Page 131 of Girls Night
“Do you need a date for a dorm party?” she quips.
“No, but…” I shrug. “YOLO, ya know?”
There it is; that beaming smile that affects me more than I’ve cared to admit in the past. “YOLO, right.”
“And if Izaak sees you with me, he might finally back off,” I blurt, nervous as all hell now that I’ve gonethere.
“Fuck Izaak,” she snaps. “I like the first reason better, and that’s what we’re going with.”
End.
Of.
Discussion.
Wow, we reallydidjust go there, and without warning, too.
Chapter Five
Kaia
Don’t take it literally.
Don’t take it literally.
Don’t take it literally.
I’ve been repeating the mantra to myself over and over since last night. I can’t afford to take this seriously—going as Jules’ date for the party, I mean. For starters, that’s not how these things work—they’re a free-for-all for fuck’s sake—and secondly, there’s no way she meant for it to come off the way my heart wants it to come off.
This isn’t a real date.
This is simply an insurance policy that I won’t leave her to own devices in a crowd while I get my fingers wet and shove my tongue down another girl’s throat after a few drinks.
I know this ‘cause it’s happened before.
In my defense, Jules told me she was fine and I could run off. There was a girl I’d had my eye on—a distraction from Jules—and she was fully aware of my intentions. Obviously, she wasn’t fine because Iheardall about it on the Uber home.
Still, a part of me feels like I’m on cloud nine. Possibly stupid of me, no doubt, but the tides are changing. They have been slowly over the course of the last year and lately I can feel a stronger pull suddenly raging between us. I won’t get my hopes up, though, mostly because I know how it would end—with my heart in shambles and my best friend exiting stage left. For as much as I want Jules, I can’t afford to risk it.
Hence the mantra.
8:55 and I’m sliding into my seat with five minutes to spare. Professor Hart isn’t even here yet, giving me time to settle in and get all my shit out. He moves from topic to topic so fast, I legit have to bring a recorder to catch all the things I can’t take down on paper. I have a feeling by the time this semester is over, his class will be my least fave.
“We’re going,” comes quietly from the few rows behind me. At first, it doesn’t really pique my interests until I hear, “There’s a reason why I got that invite and I’m gonna find out.”
I go rigid in my seat, hairs at the nape of my neck going rigid at attention as I strain every last bit of my hearing to pick up the rest of the conversation.
That’s another person talking about this damn thing.
“You sure you wanna do that, Kels? You don’t even know who sent it,” another voice chimes.
So, Jules and I aren’t the only ones having this conversation…
“My knight in shining armor could be there, Desi. It feels like fate, like I should trust the path life is throwing at me.”
“Good-fucking-God, Kels, you read too many romance novels. This is life or death, dude. What if you show up there and there’s someone waiting to kill you,” Desi hisses.
“Well, that’s why you’re going with me,” Kelsey hisses back. “We’ll whoop the assailants ass and get the fuck out of there.”
