Chapter Twenty-One #2
The breeze grows stronger, and she pulls her sweater tighter around her. I almost offer her the shirt off my back, my limbs, anything, but think better of it. Too much.
We look ahead, onto the empty street, Halloween decorations covering our lawn and some of the neighbors’.
“By the way, sorry if all that stuff last night drained you. I know it’s a lot, and it’s not fair for me to just trauma dump,” she says.
I halt the swing. “Why would you think that?”
Scarlett shrugs. “You look tired. I know that kind of exhaustion.”
“Scar.” I take a breath. “This has nothing to do with you. Last night was—I wanted to do that, okay?”
“Then will you tell me why you’ve got that fake-ass smile on your face?”
I chuckle. “What?”
She presses a finger to the corner of my mouth. It’s warm, and that sensation spreads over me like an itch that’s out of reach. “This. It’s creeping me out.”
“You calling me a creep, Scar?”
“Only when you fake a smile. I don’t like it. What’s wrong?”
Of course she’s the one who sees right through it.
“Everything. I had to get some stuff for the Halloween party today, but everything Summer trusted me to take care of fell apart. The food, decorations, music. The caterers can’t fulfill the pastry order or the mains.
We’re out on decor, and don’t get me started on DJ Numbnuts. ”
“Wait, DJ Numbs? That guy’s notoriously flaky, Kian. I had to drag him out of his basement to one of our sorority parties sophomore year.”
“Yeah, that’s my bad. But now we’ve got no one.”
Scarlett presses her hand over mine where it rests on my thigh. “I happen to know this guy who’s, like, obsessed with music. I think he’s got over a thousand curated vinyls in his room.”
“Yeah? You know him?”
“I can hook you up. We sleep together sometimes.”
I give her a look.
She bites down a smile. “His bed is really comfy, and his clothes smell like him. I haven’t even told him I shoved the shirt he let me borrow in my bag, and I’m not planning on giving it back.”
I burst out laughing. Her eyes bounce around my face like glowing orbs.
“And isn’t pizza your guys’ favorite food? There’s nothing better than that to cushion a college kid’s stomach before they drink their weight in alcohol.”
“Pizza?” I say.
She nods. “Uncle Frank’s pizza is like heaven when you’re six drinks in.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“Because it is,” she insists. “Look, I get that you want everything to be perfect, but we can still make it a good time. I can help with decorations, my old sorority sisters would totally help you, too, and you’re like the music genius. You of all people don’t need a DJ.”
“A music genius?”
“Sometimes, I secretly Shazam your music and add it to my playlist.”
I chuckle. “You could just ask, Scar. I’d give you whatever you asked for.”
She stills for barely a heartbeat, but I catch it. Something in her eyes shifts, like my words untied a knot she didn’t know was there.
“You’re right though,” I murmur into my palms. “I just…wanted this to be perfect. Thought if I could get everyone together again, maybe it’d fix something. Make things feel right again.”
Scarlett’s on her feet then, the tips of her shoes touching mine. “Can I hug you?”
“Yes,” I say too quickly. It’s almost a reflex.
But so is the way her arms wrap around me, sliding past my shoulders, brushing my deltoids, all the way to my back.
And just like that I’m gone. She pulls me in, and my face is caught against the warmth of her chest, the faint scent of citrus threading through the air.
My body gives in, tipping forward, unanchored, like I’ve finally docked at home base.
Her heartbeat thuds against me. It takes me a second to realize she’s counting. Each soft exhale brushes past my ear until she reaches six. Then she eases back, her thumbs skimming over my ears as she tilts my face up toward hers.
“You’re okay, Kian. You can let go. I like it when you let go with me.”
Her face is so close to mine I can barely breathe, our lips hovering just inches apart. I let my hands press harder against her waist, keeping her still, breathing her in until she’s flooding my lungs.
But then light spills out onto the porch and Scarlett takes two quick steps away from me. I almost reach for her again, to clutch her sweater and have her on my lap this time.
Cole steps onto the porch, pausing when he sees us.
“Uh, I was just heading out, but if you need a minute…” He bites down a laugh, glancing toward the driveway, where his car is boxed in. “Want me to move your car, Scarlett?”
“No! I mean, no, no that’s fine. I was just leaving.” Her eyes flick up to meet mine for half a second before she waves, a quick flutter of fingers, and rushes down the steps.
Suddenly, I’m alone again, and I have no clue how to tell Summer I just fucked up her whole party. But I don’t get a chance to figure it out because she’s walking up the steps to the house.
“You know what I hate? Slow walkers,” she says when she sees me. “Like, don’t you have somewhere to be? We’re literally on a college campus.”
So far not a good mood to have her in. “Did someone step on your foot again?” I ask.
“Worse. I was late to class because of some guy on a scooter. He’s lucky I didn’t push him over.”
Okay, maybe I won’t tell her and just surprise her on the day. Surprise! I ruined your party. Don’t hate me.
“So I heard you got the speakers from a creepy basement,” she says with a laugh, her mood instantly lifting. Summer drops her bag on the swing and sits beside me.