I opened my mouth and then closed it again. "What does it mean? You're supposed to be giving me advice!"
"My advice," she said around a big gulp of her drink, "is to ride it out." Kat threw an exaggerated wink at me and I wrinkled my nose.
"You're obnoxious when you're drunk," I said stiffly and she sniffed, falling back against her seat with a thump.
"You're an obnoxious."
"That doesn't even make sense." I rubbed my eyes and reached for one of the last shots on the tray.
She sighed heavily and looked at me with an odd sheen to her eyes. "You and Kit are the will-they-won't-they people of the group. Just go with it, find out if you're a will or a won't."
Just go with it. That was what I'd told Kit when my parents had just arrived. It was what he'd said to taunt me after we'd schemed up our ruse. Maybe I needed to take my own advice.
"You make a weird amount of sense for someone who's going to fake-marry a serial killer."
"Hey," she said sharply and I looked up in surprise before relaxing when she giggled. "That's my fake-fiance you're talking about."
I laughed and when she joined in I felt a strange sense of ease I hadn't been expecting to find when I'd come to meet her. "Just go with it," I murmured and she nodded like I'd asked a question.
"Just go with it."
We sipped our drinks in silence for a moment before both our phones went off at the same time.
“Group chat,” I murmured absently and Kat nodded, scrolling through the messages. I would have done the same if I hadn’t been distracted by the familiar figures of my sister and Xander strolling in. He’d decided to take her to dinner here? Well, I guess it was casual, but still. I ducked slightly when Saylor turned toward our booth and Kat raised her eyes from her phone long enough to watch me in bemusement.
“What are you doing?”
“Hiding from my sister.”
She nodded, her brows furrowing as she continued, “Right. Why, exactly?”
“Because she’s on a date with Xander and I want to spy on them.”
Kat snorted and I sat up slowly, feeling a little embarrassed after saying that aloud. “Sounds like a healthy relationship.”
“I didn’t know she was going to be here,” I pointed out and Kat just hummed in response. “What did they say in the chat, anyway?”
“They’re coming here.”
They? “Who?”
“Everyone.”
Fuck. I bit my lip. I’d relaxed a little since I’d arrived, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to face Kit yet. Especially not while surrounded by our friends.
“We can leave if you want,” Kat said softly and it was a genuinely sweet offer, her green eyes big and round in her face as she watched me.
“No,” I said eventually, “thank you. I’ll have to see him at some point, it might as well be now.”
“Then I think we’re going to need more drinks,” Kat said, slapping her palm down on to the table before heading up to the bar and leaving me with a perfect view of Saylor and Xander a couple of booths down.
Jamie was the first of the group to arrive and I smiled tightly at her as she slid into the booth opposite me. It wasn’t that I had a problem with her, exactly, it was just that where Jamie went, trouble often followed and it was exhausting sometimes.
“You’re early,” I commented and she brushed her chin-length dark hair out of her face as she smirked.
“You sound surprised. I do only live around the corner.”
True. But that didn’t stop her from being late the majority of the time we met as a group at The Box. She looked at home in the booth, the hot pink lighting making her look even grungier than usual in her cropped white top and deep purple lipstick.