I chuckled. It still stung to hear my best friend talking about playing college hockey, but it didn’t gut me like it had a couple of weeks ago. I was truly happy for him.
The bonfire was massive, and there had to be thirty people mingling around it. The sky was dark since the sun set a few hours ago, and a few of the brighter stars were already flickering. Had it not been for the raging fire, it’d be pretty cold out right now.
“Grace coming?” Brodie asked.
I nodded and glanced at my phone. “Kinda thought she’d be here already.”
“Why didn’t you pick her up?”
“She wanted to hang with Sam for a while.” I was bummed I couldn’t pick her up. We’d kind of bailed on the ice cream thing the other night, so I’d hoped tonight would be our first official date, but no luck.
But after that kiss in the car while watching the sunset…dang, I wanted to be with her even more. She’d finally opened up a little about her brother, who sounded like he was a really great guy, but seeing her relaxed and smiling was what got me really hooked on her. It was my goal to keep that smile on her face no matter what.
“Hey, Preach!” Jessa rammed into me. “No drinking tonight, right?”
“No way, girl. Give me some love,” I said, opening my arms for her to come in for a hug.
And she did. She’d finally forgiven me for being a huge asshole. I still felt really bad about how I’d treated her and all that nasty drunk texting stuff I’d sent her. She didn’t deserve that.
“Where’s your better half?” Jessa asked, grinning.
“Better, huh?” I hip checked her, actually loving the sound of that.
“I’m glad you pulled your head out of your butt long enough to see how awesome Grace is.” Jessa smiled. “She’s good for you.”
“I think so, too,” I whispered as I hugged Jessa again. “Thanks for giving me a second chance. I really am sorry for being such a jerk.”
“Don’t let it happen again. Like, ever.” She raised an eyebrow and poked me in the chest.
“Promise.” I made anXover my chest.
“Love you, friend.” Jessa gave me a hug.
“Love you, too.”
She let go and hustled after Willow, and I couldn’t help but smile. Finally, I was back on track, my friends had forgiven me for my Drunk Asshole Preach crap, I was seeing someone I really liked, and the headaches were subsiding. Still wasn’t sleeping very well, but the docs said that’d come in time.
Next up was figuring out what I was going to do after graduation.
Dad and Mom mentioned we could try for student loans, but they weren’t sure they could because of the debts Mom had racked up. It’d really hammered their credit score.
“What’s the story on Grace’s hand? It’s been what, like three weeks since the accident?”
“She’s still got that brace on.” I shrugged. “She won’t say much about it, other than it’s going to be fine, and that PT is working.”
Brodie leaned in and said, “You know, Willow’s mom is a nurse. And, well, one night, when we were hanging out at her place, Willow asked her mom about Grace’s injury.” He paused and shifted his weight.
“And?”
“Her mom said that with crush injuries like that, the nerves don’t always get better.”
“What?” Shit. Grace hadn’t mentioned that.
“Yeah, and the other day, Willow asked Grace if she had a backup plan, if she can’t get into the Air Force anymore…because of the injury.”
“When did this happen?”
“The night we all met up at the movies. You know, they drove together, and I guess Willow asked her on their way home. Willow’s been through it. Well, not the same thing, but something similar. So they talked about it.”