“Here you go.” She hands me a can of Arizona Iced Tea. “Shoot, you didn’t bring your bathing suit, did you?”
I shake my head.
“Did you?” I gesture to her attire, and she laughs.
“Yeah, I was about to put it on before my dumbass of a boyf—” She clears her throat, “Before Finn tossed me in the pool.”
There it is. I’ve been waiting for her to slip up for a while now, to validate my suspicions.
Their nonexclusive relationship isn’t Dia’s idea. It never was. It’s Finn. He’s the one pushing this “friends with benefits” nonsense. Dia would’ve locked it down ages ago. She already sees him as her boyfriend.
This is so not going to end well.
“I’m going to go change into my swimsuit real quick. Go mingle.” She motions to her shiny, newer-model friends.
I nod, but internally, I’m begging her not to leave me alone with them. Dia takes off in the direction of the house, then stops, shoulder-checking me. “Oh, and Vee?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really glad you came.”
I crack a small smile.
“Me too,” I lie.
I make my way over to the pool as Dia retreats inside Theo’s house. I consider mixing with the girls for a second, then realize I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a pitchfork than make small talk with Brielle Randall.
We went to middle school together, and I swear Brie and her minions got off on making my lifemiserable. She actually took a few jabs at me the first time we hung out with the jocks at school.
Lucky for me, Finn shut her down faster than a speeding bullet. Told her anyone important to Dia was important to him and she could either shut the fuck up or leave. Finn might be a scared-of-commitment little bitch, but even I’ve got to admit the guy is fiercely loyal.
“Hey, Aveena!” Lacey waves as I close in on the pool.
“Hey.” I smile, and surprisingly, it’s genuine.
Sometimes I wonder why Lacey hangs out with Brielle. Sure, they’re both cheerleaders, gorgeous, popular, but personality-wise, they’re worlds apart.
I did a science project with Lacey once—let’s try that again: I did a science project all by myself while Lacey watched once, and she was nice. She might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but for the captain of the cheerleading team, she’s… surprisingly decent.
I sit by the pool, rolling the hem of my jeans as high as I can and kicking off my fake Toms to dip my feet into the water.
“Vee, hey. Glad you could make it,” Finn says to be polite. It’s as obvious as Brie’s fake-tan that he’s only being nice to me because I’m his girl’s best friend, but I appreciate it nonetheless.
Theo snorts. “Aveena, is it? Anyone ever tell you your name sounds like a hand cream?”
I’m about to reply when Theo’s eyes light up.
“There he is,” Theo cheers. “About fucking time.”
“Where’d you go, princess? Got held up at the hair salon?” Finn laughs.
I whisk my head back to see none other than Xavier Emery walking out of Theo’s house in all his sexy good-boy glory—I’d say bad boy, but according to the entire flipping town, the guy can do no wrong. He’s in shabby jeans and a black T-shirt. Looks like he didn’t get the pool party memo either.
“Babyyy!” Brie leaps off her lounge chair, strolling toward him and flinging her arms around his shoulders to plaster a kiss to his cheek. Xavier doesn’t even look at her before untangling her arms from his neck one by one.
Ouch.
Then he ambles over to the pool to give some sort of handshake to Finn and Theo. It’s a guy thing, don’t ask. Brie stands there, eyes widened, jaw hanging.