Page 41 of Alive At Night

Gemma’s tone turned slightly hostile, which always happened when we broached this subject. It was the only reason I ever felt bad about my less-than-ideal relationship with Juniper—because it bothered Gemma to no end that we didn’t get along.

“Because no matter where I go, I can’t fuckingescapeher.”

There was a slight pause. A silence that had a pulse in the car.

“That’s why you went to California for college, isn’t it?”

I scoffed, ignoring how my stomach flipped. “Yeah, I moved across the country to get away from Juniper. It definitely had nothing to do with the D1 football scholarship.”

Gemma hummed, raising her brows. She tapped her fingers on the car door armrest like she was contemplating my answer. Wasn’t sure what there was to contemplate, though.

“How was the football game last week?” she asked, abruptly changing the subject.

“Good.” I turned the last corner of our trip, driving down our childhood street until I saw the old Victorian we called home looming before me. Leaves swirled to the wet ground, painting autumn on the pavement. “Knights won.”

Gemma’s eyes connected with mine in the rearview mirror. Blue met blue.

“And I hear that Juni is hitting it off with Noah.”

I looked away, focusing on parking in our driveway beside the other cars of our siblings and parents. “I don’t know abouthitting it off.”

A scoff sounded from the back seat. “You haven’t seen their texts.”

I put the car in park with more force than I probably needed to before turning to narrow my eyes at my sister. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

My sisters rarely pissed me off. A little annoyed or irritated, sure. But that skin-crawling vexation was reserved for other people in my life. Right now, though, as Gemma shrugged and jumped out of the car without answering me…I found my fingers wrapping tightly around the gear stick. Hard.

“Gemma!” I called after her, but the door slammed anyway.

I watched her skip through the light rain and the fall gloom, disappearing into the shelter of the open garage.

Fuck, I needed a drink. But I knew I probably wouldn’t get one, not until our house was party-ready. God, I hoped everything went off without a hitch this weekend.

Many years, it didn’t. Nine years ago, it was the accident. Four years ago, it was Johnny Lewis climbing on top of the kitchen table to belt outThrillerbefore falling and earning a trip to the hospital. And last year, we almost had to cancel the party because my parents struggled to afford it.

All we needed this year was no snow, no tabletop belters, and no last-minute cancellations. Luckily, I had enough in my bank account to help fund the annual get-together this year, so I wasn’t concerned about the last one.

But the other thing I needed to happen? Juniper. I needed Juniper at the party, even though I hated admitting that. If she was at my house, in my kitchen, downing the apple pie shots my mom always recruited me to make, she wouldn’t be spending time weaseling her way further into my friends’ lives. Intomylife.

Halloween had already been established as something I had to share with her.

My friends, though? That was new. And I didn’t like it. Actually, I hated it.

I hated it a fucking lot.

* * *

The Briggs FamilyHalloween party was a Whitebridge staple.

My parents invited nearly the entire town…which had its pros and its cons. Pro: I got all my catching up done in one night; no need to make multiple arrangements to see high school classmates or family friends. Con: There were people in town I had absolutely no interest in catching up with.

For one, I hoped Kelly didn’t show tonight. We dated for about nine months during our senior year of high school before going through what Ithoughtwas a mutual breakup. She’d planned to attend a university in New York, and with me going to California, we hadn’t wanted to attempt a long-distance relationship. But for the last ten-some years, she’d acted like I was a cold-hearted asshole who dumped her out of the blue.

I was standing in the kitchen with my dad when the first guests arrived—who luckily werenotKelly. With a peek down the hall, I was unsurprised when Juniper strolled through the front door with her parents a little past eight o’clock.

I also shouldn’t have been surprised to see her wearing that familiar short and pleated skirt, buthell, I still did a double take.

Gemma and Juniper had been dressing as Girl Scouts for Halloween foryears—ever since they were kicked out of their fourth-grade troop for shady under-the-lunch-table Girl Scout cookie dealings during the infamous Whitebridge scandal of 2005.

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