I tear my eyes off him, staring ahead of me as I search my pockets for my keys. Then I feed the growing gap between us by a hundred miles.
“Pretty hard for you to fix my life if you’re not a part of it.”
* * *
“Never have I ever had sex in a public place.” Lacey chortles, grabbing a glittery pillow on the couch and clutching it to her chest.
Is this game lame? Yes.
Does Lacey give a rat’s ass? No.
I knew when I showed up to Lacey’s house to find her puking in the sink with Hadley Queen holding her hair, that this “girls’ night” was going to be… well, memorable.
I have to hand it to Lacey. It’s got to take some serious guts to get drunk on a weeknight. My parents would die before letting me get shitfaced under their roof.
Granted, her parents seem to be gone a lot. She doesn’t talk about them much, but if the parties she constantly throws are anything to go by, either her folks don’t care what she does or they don’t stick around long enough to notice.
We cut her off an hour ago, and we’ve been playing this stupid game ever since.
It’s just Hadley, a girl named Astrid, Lacey, and me for now, but there were supposed to be five of us tonight. Lacey keeps talking about how awesome her childhood friend is and how much we’re going to love her when she gets here.
Apparently, she used to live in Silver Springs but moved away a while back. It’s late, and I’m starting to wonder whether or not I’ll get to meet her at all. I might have spent the summer breaking all my parents’ rules, but I’m not trying to incur their wrath by missing my curfew.
“I’ve got one for you,” Lacey tells Hadley with a squeal, falling backward onto the fluffy blanket we threw on her living room floor. Hadley forces a smile, but I can tell she’s dreading Lacey’s brilliant idea.
“Never have I ever—” Lacey points to Hadley with a chuckle. “—made out with a celebrity.”
Hadley’s cheeks become scarlet.
This seems to be a sensitive topic for her, but Lacey is too fucked-up to care. Uncomfortable as can be, Hadley guides the glass of water in her hand to her mouth and takes a sip.
“Wait, what?” Astrid chimes in. “Oh my God, who?”
“Kane freaking Wilder, bitch. They used to be best friends,” Lacey blurts. A few lyrics pop into my head as soon as Kane Wilder’s name is mentioned.
My sister Catalina and I were full-on obsessed with this guy once upon a time. For what it’s worth, I’ve never met a girl who hasn’t had a Kane Wilder phase. It makes sense. The guy has the voice of an angel, not to mention he’s out-of-this-worldhandsome.
He mostly does pop acoustic music and writes his own songs, but last I heard, fame got the best of him this past year. I did hear rumors he’d spent some time in Silver Springs growing up. That would explain how he and Hadley met.
“Who’s next?” Hadley cuts Astrid and Lacey’s fangirl moment short. I don’t know what their story is, but I get the sense it doesn’t have a happy ending.
“Got one.” Astrid glances at Lacey. “Never have I ever been in love with the same guy my whole life.”
“Low blow.” Lacey scoffs and drags a sip of her ice tea.
I’m not shocked that it came up. Theo’s all Lacey ever talks about. He’s her ideal man, the name she scribbles in her notebooks, her childhood crush and future husband—or so she claims—but he’s not interested in her.
At least, not in the way she wants him to be.
She wants breakfast and epic romance.
He wants midnight sex with no strings attached.
“Girl, you have got to get over him.” Hadley speaks my mind.
Triggered, Lacey groans and covers her face with her hands. “Nope. Not talking about him tonight. I’m way too drunk. I’ll start crying.”
But she’s already getting emotional.