Chapter 27
June
“Let’s have some fun!” screamed Tiffany as soon as we set foot in the dark, crowded club.
“They didn’t check ID! We can’t be here!” I said, and James burst out laughing.
“White knows how to be fun, too, every once in a while.”
I rolled my eyes, which were inundated by the neon lights. The place was teeming with people, and the music was superloud. I’d gone out to spy on my mom, and now I was in a place where I shouldn’t be with two people I barely knew.
Before I could follow Tiffany into the crowd, James squeezed my arm firmly.
“Well?” he asked, looking me up and down.
“What do you want?”
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.
“Having fun. That’s what you two said, right?”
I was actually feeling a little hungry. I wanted to order French fries at the bar. But I didn’t say that.
And my saliva got caught in my throat when I saw William staring at me from far away under the psychedelic lights.
“What are your intentions?”
“What’s it to you?” I answered, distracted by Will’s presence.
“I don’t care about you. But I’ll rephrase the question: What are your intentions, princess?”
“I wanna get drunk.” I clucked my tongue.
James hinted at a surprised chuckle, but the dimples at the corners of his mouth quickly disappeared, because he realized that I wasn’t joking.
“You, White? Seriously?”
“No, look, I’m only doing it because I wanna see Mister I Don’t Give a Flying Fuck About You’s reaction. Who do you think you are?”
I saw him clench his jaw at that, but then he knit his brow, apparently confused by my sarcasm.
“That doesn’t seem like a good way to deal with what happened yesterday,” he suggested, following me to the bar.
“I definitely wouldn’t take advice from you, James. Oh, no, wait, you’re the most responsible guy I know, aren’t you?” I hit the counter with one hand like I’d seen in the movies.
“Are you done with your fucking jokes, White?”
The bartender passed me a glass, which James quickly took out of my hands.
“You want to stop this? Seriously?” I shot him an incredulous look. He bent his head down in response. “I’d never be such a hypocrite.”
“Oh no?”
I motioned for him to give me the cup back. I didn’t actually want to get drunk.
“If you wanna have fun, I won’t stop you.”
His eyes darted quickly around the crowd and soon landed on William.
“Jamie!”
Not even two minutes went by before two girls approached James, whispering something in his ear.
“Besides you’d be too busy,” I muttered, now sure he wasn’t listening to me anymore.
“Exactly, White. And tell me, since when have you become so irresponsible?”
He put the cup he’d just taken from my hands on the sticky counter.
“And since when do you pretend not to be?”
“Look, do what you want,” he grumbled, now sick of my banter.
“I always do.”
I left him with the two girls, but when I was far enough away, I turned around to look at him.
I inevitably asked myself ridiculous questions.
Did he bathe in gold or honey? Why was it that bees always flew to him like it was time for pollination as soon as he set foot anywhere?
Was it possible that those girls didn’t care about his bad-tempered attitude and just about what he looked like?
I looked for Tiffany in the crowd, but to my surprise I was drawn in by a tall, tattooed figure.
“Brian.”
“Hey, June. I didn’t think you were coming.”
Tell me about it. “You disappeared last night.”
“Based on what I heard, that’s for the better.” Brian’s dark gaze intensified.
“So you found out.” I fidgeted with the still-full cup.
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Brian.”
“I’m starting to think breaking up with her was the right decision.”
His mouth said one thing, but his eyes said something completely different.
“They don’t deserve it, do they?” I tried to downplay the situation unsuccessfully.
“No, they don’t.”
Brian seemed harmless, almost defenseless. Maybe because James raged against him so much, my curiosity inevitably grew.
Because when it comes to telling Little Red Riding Hood not to talk with the wolf, of course she will.
“What exactly did you find out?”
“That they made out because of seven minutes in heaven?” snarled Brian.
His tone of voice changed suddenly, showing all his rage.
How could I blame him? But honestly, Ari had done even worse behind his back.
I got distracted by Jackson’s tall figure walking past me with James. I instinctively straightened my back.
“Is that June? I didn’t recognize her.” Jackson looked at me bewildered.
“Yeah. But that asshole definitely did,” declared James. I noticed Brian’s gaze narrow to two slits.
“Ignore him, Brian.”
But he didn’t pay any attention to me.
Tiffany came back to us and said in a clearly over-the-top voice, “If anybody needs to have fun, it’s you two! Look at these two sad faces.”
“No, one drink and I’m going home,” I murmured unwillingly when she tried to offer me her drink.
“Me too. We have the game this weekend.” Brian got in line.
“Don’t be a grandpa! Look at what a pretty girl you have in front of you! And when is that happening again?”
“Indeed,” he whispered, bringing his emerald eyes to the floor. And if I never knew what to expect from Will and James, Brian always surprised me, but in a good way.
He had tattoos and a bad boy vibe, but deep down he was a good guy.
“All right, but just one sip,” he said to Tiffany, who was watching us smiling. She handed him what looked like a mojito, Brian pulled the straw toward him, and I did the same when Tiff handed one to me.
“You both look gorgeous,” he whispered in my ear in a seesawing voice, and I was officially trashed.
My head was enough of a mess. Adding Brian to the mix would mean making it even more complicated.
And just as I formulated that thought, I felt Will’s eyes like two cutting daggers.
The light atmosphere between us shifted as soon as Ari’s thin figure walked by us.
Brian’s expression changed immediately. You don’t pick who you fall in love with, that was true.
“Ari.”
Brian pounced on her. He almost looked like he’d been waiting for her, like an addict in withdrawal. But Ari pretended not to hear him.
“Ariana,” he repeated resolutely. And if I’d only craned my neck before, right then I turned around. I saw Brian block her path.
“Brian, don’t start this again.” Ari sighed, almost annoyed by her ex’s presence. Brian said something to her, but I couldn’t hear.
“Let me go.”
“What the fuck are you wearing?”
“I wear what I want. We’re not together anymore, remember?”
I would’ve wanted to not notice, but it was impossible not to see the scorn in Brian’s eyes as she walked away.
“Are you okay?” I asked. He shook his head no.
She’d just made out with Will last night and I was supposed to be angry with her, but I had a weird sensation in the pit of my stomach, maybe it was what they called a gut feeling.
What if James was right, and I wouldn’t understand anything about the people around me?
Ari greeted me curtly, and I glanced toward where Will had been.
But instead of finding him, my eyes met James’s.
He was talking to a girl who clutched his chest, and it was always the same rodeo.
He did nothing but show off his charm. I wanted to take my eyes off them but I couldn’t.
I shivered when they started making out.
I didn’t understand how other people weren’t embarrassed by creating that spectacle in public.
Would I do the same thing if I had too much to drink? I wondered that as I stood staring at the girl’s thick hair becoming a messy heap between James’s hands.
Maybe his magnetic field was so powerful that it would make anyone’s brain go haywire around him. Was that the reason why I would’ve kissed him last night?
That thought made me dizzy. Or maybe it was just the drink I was holding that made me think like that.
I gathered all my good efforts and tried to take my eyes off the racy scene, until James gently moved the hair out of the girl’s face.
I felt it right in my chest. His touch seemed to flow on my skin like warm velvet, and it almost startled me when his narrow gaze went past the girl and lingered on me.
I let my gaze drift immediately to Tiffany.
“What’s going on?” she asked, seeing that I was pensive.
“Nothing, I don’t get it. I don’t understand what goes on in his head. He treats me badly then he worries about me.”
“Will has his issues, but he’s a good guy.”
“I’m not talking about Will,” I answered.
Tiffany raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
“Oh, that’s definitely interesting.”
We both turned to look at James. He really was good looking, as much as it pained me to admit it.
At first, the fact that he was more attractive than Brian, Blaze, Jackson, or even Will was a plain and simple observation.
Or any other guy at school. Or any other guy I’d ever seen.
It bothered me to admit that to myself. I fiercely wished it wasn’t that way.
Tiffany pulled my arm, bringing me back to reality.
“I’ll tell you one thing. James feels guilty for bringing you home yesterday and coming to your defense. He would’ve wanted to be with Will.”
“Are our lives so boring that you’re still talking about last night?” Taylor suddenly asked.
Besides being loathsome, she was also Tiffany’s weakness. The brunet’s eyes lit up like two jewels when she saw the blond’s slim figure.
“And what are you doing here with Baby Escort Barbie?” exclaimed Taylor, examining me up and down. Of course my racy dress and low neckline didn’t go unnoticed.
“Tay, what are you talking about? I let her borrow one of mine.”
“Exactly. Where were you today?” The blond grimly interrogated her.
“I was . . . I had stuff to do. I went out with my mom.”
Tiffany tried to make room, but it was clear to everyone with eyes that she was hanging on her friend’s every word.
“Were you with her?”
Taylor’s initially amused expression got darker.