Page 36 of Between Never and Forever
I blink at her.
“So, he basically exploited kids who had nowhere else to go?”
She grins, then calls out to Mabel without taking her eyes off me.
“Hey Mabes. You think Oscar exploited us?”
Mabel doesn’t miss a beat. She pulls away from her girlfriend long enough to shout, “Definitely.”
Then she and her girlfriend laugh before going back to making out.
Sav chuckles, then shrugs.
“I don’t mind. I learned to play the guitar, which I love, and I’m one hell of a pickpocket now, too.”
“You’re a pickpocket?” I ask incredulously, and she rolls her eyes.
“Don’t be such a weenie.”
I work to hide my smile as I shake my head.
I’m working up the nerve to ask another question when Torren and Sean sidle up next to Savannah, and Torren throws his arm around her. My shoulders stiffen, and I grit my teeth as I watch the exchange. He pulls her into his body, and she leans against him. I tell myself it’s just because she’s had a few shots.
“Want to have some fun, Savvy?” Torren holds out his palm, flashing a few white pills, and Savannah grins up at him, then flashes a trouble-making glance my way.
“How straight edge are you, exactly, Leviticus?”
She cocks her head to the side as she watches me, taunting me just like she would when we were kids, and I shake my head slowly, biting back a smile.
“Still pretty straight edge.”
She hums, her Cheshire smile taming to something sweeter, and her eyes soften. She bites her lip, then laughs lightly.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah.” She kicks a little sand onto my barefoot. “I like you how you are.”
The way my stomach jumps is so unexpected, and all I can do is stare at her with a stupid half-smile on my face.
I’m about to open my mouth to speak, to tell her I like her how she is too, when she smiles back up at Torren, and opens her mouth for him. I watch, jealousy clawing at my chest and rage burning the butterflies that were lapping my insides seconds earlier, as Torren places one of the white pills on her tongue. She closes her mouth, swallows, then tips her head back to the night sky. Then Torren hands something to Sean and Sean puts it in his mouth.
The whole scene shocks me, so I just stand there and watch. I want to ask Sav what the hell she’s doing. Drugs? After everything she went through with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, how could she be okay with doing drugs? I want to scold her. I want to pick her up and take her home. Make her spit out whatever it is she just took.
But then Torren runs his hand down Sav’s back, and I grow angry for a different reason. I clench my fists when he leans down and says something in her ear. Her eyes pop open and a smile stretches her face.
“Okay,” she says to him, then swings her attention to me.
I stand a little taller when she steps out of Torren’s hold. Briefly, I let myself glance at him, and my pride bolsters when I see him scowling.
Good.
Savannah takes both my hands in hers. “Let’s dance.”
Despite my disapproval, my lips curve upward. “There’s no music.”
She laces her fingers with mine, then starts to step backward, steering me away from Torren and closer to the surf. My fingers tingle wrapped up with hers. I feel it running up my arms and into my chest.
