She nodded. “Make sure you ask your parents. You know our door is always open.”
I’d tell them, but I doubted they would hear me as I slipped back over here for the night.
“Great.” I slid off the stool and bounced next door, yelling into my house before grabbing my emergency sleepover bag I kept ready to stay over at Taylor’s house. I should have probably had a drawer, or at least a dozen hangers, in her closet by then. Sharing clothes wasn’t a big deal for us anyway.
* * * * *
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t what I had in mind when you said ‘let’s go to the Burrito Barn.’”
Taylor pulled my shirt and I leaned back to hiss, “Tay-Tay, don’t be a boring boulder. Besides, the guys are going to be here.”
“Then why did we have to walk across town?” She yawned, elaborating. “We could have seen them tomorrow, no?”
“No, tomorrow would have been too late.” My bestie rolled her eyes so I explained, “Because our bicycles are locked in the garage and they make too much noise. Did you want sirens to announce us?”
“No, of course not, but I would have worn my gym sneakers instead of ballet flats to traipse around for miles.”
“I bet Hunter will be here.”
Hunter and his cousin were inseparable, and I could’ve bet the pretty soon he’d also be playing on the football team with Damien.
“You think so?”
I knew it: my best friend had a huge crush on the new kid, who also happened to be Damien’s cousin.
I had been standing in the locker room during our gym period, waiting to fix my makeup, when I’d overheard Becky say they were all meeting at the Burrito Barn for late-night enchiladas and ice cream from the stand next door. I didn’t want us to miss out—plus Taylor’s parents were so trusting they didn’t bother locking the house in our small town, even after 10 p.m., meaning I could sleepover and we could sneak out on a Friday night without having to worry about getting caught. It was a perfect plan, in my opinion.
“Hey look, everyone is here.” I pointed to the group sitting at the outdoor tables, chowing down. The boys had huge plates while the girls—some older and most of whom I knew from my cheer squad—picked at nachos, pretending to diet. Bitches.
“Kristen.” I looked up to see my brother release some girl from the clutches of his lips. It was gross; I was going to suggest a new brand of lip balm if he kept this up.
“You left Dad reviewing football clips at home?” I crossed my arms tapping my foot.
He laughed at me lifting his shoulders nonchalantly. “I told him I had a date.” Winking, he squeezed the girl whose name I didn’t know, even though she looked vaguely familiar. Maybe he met her playing a game somewhere, I didn’t know. She could have gone to another school in Gardener or Poughkeepsie, which was irrelevant.
I did, however, look down and notice she was wearing these open-toed flat shoes. It was still warm for early fall, but I realized her nail polish wasn’t purple. It was a sleek clear glitter that sparkled in the overhead streetlamp. So whoever she was, she wasn’t the girl my brother had been lip locked with at our house earlier today.
“Hmm, okay.” Musing, I wondered who was who. Glancing to the left, I watched Becky give the girl an evil stare down. Something was up, but it wasn’t my business. If Chase wanted to piss off Becky, that was his problem.
“Sleepover?” he asked and I nodded, linking arms with Taylor next to me.
“Yes.” Chase seemed to approve—not that I needed him to. He was still an asshole much of the time, but he did look out for me, which was better than our parents.
“Hey girls.” Hunter called us over and I pushed Taylor forward. Her hot hunk was looking her over discreetly, but I could tell. He was so obvious sometimes, looking like a kicked puppy when Taylor walked into a room. She stumbled and half turned to glare at me before righting herself and walking over to the table where Hunter and Damien were sittin
g, surrounded by other athletes and girls.
We nodded to them and Hunter got out of his seat, clearing his plate. He made room for Taylor to sit down and elbowed Damien to do the same for me. Damien rolled his eyes but a look passed between them and he got up.
“You want anything?” Hunter was speaking to Taylor, who mutely nodded no thank you as a blush crept up the back of her neck. Grunting, his let his hand linger toward her back but never touched her as he continued talking to Noah Banks and Evan Rooney from the football team. The boys sported their varsity jackets, and the girls who were there hung on them like they were the moon and stars.
“Who let you out of you cage tonight?” Damien nudged me, finally letting me take the seat next to Taylor, and I glowered back.
“Har-har, real funny, Demon. I see Satan let you out of hell. Good behavior?”
He shook his head at me. I knew he had detention after school that day and he laughed it off. Our principal was a tough guy, and Damien got in trouble just enough to be on probation with the football team and my dad the coach—but not enough to get kicked off because was actually a good player. I don’t know how he managed it.
“I wrote my essay and apologized profusely. I will never again use my hall pass to skip class and have a second lunch.”