Chapter Six
Then
They’d attended the party at Allie and Ethan’s insistence. The Lonely Onlys would be seniors in a few weeks, and scoring an
invite to a summer party at a recent high school grad’s house was a big deal. Through soccer, Allie and Ethan knew half the
kids there and flitted off in different directions as soon as they arrived at the parent-free house, leaving Piper and Wyatt
to fend for themselves. The sticky crowd of teenagers, blaring music, and cheap liquor was not Piper’s idea of a good time,
but she wanted to be a good sport and show everyone she could loosen up.
That’s how she ended up seated in a circle spinning a dusty bottle of merlot. The wine bottle stopped its rotation in front
of a senior boy with a pinched face and mean eyes. All Piper knew about him was his name, Hunter, and that he was popular
because he drove an expensive car and was a pitcher for the varsity baseball team. She’d overheard him bragging earlier that
night about the number of girls he’d already slept with that summer, and not in a way that made her want to get in line.
“New rules,” Hunter said, his gaze roving up and down Piper’s body. “Matches get to spend seven minutes in heaven—a.k.a. the
closet over there.”
Piper pulled up the straps of the figure-hugging minidress she’d borrowed from Allie, hiding as much of her cleavage as possible. Guys like Hunter who were used to getting what they wanted didn’t scare her, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be alone in a closet with him. But Allie’s voice rang in her head, telling her to go with the flow and have fun.
“Lead the way,” Piper said, standing to face Hunter, wishing she’d taken the cup of spiked punch offered earlier in the night.
Wyatt, who was uncharacteristically participating in the game, reached out to twist the bottle in his direction. “I think
that one landed on me. Maybe next time, Hunter.”
Hunter opened his mouth to argue, but when Wyatt stood up and revealed his six-foot-three, broad-shouldered frame, he closed
it. Taking advantage of the pause, Wyatt grabbed Piper’s hand and dragged her to the closet before she knew what was happening.
“What are you doing?” she hissed as soon as the door shut behind them. Now everyone was going to think she’d chickened out.
“Saving you from having to kiss Jerkface McGee,” Wyatt replied. “You’re welcome.”
“What if I wanted to kiss him? Did you think of that?”
Wyatt squinted at her in the dim light. “I can go grab him if you want me to. I’m sure he’d be happy to shove his tongue down
your throat for seven minutes.”
He put his hand on the doorknob to open it, but Piper stopped him with a resigned sigh.
“No, you’re right,” she said. “I didn’t want to be stuck with him. But I don’t want people gossiping about us in here.”
“Why? Because it would ruin your squeaky-clean reputation if people thought you made out with Wyatt Brooks?”
There was an edge to his voice that made it hard for Piper to tell if he was joking.
“I’m not crazy about your third-person reference,” she said. “But no, of course not. I don’t like the idea of our friendship
being reduced to a stupid high school rumor. It’s too special for that.”
She was grateful for the darkness so Wyatt couldn’t see her blush. Too special for that? Had she really said that out loud? Being in a quasi-romantic situation with Wyatt, however forced it might be, was scrambling her head.
Wyatt’s shoulders relaxed. “It’s hard to escape a high school rumor. You’re better off ignoring them. But in this case, we
can decide what we tell people. So, what do you want our story to be?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, as soon as our time’s up, which I’m guessing is about four more minutes, everyone’s going to want to know what we’ve
been doing in here. Did we kiss? Did we make out? Did we talk about politics?”
Piper laughed, but it came out thin and nervous. Standing this close to Wyatt was making her hands sweat. Which was absurd
because they spent most summer days holed up in a clubhouse not much bigger than this closet. But in the clubhouse, her heartbeat
never took up the entire room.
What was going on? Wyatt was her friend. There’d been no blurring of those lines, but talking about kissing made her think
about kissing him. And thinking about kissing him made everything inside her warm and tingly and out of focus.
“I think we can say you kissed me and make it no big deal,” she decided, tucking her blond hair behind her ear.
She wasn’t sure if that was the right answer or what he’d been expecting, but his eyes lowered, and he leaned in close. She
closed her eyes and raised her face up for his kiss, her heart beating so fast it had become one steady murmur, but he bypassed
her mouth, grazing his soft lips on her cheek.
“There, now it won’t be a lie,” he whispered.
The place where his lips touched her face stung like an electric shock. It left her wanting more, but she didn’t dare move
when she needed all her energy for breathing.
Before she could respond with anything coherent, someone yanked open the closet door, and they blinked out into the harsh fluorescent lights of the living room.
Had it really been only seven minutes?
“Time’s up!” Kiera Gomez crowed from the crowd of teens gathered around the closet. “Something definitely happened in there.
I can see it all over Piper’s face!”
Even though she was the same age as Kiera, next to her, Piper felt like the kid sister invited to the party out of pity. Blushing
a deep shade of red, she brushed past the crowd.
“How far did you get, man?” the guy standing next to Kiera asked Wyatt.
“A gentleman never tells,” Wyatt replied, following Piper out of the closet.
“I hope you’re not too much of a gentleman.” Kiera batted her long eyelashes at Wyatt. Her teeth gleamed white as opals against
her brown skin. “Wanna take a turn with me in there?”
Kiera’s blatant flirting and syrupy sweet baby voice hurt Piper’s teeth. She hated it almost as much as she hated the lopsided
smile on Wyatt’s face—the one that made his dimple wink. The one he was now aiming in Kiera’s direction.
Wyatt smirked. “You need to spin a bottle first.”
Kiera held the Bud Light bottle she was drinking from above her head and twirled in a circle, tilting the bottle in Wyatt’s
direction as she faced him again.
Wyatt gave Piper a helpless shrug as Kiera pushed him back into the closet, but he didn’t look upset by this turn of events.
And why should he? With jet-black hair down to her waist, Kiera was curvy, confident, and gorgeous. Everything Piper was not.
Hot pins pricked the backs of her eyes. Wyatt kissing anyone else made her want to claw her eyeballs out—which was inconvenient, considering Kiera likely had her tongue down his throat at that very moment. Piper didn’t know how to handle whatever this latent crush might be, but she knew she couldn’t be here when Wyatt and Kiera emerged from the closet.
Piper found Allie in the crowd downstairs and tugged on her arm. “Wanna take a shot?”
“Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?” Allie laughed and poured them each a generous shot of Fireball.
Downing them elicited a cheer from the group crowded around the kitchen counter, and someone poured her another. Pretty soon,
Piper had lost count of how many shots she’d consumed.
Ethan pulled her onto the dance floor, and she swigged from the drink he handed her, no longer caring what liquid filled the
cup so long as it stopped her from thinking about Wyatt’s lips on her cheek. And Wyatt’s lips on Kiera’s.
Later, when Hunter found her outside the bathroom and suggested he drive her home, she didn’t think twice about taking his
hand and following him out of the party. At least someone here thought she looked kissable tonight.
While Hunter dug his car keys out, Piper slumped against the hood of his Jeep Cherokee, debating if she should let Allie know
she was leaving, but her legs were too heavy to go back inside.
Wyatt found her at the same time Hunter found his keys.
“Piper, there you are! Come on, we’re going home.” Wyatt grabbed her hand and hoisted her upright.
Hunter grabbed her other hand. “I offered to take her home myself.”
Piper swayed like a rag doll between the boys. “I don’t need you to rescue me again, Wyatt,” she said, slurring her words.
“You can go make out with what’s-her-face some more. I’m fine here.”
Wyatt leaned down and spoke directly into Piper’s ear, his voice low. “Piper, you’re drunk, and there’s no way I’m leaving
you with this idiot. Now, you can walk to my truck by yourself, or I can make a scene and carry you. It’s up to you.”
Piper blew a wisp of hair out of her face. “Someone’s cranky.”
She yanked her hand out of Hunter’s and half walked, half leaned on Wyatt as he escorted her toward his truck. Hunter followed for a few steps but gave up after a sharp glare from Wyatt.
Wyatt opened the passenger door and helped her into her seat. “What happened? I leave you for an hour, and you get wasted?
You’re usually smarter than this.”
“Maybe I’m not as smart as you think.” It wasn’t the best comeback, but it was the only one she could think of.
“Buckle your seat belt.”
“Yes, sir!” Piper gave him a mock salute. Then she threw up out the window.
After some water and a large order of McDonald’s French fries, Piper’s head stopped spinning. Wyatt kept the windows rolled
down as he cruised the back roads of their neighborhood, letting her come down from her drunken high.
“How come you’re not drunk, too?” Piper asked.
“Because I don’t drink.”
“Never?”
Piper had heard stories about Wyatt’s escapades with his football teammates and assumed he partied regularly back in his hometown,
but now that he’d said it, she couldn’t recall ever seeing a drink in his hand.
Wyatt focused on the road. “It got me into trouble last year. Nothing serious, but if things had gone a different way, I could
have spent the night in jail. Maybe worse.” He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “I can’t afford to mess up like you
can, Piper.”
She frowned, confused. “What does that mean?”
He flicked his gaze in her direction. “You live in a different world than me. In yours, everyone goes to college. Everyone
recycles. Or gardens. Your dad golfs at the country club and tips well. Your mom shows up to your parent-teacher conferences
sober.”
That drove his point home swift as a bullet. Wyatt hadn’t willingly shared the news of his mother’s third DUI last month, but Piper had learned the details from eavesdropping on hushed conversations between her parents. She’d gleaned that his mom had lost her license and been sentenced to a year in prison, and because she was Wyatt’s only living parent, she’d effectively left him to fend for himself. The thought broke Piper’s heart.
“I’m sorry.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, not sure what else to say.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. Just like it’s not your fault my mom would rather go out drinking than hang out with me.”
Wyatt’s words were laced with bitterness.
She reached for his hand, emboldened by the alcohol left in her system. “It’s not your fault either.”
“I know. The whole situation sucks, but at least I get to finish out high school with you guys, thanks to Aunt Molly.” His
shoulders visibly relaxed. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“You know she’ll let you stay as long as you want to. You’re family. She loves you. We all do.”
Her eyes widened at her inadvertent declaration. She’d only meant to reassure him that he wasn’t alone in this, not profess
her love. She peeked at Wyatt, hoping he would blame it on the alcohol and not make a big deal about it.
He squeezed her hand, the sides of his mouth curving upward, but said nothing. They stopped at a notoriously long red light,
and he turned to her. “So why did you drink so much tonight?”
“I don’t know.” Piper considered making something up, but he’d shared some vulnerable truths with her, so she felt safe sharing
her inner thoughts. “Honestly, it was weird seeing you and Kiera playing seven minutes in heaven right after we’d been in
the same closet.” She slid him a shy glance. “It’s stupid, I know.”
A loopy grin split Wyatt’s face. “That is stupid.”
“You don’t have to look so happy about it.” Piper huffed.
“If we’re being honest, I didn’t like seeing you almost go home with Hunter.”
“But I didn’t, thanks to you.”
He smiled again. “True. You wanna know a secret?”
She nodded.
He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “I didn’t kiss Kiera, so I guess we’re even.”
Then the light turned green, and he turned his attention back on the road before Piper could process the slow-as-molasses
warmth spreading through her body.
“Do you think you’re ready to head home?” Wyatt asked after they’d completed a third loop through the neighborhood and turned
onto her street.
Piper groaned. “Yeah, but my parents are going to kill me. If they ground me forever, promise you’ll bust me out.”
“I’ve proved my rescuing capabilities tonight, haven’t I?”
“My very own hero.” She clasped her hands together like a damsel in distress and fluttered her eyes, knowing it would make
him smile.