Julia’s lips went numb. She could handle Max sexually rejecting her, she could survive him finding out about Eli but the last thing she ever wanted to talk about was the night they met. “Why can’t we just leave it alone? I thought we had an unspoken agreement.”
“Exactly, it was unspoken, and now I want to speak about it.”
“I barely remember that night.”
“It was a twenty-first birthday party, you were wearing a green dress?”
Julia’s pencil rolled out of her grasp and clattered to the floor. “You remember what I was wearing?”
“Of course I remember what you were wearing and Iknowyou remember me.” Max’s face was deadly serious, not a trace of humor or sleepiness remaining to soften the harsh angles she knew so well.
“I…don’t want to talk about it.”
Max leaned in closer, so close Julia might have thought he wanted to kiss her. “We should have talked about this before we slept together and you know what, we’re going to talk about it now. I’ll ask you again, Jules. Do you remember the night we met?”
Chapter 13
JULIAclimbed out of Mikayla’s hatchback, adjusting the straps of her floaty green dress so they lay directly over her collarbones. She was nervous as hell but she felt good. Extra alive. Tonight she was channeling Ash, which should be easy considering she was wearing her dress, makeup, shoes, and sporting her condoms.
“Are you sure about this?” Mikayla asked.
“Yes, I am. I’m going to walk up to the hottest guy at this party and I’m going to hit on him.”
“Butwhy? You’ve had guys…” Mikayla looked around nervously. “Interestedin you before.”
“Yeah but from the day I lost my v-plates right up ’til now I’ve never felt anything…I don’t know,passionate. And I know passion exists because I share a bedroom wall with Ash.”
“Ash’s boyfriends are gross.”
“True, but at least she has good sex. I have mediocre sex. Bordering on terrible.”
“And how does hitting on someone out of your league help?”
“I’m not attracted to the guys I sleep with. I only date them because they ask. I never take a chance on anyone who intimidates me and all hot guys intimidate me.”
Mickey looked less than impressed by her confession. “All hot guys intimidate me too, but it doesn’t mean I want to start talking to them.”
“We can’t just wait around for dudes to waltz up to us.”
“It’s just so scary, the idea of actually talking to a footballer or whatever. What if they laugh at us?”
“We just have to be confident. Which, judging from Ash, means sticking out your tits and laughing a lot.”
Mickey screwed up her nose.“Great.”
“Come on.” Julia grabbed her friend’s hand. “Let’s do this.”
Brett’s twenty-first started hours ago but she and Mickey were fashionably late, i.e. petrified of showing up while everyone was still sober. It was a big crowd and everywhere Julia looked there were men. She nudged Mickey. “Just think, somewhere in this paddock there are two ridiculously good-looking guys who’d like nothing more than to have sex with us.”
Mickey rolled her eyes.
They headed toward the drink coolers where Brett the birthday boy was lurking, a half-empty beer stein in his hand. “Little Bennett, aren’t you looking sexy?”
Julia immediately wished she had a jacket. “Thanks, Brett. Happy twenty-first.”
“Cheers. Where’s your sister?”
“At a gig with her boyfriend.”