“How hot is it?”
Katie laughs behind me. “It’s only like eighty-five right now. Quit your bitching.”
“Okay, well, it feels like it’s well over a hundred degrees and like my skin is going to melt off. How do people live here?”
“You acclimate, you fucking diva.”
Summer break started a few weeks ago, and all of us decided to visit Katie in Georgia. Crew, Aston, Knox, and I all arrived late last night; we flew red eye. Weston flies in today, since he had some graduation shit to do with his family. And Branson and Luca rented an RV last week, deciding to drive here, stopping to visit different places along the way. They also should be here today.
It’s crazy to think that half of our group are college graduates now and the rest of us are going to start our senior year in a couple of months. The last three years have been nothing short of wild and surreal, especially the last year.
Crew was able to transfer to WSU just in time for the fall semester and both he and Knox moved in with Aston and me. As soon as classes started, we found him a good therapist. He’s been going weekly since September, and I think it’s really helping. He opens up about things more and he has started to find his self-worth, which has been incredible to witness. He’s really coming into himself.
He also attends weekly Narcotics Anonymous meetings—which was all his idea—and he’s met some amazing people who share his struggles there. The first few months after getting clean, he admitted to me that the cravings were awful, but being able to talk through it with people who get it was helpful.
Over winter break, we flew back home, and he sat down with his parents, being honest about how he’s felt most of his life. He opened up about his accident, the addiction, how he feels like second best to them. I’m so proud of him for that. He was more nervous to do that than anything else during this process. They weren’t as receptive as I’d hoped, but they seem to be making somewhat of an effort now. They FaceTime with him once a week, and we were invited to Mexico with them for spring break—we didn’t go, but we were at least invited.
“Where are we going anyway? And why must we walk there?”
“We’re going to my aunt’s house. I have to grab the beach house key for us to use tonight. And we’re walking because it’s right down the fucking road, you big baby.”
Crew slips his hand into mine as we walk. Peering over at him, his gaze is already fixed on me, lip curled into an amused grin. “Who knew a little humidity would cause you so much distress.”
“Shut up.” I laugh. “And why didn’t Knox and Aston have to come?”
“They were…busy,” Katie murmurs, the insinuation in her tone clear.
“Fuck, why couldn’t we have beenbusyand avoided this walk through hell?” I grumble to Crew.
“Because we were alreadybusythis morning, and a little heat’s not gonna kill you.”
“Stop talking about boning in my mom’s house, would ya? And we’re here.”
“Thisis your aunt’s house?” My eyes bug out of my head as we take in the lavish mansion in front of us. It’s a literal mansion. There’s a large U-shaped driveway, light-colored brick steps leading up to the front door, two separate garage doors on either side of the house, and there are palm trees on either side of the stairs.
This house looks like a brick castle.
“She actually just moved in a few months ago. Her new husband bought this as soon as they got married.”
“What the hell does he do for a living? The mafia?! Who can afford this?”
“No idea. He works in the oil business, that’s all I know. And you’re one to talk… have you seen your house?”
“It is nowhere near as large as this,” I scoff.
Crew and Katie both laugh at me as we ascend the brick steps. Katie rings the doorbell and a minute later, a guy answers the door. He looks to be about eighteen or nineteen, if I had to guess. He looks over Crew and I—rather shamelessly, might I add—before fixing his gaze on Katie, smiling.
“Hey, Katie. Who are your friends?”
“This is Anderson and Crew; we go to WSU together. Guys, this is my cousin, Elias.”
“’Sup,” Crew mumbles at the same time I say, “Nice to meet you.”
“Come on in. My mom isn’t home, but she left the key you need in the dining room.”
The inside of the house is just as nice as the outside, all porcelain and marble, everything shiny, not a scuff in sight. The dining room we’re led to looks large enough to feed a small army.
“Here you go,” Elias says, handing a key ring to Katie. I can only imagine what this beach house looks like.