Page 130 of Girls Night
“Exactly—I wouldn’t. I’m right here,” she takes another drag, drops her head back, and lets it go after a beat, “and when you finally decide you’d like to join me, we’ll light up. We’re in college, Jules, YOLO the fuck out of it. Now is the time for us to do all the things we never thought we’d do back home.”
Like finally make a move…
I nearly gasp aloud at my wayward thoughts. I know that’s not what she meant...
Or is it?
“That’s what the bucket list is for,” I reply, raking my hair out of my face. “Which means this goes both ways. You have to live the fuck out of it, too.”
Dropping the blunt in the ashtray, she blows out one last puff, eyes glued to the paused TV. “I plan to, trust me.”
“What about the invite then?” I press.
Chuckling, her stare instantly flicks my way. “I said we need to live, not put ourselves in danger. Besides, I already threw that shit out.”
“And I took it out because you’re not the only one who got one.”
Fuck.
I hadn’t meant to say it; it just...came out.
Her brow arches. “How do you know?”
“I heard a few girls talking about it earlier this afternoon. The one who got invited is in my ethics class. She was showing it to her friends as I was leaving the cafe with Winnie and all of them.”
“And...is she going?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, but at least now you know other people on campus are getting one, thus taking us back to itcould,in fact, be school-related.”
Kaia scoffs another laugh and shakes her head. “You really wanna go to this thing, don’t you?”
“Black. Tie. Affair, Kai,” I stress. “Sounds like it could be fun.”
“Fun and expensive, ‘cause we definitely don’t have shit to wear, meaning we need to go shopping. We don’t have time for that, so there; we can’t go.”
“Nice try,” I smirk, “but we have time on Saturday morning. The party isn’t until nine.”
“Nooo,” she groans, dropping her head onto the couch. “Saturday morning shopping with you? That’s hell in a fucking handbasket. You’re cheery as fuck on the weekends. Can’t we do it tomorrow night?”
I think I die laughing. She’s not wrong. I like to make the most out of my free time, okay? “I’m gonna let that slide ‘cause what I’m taking from this is you’re considering us going since you’re kinda agreeing to go shopping?”
Turning her head, her eyes narrow with amused unamusement.“No,that’s not that I’m saying.”
Uh huh, sure.
“It is, though, and no, we can’t go tomorrow because we have our first dorm party to attend.” My smile comes of the obnoxious variety, wide and exaggerated.
“Why are you trying to drag me to every party known to man?” she moans playfully. “We have four years to party, if not more.”
“And four years flies.” I bop her nose. “Like you were saying just five minutes ago; YOLO. We’re gonna do all the damn things, Kai. It’s basically expected of us. I mean, we kinda promised my dad, remember?”
“Yeah,” she laughs, “I remember.” A beat or two passes before she nods and sighs deeply. “I’m still not feeling the mystery party bullshit, but I can vibe with the dorm party.”
It’s a start.“I’ll take that,for now...Will you at least be my date?”
When I tell you the room drowns in silence...
My stomach catapults as Kaia holds my stare, a stare that never once falters as the corners of her mouth tilt in a smile. My lips do the very same, and my cheeks? They’re on pure fire.I can’t believe I just asked her that.
