“Get off of me,” I screeched, pulling at his arm.
“Make me.”
“Oh, good. We’ve reverted back to grade school,” Trix said in annoyance. “Leave her alone, Cam.”
“Such a baby,” Cam complained as he let me go.
“I’m sorry, your brother’s a pain in the ass when he’s drinking.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“I’m a pain in the ass, huh?” Cam asked, taking a step toward Trix. “You poor thing.”
“Don’t do it,” Trix warned, laughing as she stepped backward. “Cameron, I’m not joking.”
“You’re not?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “You sure?”
I slipped away as Cam threw Trix over his shoulder and strode out of the room, her screams getting lost in the music and people.
The rest of the group was still standing around the counter talking as I found a spot between Leo and Molly. Will was telling a story about something that happened in the garage that week, but I barely paid attention as Leo’s eyes found mine.
“Hey, Dandelion,” he said quietly, a small smile making his eyes crinkle at the corners. “They finally let you out, huh?”
“Yeah.” I leaned a little closer until our arms were barely touching.
“Everything good?”
“You’re here alone?”
“Yeah.” He gave a decisive nod.
“Then everything’s good.”
He chuckled under his breath and winked at me, and it was like the freaking sun had come out for the first time in months.
“Hey, now,” Tommy said, pointing at us. “What I said goes for you, too.”
“Shut up, Tommy,” I ground out.
“I’m not gonna be givin’ her anythin’,” Leo said in disgust.
“Better not be,” Will said.
“Oh, whatever,” Rose piped in. “Hey, where’s that hot blonde guy that was hanging around the club for a while?”
“Say what?” Will asked, glaring at his sister.
“Think she means Copper,” Leo answered, his lips twitching.
“Oh, fuck no,” Tommy yelled.
“What?” Rose asked innocently, meeting my eyes for just a second in solidarity. “He’s one hot piece of male meat.”
“Word,” Hawk agreed, nodding.
“You’ll stay the fuck away from him,” Tommy ordered.
“Eh, we’ll see.” Rose shrugged.
As they argued, I felt Leo’s hand tangle with mine, giving it a squeeze before he rested it back on the counter. A few minutes later, I slipped away and outside onto the small back porch. Tommy’s house looked brand new, but his huge yard was still an overgrown mess. He was planning on working on it next summer, and I was pretty sure by the time he was done with it, it would look like something out of a magazine. My cousin never did anything half-assed.
“I wondered where you’d snuck off to,” I heard behind me after just a few minutes.
I smiled as Leo came up beside me and rested his elbows on the railing next to mine.
“Having fun?” I asked, glancing up at him.
“Night’s better now that you showed up.”
“Of course it is. I’m awesome.”
“You sound like Farrah.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I meant it as one.”
We went silent then, and I had no idea what to say. Things had always been so easy between us, but now it was as if we had all of these unsaid things making it impossible to chatter about nothing.
“How have you been?” he asked quietly, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette.
“Better.” I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he lit up and took a deep drag. “My dad thinks that I should go back to therapy.”
“Might not be a bad idea,” he pointed out. “What do you think?”
“I think I’ve had enough therapy to last my entire life.”
“Could help, though.”
“Maybe.”
He was quiet for a minute, then turned his head to look at me. “You can talk to me, Dandelion. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“About anythin’, any time.”
“I know.”
“So what’s new, then? You get into all the colleges you applied to?”
“Most of them,” I answered quietly, my stomach clenching at the thought of going anywhere. “Now I just need to figure out who will give the best scholarship.”
“Gettin’ scholarships, too?” He whistled quietly like he was impressed.
“Of course,” I grinned proudly. “I applied for every one I could think of. Grants, too.”
“Smart.”
“I just don’t want my parents going into debt so that I can go to some fancy school.” I shrugged.
“You know they’ll do whatever they have to. Ain’t every day that you raise a genius. You gotta nurture that.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I’d been hearing different versions of that my entire life. I knew my family was proud of me, but honestly, I’d never really felt any different than my siblings and cousins. I had my parents to thank for that.
“So, what schools are at the top of your list?” Leo asked, looking away.
“U of O, of course.”
“Of course,” he said with a smile.
“But, the University of Washington, too. And Yale. Did you know my dad went to Yale? He’s pushing for that, even though the tuition is ridiculous.”
“Yale.” Leo shook his head. “What a trip.”
“I got in to three Ivy League schools,” I confessed with a sigh. “But even if I got the scholarships I applied for, I’d still have massive amounts of tuition to cover.”