Hadley shakes her head.
Our group is large enough that they ask us to divide into two. Hannah, Ethan, Colin, Sam, Hudson, Evelyn, Grey, Palmer, Sadie, Corey, and a girl he invited whose name I keep forgetting, Lenny, and a couple of cleat chasers he invited are in the first group with Hadley and me.
“You guys are up!” A man dressed as a creepy clown says, offering Hadley a red balloon.
“No thanks,” she says.
Lenny takes it.
We only make it a few feet inside when a branch breaks to our left. Everyone stops, waiting to see if something jumps out at us. A dark-haired girl that Lenny brought clamps her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. A redhead is on my other side, gripping my arm.
My gaze turns to Hadley. Her only reaction is a slight hitch to her eyebrows before she moves to stand beside Evelyn.
Lenny grins at me. “I thought you brought a date?”
I pull my arm free from the redhead and then extract myself from the brunette. Lenny gladly takes my place.
I catch sight of Hadley and Evelyn near the front of the group, arms linked.
Hudson says something to Grey and then joins me. “Don’t you love unintended fuck ups?” he asks.
I want to say something flippant about Hadley and mine’s arrangement which is supposed to avoid things like jealousy and hurt feelings, but as I reverse the situation, picturing her clutching Lenny, Palmer, or even Hudson, jealousy hops into the driver’s seat, steering my emotions and thoughts.
I run a hand across my brow, considering my reply. “Are you worried the honeymoon phase will end?”
Hudson raises his brow, pausing as a werewolf-looking creature jumps out at us. The group screeches. As their screams calm down, Hudson shakes his head. “You haven’t even asked her out and you’re already worried about things going to shit. And you called me a cynic.”
I give him a sardonic look. “Even during the best of times with my ex, things were never as smooth and easy as…”
“As they are with Hadley?”
I meet his gaze with a silent admission.
“It’s not always going to be smooth and easy. For you guys or with Evelyn and me. It scared the shit out of me, too. I didn’t want to lose our friendship, but then I realized I’d rather fight to be together than fight to stay apart. And—” A man holding a chainsaw tears out of the woods. Hadley screams. I know her voice from the entire chorus.
I jog around Corey and Palmer with their dates and catch up to Hadley, putting my arm around her shoulder, and staring down the asshole with the chainsaw down. “Imagine it’s a movie,” I tell her. “It’s all fake.”
She buries her face into my shirt, keeping her other arm firmly wrapped around Evelyn until Hudson appears. “I’d rather be skydiving.”
I grin, pulling her closer to my side. “I’ve got you, Cutlass.”
We’re soaked, our collective expressions all revealing signs of exhaustion and relief as we exit the haunted trail an hour later. Hadley’s still glued to my side; hands wrapped tightly around my arm.
“Want to go again?” Lenny asks.
“No,” Hannah says, shaking her head as she pulls off her glasses and attempts to dry them with her shirt.
“I heard you scream, Lenny,” Corey says, swiping at his wet hair.
Lenny laughs, not even trying to deny it. “That prison scene…” He shakes his head. “I wasn’t expecting them to move. I thought they were fake.”
“Are we going out now?” Sadie asks, her voice clipped. She turned mean and hateful before we made it halfway through the trail, swearing at anyone who jumped out at us. I’d feel sorry for Palmer, but her reactions seemed to distract Hadley enough that she managed to breathe every time Sadie bitched at someone.
“Of course,” Lenny says, matching her tone.
“I think I’ve hit my fun limit,” Hadley says.
“Yeah, me too,” Hannah says. “It’s cold and wet.”