Me: You still there? We’re heading down now.
Raleigh: You know I got you. I’ll meet you at the bottom of the stairs.
I shove my phone back into the safe in my closet before we head down the stairs from the McMansion down to the sand below. I’m not going to need it tonight, but I learned long ago not to be stupid enough to just leave it lying around.
It’s impossible not to see or hear the party from here, but it’s nice of Raleigh to come get us anyway.
I think he might be one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.
Indi’s phone goes off, and she squeals a protest when she looks at the screen.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”
“Adams Ever Afterwas canceled. Goddammit!” she exclaims, stomping her foot. I want to go on whatever journey this is with her, but I literally have no fucking idea what she’s talking about. “Like, I know Ken died, but dammit, I was so freaking invested! I need to know what happens next. Natalie just went back to Banner-Hill. For fuck’s sake.”
“What on earth are you going on about?” She looks at me like I just kicked her puppy and took away her eyeliner stash all at once.
“You don’t know whatAdams Ever Afteris?” I wince at her screech as we reach the bottom of the stairs. Luckily, Raleigh is there waiting for us to save me from whatever this mini-tantrum is. I bounce across the sand toward him while Indi stops to take off her shoes.
“I’ve never heard of it,” I yell back to her before turning to Raleigh. “Hey!”
“You and I have a trashy TV marathon coming up, V. This is an atrocity!”
“What is she yelling about?” Raleigh asks, laughing as she stomps across the sand toward us.
“Adams Ever After? I don’t know.” I shrug just as Indi catches up, waving her flip-flops at me.
“You mean the TV show?” he asks, and Indi grins wide at him.
“See, he knows! Natalie just went back into Banner-Hill. I need to know what happens. I know I’m whining, but you don’t understand! I’ve watched this show for years! I know they haven’t finished airing all of this season, so I still have a little more, but this is bad, bad news. What am I supposed to do on Thursday evenings now?”
I can’t help but laugh at her dramatics. TV has never really been my thing, but if she’s this invested… “I’ve honestly never heard of it, but for you, I’ll give it a go.”
She does a weird little dance in the sand, and Raleigh shakes his head before leaning down and saying, “You’re going to regret that.”
He’s right, I might, but she’s happy. I can live with it.
It doesn’t take long for us to reach the outskirts of the beach party, and everyone says hello to Raleigh as we pass. The school might be for rich kids, but they seem to love football as much as any other town with a half-decent football team. I might as well be fucking invisible, though and it’s awesome.
Raleigh leads us to where Jackson and a bunch of the jocks are sitting around the fire, beer in hand. Music thumps loudly all around us, but not quite so loudly that I can’t hear myself think. It also doesn’t quite drown out the squeals of girls being dunked. It’s not like other parties I’ve been to, but then, technically this is my first high-school party.
Indi gravitates toward Jackson, while I chat with Raleigh and some of the other guys on the team. Apparently after my whole strut through the school half naked thing, everyone’s just straight up ignoring Maverick’s decree because I’m too hot to ignore, at least according to Raleigh.
I’m pretty sure that’s the most backhanded compliment I’ve ever gotten in my life, but fuck it.
I drink a little, not so much that I’m going to feel it tomorrow, but enough that I can feel a buzz and loosen up a little. I can’t believe it’s only been a week since I started back at Echoes Cove Prep. It feels like a fucking lifetime with the amount of shit I’ve already dealt with.
So I decide I’m going to have a little fun tonight.
What’s the worst that could happen?
* * *
Tonight has been way more fun than I expected it to be. Raleigh told me that the only reason Blair is here is because the cheer team is always invited, but by some grace of God, they’ve basically left me alone. In fact, I haven’t seen them around for a while. I’m not exactly sad about that either.
I lean into Raleigh, who’s had his arm around my shoulder most of the night. He’s so warm compared to the cool breeze, so I haven’t complained about it, even if it does feel a little possessive. He’s so chill, I’m sure that’s not his intention. I’m new at this whole ‘being around people my age all the time’ thing, though, so who knows?
Man, I miss the roadies.