Page 25 of Thick & Thin

He stared at me for longer than usual. His eyes moving over my face in a way that made me feel exposed.

“Are we going?”

He turned away, putting the truck in reverse. “Yeah. Sorry.”

The party was at JJ’s family’s lake house. We drove the twenty minutes to the house, laughing and listening to Jason Aldean on the radio. I left my hair down for the first few minutes of the ride, but once the wind came whipping into my downed window, I found myself pulling it up to keep it out of my face.

We were welcomed by white Christmas lights strung in the summer trees and teenagers all over the lawn in front of the house. The lake glistened behind the house, a few boats with lights strung on them floated with what looked to be more partygoers. The entire senior class was there.

“Let’s do this,” Josh said, opening the driver’s side door.

I opened my door and climbed down from his truck. It was warm out, but a slight breeze caught under the skirt of my dress and lifted it. The dress was knee length, nothing too short or too long, but I felt exposed like I never had before. I hadn’t even entered the party yet, and I already wished I had worn a pair of shorts or a pair of jeans.

The music was loud, thumping from a large DJ booth set up on the corner of the lawn. JJ’s parents had gone all out. We passed people on our way to find our little group, and Brandy Miller grabbed Josh’s arm and pulled him in for a hug.

“We did it!” she called out over the music.

He laughed and pulled away as nicely as he could. His mouth was moving as he said something in return, but I couldn’t hear what over the loud music.

I turned away from the two of them, and my eyes met JJ coming across the lawn toward us. He held up a drink and pointed at it. I nodded. I was going to drink to calm my nerves. If Josh wanted to drink, then I would only have the one. It would be out of our system before the night was over.

When JJ reached my side, he put the drink in my hand and pulled me in for a side hug.

“Glad y’all could make it.” He took a sip from his drink and then pulled away, looking me up and down. “Looking good, Scrappy.”

I smoothed down the skirt of my dress and shrugged. “It’s the end of school. Might as well go out with a bang, right?”

His eyes dropped to my legs, and he bit his bottom lip. “Hell, yeah. I’ll give you a bang.”

“Whoa,” Josh said from my other side, pulling me away from JJ. “I think that’s enough.”

JJ’s eyes lit up, the red around the rim going darker. “What the fuck, Josh? Let her live. If you’re not going to do something about it, let the rest of us try.”

Confused, I looked up at Josh. “What’s he talking about?”

Josh’s face was red, his teeth bared. “Nothing. JJ’s fucking around. Right, J?”

JJ’s face cleared, and he smiled, the smile not reaching his eyes. “Try to have fun, Jenny. I’ll see y’all around here. I need to go be a good host.”

He walked away without waiting for a response.

“What is going on with you lately? These are your boys, and all y’all seem to be doing is fighting.”

He shook his head, the red tint on his cheeks slowly dissolving. “They’re being dicks. They’re only hitting on you all the time because they’re trying to get under my skin. They know you’re my best friend.”

His words stung.

“Right. Because who in their right mind would hit on me because they find me attractive? That’s just unheard of.”

I walked away, downing my drink and trying to douse the flames of hurt in my stomach. He followed, reaching out to wrap his warm fingers around my arm and stop me.

“Stop. That’s not what I meant.”

“Well, that’s what you said.”

He let go of my arm and sighed. Pulling his hat from his head, he ran his long fingers through his thick hair.

“Nothing ever hurts your feelings. When did you get so goddamn girlie?”

---