Dad wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pressed a kiss to my head.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he murmured.
Stupid as in ‘don’t do anything that’ll get me pissed at you because you’re pissed at him.’
Well, I couldn’t promise that. Instead, I just smiled and kissed his jaw since it was the only thing that I could reach on my tippy toes.
“Love you. We’ll be back late,” I lied.
I’d be back by ten at the latest. My curfew was twelve most nights, but since it was a Saturday night, I might be able to get a little more time out of him if I absolutely wanted to. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to come home and write on my blog. I wanted to curl up with a good book. And most importantly, I wanted to not think about Louis Clark Spurlock.
“Wait!” my mother cried as I let my father go. “I want a picture!”
I sighed and turned to allow my mother to see my face, and I wrapped my arm around my dad’s middle.
He started to pull me in tighter, but I made a disagreeing sound.
“If you mess my hair up, Ares is gonna kill me,” I teased.
“I really will,” Ares supplied, grinning.
Her eyes were on the men behind me. She was grinning wickedly at who I assumed was Louis. But I didn’t dare turn around to see.
“Now you two,” my mother ordered.
I let my dad go and went to Ares.
We hugged tightly as my mother snapped even more pictures.
“How about some with…”
“I can do one with you, and that’s it,” I said to her. “We were supposed to be there over an hour ago.”
My mother poked her tongue out at me. “You’re no fun.”
I rolled my eyes and reached for Mom’s phone, handing it to Ares.
Except, I kind of forgot that to take a picture with my mother, I had to turn and face the other side of the room. Which also meant seeing Louis.
I reluctantly turned and allowed my mother to curl her arm around me. The smile on her face had me smiling in reaction, too, even though I wanted nothing more than to leave. To run and never look back.
Instead, I picked my head up high, glanced at the camera, and prayed that my eyes would stay solely on it.
Instead, the moment the camera was dropped ever so slightly, indicating that Ares was done, I couldn’t stop myself.
I had to look.
And when I did, it was like a sucker punch straight to the gut.
He was in jeans, a t-shirt—one that I fucking bought him, might I add—and his Harley boots. He was wearing a red ball cap—the one that I sent to him via Ares with the rest of his stuff—and a smirk.
I wanted to smack that smirk right off of his face.
Pissed off now, I turned on my heels and pressed my lips to my mom’s cheek.
“We’re gonna go,” I said softly. “Love you.”
She squeezed me tightly and whispered into my ear, “He’s wishing he never broke up with you.”
I felt a catch in my throat when I looked at her. “I wish he wouldn’t have, either. But what’s done cannot be undone.”
With that, I caught Ares’ hand, and we were out the door.
I swallowed hard when Ares looked backward, her eyes connecting with something that was obviously watching us go.
In my heart, I wanted it to be Louis.
In my head, I knew it wasn’t.
Just before the door closed, I could’ve sworn I heard something.
“You fucked up, kid.”
Foster.
“I know.”
Louis.
I pretended I didn’t hear any of that. Instead, I hurried across the wet grass to Ares’s car and tried not to look at Louis’ motorcycle that always seemed to make me feel alive.
Ares looked at me with a shit-eating grin as we got into her car.
“I can’t believe he looked at you like that,” she gushed.
My brows rose.
“He didn’t look at me like anything,” I countered.
She scoffed, “Oh, baby. He was looking. Don’t worry.”
I wasn’t worried.
Was I?
Two hours later, once Ares had found her date, I was sneaking out the back.
I wasn’t sure what I expected at the prom, but it definitely wasn’t what I got.
The music was loud and overwhelming. The kids were dancing and stomping so loud that the entire gym floor was shaking.
And somebody at some point during the two hours I’d been there had poured copious amounts of alcohol into the punch bowl.
Leaving me thirsty as fuck, hot, and ready to get home.
I was literally ten seconds away from dialing my sister’s number when I heard an amused voice say, “Sneaking out already?”
I shivered when I heard that voice.
I turned slowly to see Louis leaning against the brick wall next to the door, staring at me with amusement all over his face.
“Yes,” I said simply. “It’s hot, and I’m thirsty.”
“Last year they had drinks,” he said.