together. He got me out of my mom’s house and found me the job at the Tavern. Not to mention he put a roof over my head. Stella could have her reserves about him but I wouldn’t let it bother me.
Jett and I met years ago when Stella and I offered to drive him and Luke home from this dive bar downtown. We had stopped in there after a movie to grab a quick drink when Jett started hitting on me. Luke had just picked him up from the airport where Jett had flown in from the east coast. Instead of taking him to the house he’d purchased sight unseen, Luke brought him straight to the bar instead.
