Page 23 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

That said, I wasn’tthatmuch of a loser that I didn’t understand that it was all the rage, especially among people who weren’t legally supposed to be doing it. It was considered “cool” to get drunk as a teenager who could barely decide when they needed to use the bathroom or not, even if I didn’t understand the allure. It did seem, at the very least, that they had restricted the booze to low percentage malt liquors and coolers. Probably Taylor’s doing.

“Aria?” I looked to my right and the guy who had a locker next to mine, Yunmir, was standing there. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

I snickered. “Yeah. I’m full of surprises. I also just happen to be old friends with the birthday boy, so…”

“Ah.” Yunmir nodded his head. “Well, how’s it going?”

“Pretty good. How are you?” I asked.

“Not bad. Can I get you a drink?” Yunmir asked. “I’ve seen soda, booze, water?”

“Oh, um…”

Behind Yunmir, I could see his friends standing and whispering to one another. I remembered on my first day, Yunmir had seemed to make a pass at me. He’d been kind to me the remainder of the week, but had never made any additional moves. He was smiling brightly at me, and his behavior seemed to suggest he maybewasa little interested. I was flattered, but he didn’t do for me even half of what Tristan did.

“Thanks, but I actually need to go and find Tristan now. He asked me to save him from mingling.” It wasn’t entirely false. He did say we’d meet up later on.

Yunmir seemed unbothered, nodding while tipping his beer towards me. “No problem. Maybe we can chat later on?”

How did people normally turn people down that they just had no interest in? “Yeah. For sure.”

He waved. “Okay, see ya then.” Then he walked off with his friends in tow.

In order to ensure that I could get as far away as possible from what could only get more awkward, I headed towards the stairs and started up. I had to slide along the wall, excusing my way past people as the expected popularity of the basement entertainment room grew. A few people stared at me as I passed, no doubt sharing Yunmir’s surprise to see the newest school loser at a popular, senior kid’s party, but I just ignored it. I was there for Tristan, and he’d beyond proven that he was happy I was there, so that was all that mattered to me.

On the upper level, the music was so loud that people had to shout to speak to one another, a problem most people were solving by not talking at all, but rather dancing and drinking instead. I scanned the sea of students, looking for Tristan, but he was nowhere to be seen. Taylor was making his way around the room, making sure everyone saw him and knew that he was there, and when his eyes met mine, he gave me an excited wave. I waved back, giggling, before continuing my search for his brother.

Finally, I turned to walk into the kitchen, where I saw Tristan standing along with his friends. He had the bag that I’d given him his gift in, and one of his friends was holding the sketchpad and pencils. I found it unbelievably adorable that he was showing his friends the gifts I’d gotten him, so I stopped in the doorway of the kitchen to see if I could hear what they were saying.

Unfortunately, I could.

“I mean,” Ceradi said, laughing so hard she was dabbing at tears in the corners of her eye. “How sad is it? She got itthiswrong.”

“These pencils are all shades of grey,” one of the guys who I’d learned throughout the week was named Josh, said. “The least she could have done is get you some colors.”

It hurt, but I expected it from the popular kids. They didn’t understand Tristan’s true self, nor seemed smart enough to recognize a true artist’s tools when they saw them. Tristan’s back was to me so I couldn’t see his face, but then he reached out and grabbed the sketchpad and pencils and shoved them back into the bag. I wasn’t sure if he was going to defend me or just walk away, but I was hoping for the former.

“What does she expect me to do?” Tristan said. “Draw a gray football?”

My stomach twisted and I felt like I was going to throw up. His friends erupted into laughter, and he doubled over like it was the funniest thing he’d ever experienced in his life. “I mean, is this what losers give each other as gifts? I’ve never been there, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Maybe?” another one, Neerah, said. “They show up uber early to parties and give lame gifts. That could be their thing.”

“I thought we were bad showing up at 7:30,” Hannah said. “When did she even get here?”

“No lie,” Tristan replied immediately. “Like ten after seven. Maybe even sooner, and she thought she was late.” He started roaring alongside his friends. “Who does that?”

“Why did you even invite her?” Ceradi asked.

Tristan shrugged. “She’s an old friend and I kind of felt obligated to.”

Ceradi shook her head. “Ugh. The sooner you ditch that nice guy attitude, the better off you’ll be.”

Thatwas considered a nice guy’s attitude?

One of the guys, Milton, held out a hand. “Hey. At least you can say you had two people show up that early.” His friends gave him looks of confusion, so he explained. “Oh, sorry. I’m counting her as two people, you know, because…” Then he warped his arms out on either side of himself and puffed his cheeks out like he was a balloon.

“Oh, I was just confused because I was counting her as three,” Tristan replied.

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