Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
EMMA
“There’s no way we both chose Disney costumes.” Kamila observes the short green heels I found.
I look at the Megara costume that hugs all of her curves, marveling at how she did her hair. “I can’t believe Cameron’s going to dress up as Hercules. Is he covering up his tattoos?”
She snorts. “Of course not, but he has been putting in extra hours at the gym, and I am definitely not complaining.”
“That explains why you guys are having less sex.”
Kamila gasps. “We are not! We’re just having it at his place.”
“Calm down.” I laugh. “I thank you for sparing me from all the noise.”
She rolls her eyes. “If you’re Tinker Bell, is Jake going to be Peter Pan?”
I cringe. “Ew, no. I’m not matching with Jake. He picked Indiana Jones. Specifically, the half-shirt-open Indiana Jones.”
“It wasn’t such a crazy question to ask. Levi and Stevie are doing a couple’s costume too. I just thought you’d like to…” Kamila closes her mouth slowly, and I narrow my eyes at her. Kami was never one to have this kind of mindset.
“I don’t want you guys to feel bad that we don’t have dates tonight.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” she clarifies quickly. “You know I’m not like that.”
I sure hope not. Kamila is one of the most independent women I know, even with a man by her side.
However, I have a feeling that the two couples in our group are starting to feel guilty about spending more time with their partners than with their friends, given how hard they’ve been trying to include us in their plans.
“It’s fine.” I smile and adjust my dress. The sparkly green dress might be a common costume that numerous people have recommended before, but I had it custom-made to make it stand out a little more. “We should get going.”
“I’m sorry, Em.” Kami grabs my hand, and I see the sincerity in her face.
Giving her a squeeze, a flashback of last Halloween comes to the forefront of my mind.
The four of us dressed up as the characters from Scooby-Doo, which is how our group chat got the name, the Scooby Gang.
We all got drunk off the tequila Jake bought for everyone at King’s Wolf.
Kamila was dressed as Velma and practically did a split in the middle of the dance floor, Levi helped me take care of her, and Jake was off somewhere with some girl, as usual.
Oh, the good ol’ days.
Now we’re heading to King’s Wolf again, only this year they’re doing karaoke, and I’m more than happy to get up on that stage alone, drunk, and sing to my heart’s content.
I’m not technically single, but I’m not in a relationship either.
It doesn’t really matter because no one in the friend group knows.
Jake might suspect, but we haven’t spoken about it yet.
He has his secrets, and I have mine.
“We should get going.” Kami and I gather our things, and unlike last year, we leave with our real IDs, not needing any fakes.
King’s Wolf is packed and already smells like cheap beer when we arrive.
Although, I have to give them credit where credit is due: the place is an organized kind of chaos.
All the booths are full, as are the regular tables, and the standing room is also packed, but people are respecting personal space thanks to some partitions they put in.
“There they are!” Kamila points to where Stevie stands, waving, dressed as Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon. “She looks adorable,” Kamila says over the music.
“And so happy,” I reply, my heart warming for the girl who went through so much the last year and a half to get to where she is now.
We arrive at the booth where Levi, Cam, and Jake are sitting, but no Luna in sight.
“Where are Luna and Brad?” I ask after saying my hellos.
Jake waves his drink around. “They decided to go to a friend’s house party.”
Damn, even Luna and Brad are out doing their own thing. Jake gives me a sympathetic look, and I shrug my shoulders. It is what it is.
“You look hot, Em!” Stevie stands up from the booth and twirls me around. “The shoes are straight out of the movie.”
I look down at the heels I’d thrifted. Tinker Bell might’ve worn flats, but I don’t roll that way.
“Thanks, I had my outfit custom-made, so the skirt doesn’t ride up. It’s going to behave for the rest of the night.” Levi stands next to Stevie, giving me a quick hug, and then allowing me to sit next to Jake in the round booth.
“And here I was hoping for a peep show,” Jake says very loudly.
“Perv!” I yell and move to hit him with one of my small wings.
He ducks. “And not ashamed of it.”
We all talk, and some of us sign up to sing while others decide to watch.
Then we wait for the announcers to start the event while pop music plays in the background.
I look around the bar as Cameron catches us up on his upcoming tattoo shop that he’s opening with his cousin next year.
Followed by Levi, who talks about a new kid he’s teaching.
Then Stevie tells us about the musical she’s auditioning for, which will start early next semester.
Kami announces that her internship at King’s Wolf is ending soon.
Finally, Jake shares the latest tales of the girls his parents have tried to set him up with so he can get engaged before finishing his last year of college.
“Fuck me sideways.” Jake groans.
I look at him with a raised brow. “What?”
He simply points to a table on our right, and it takes me a moment to find a familiar face when I see Dakota. She’s the girl from the soup kitchen, and the woman Kami, Levi, and Stevie met briefly last semester, aka someone Jake really doesn’t like for some reason.
She stands from where she is and saunters toward the bar. My jaw drops at her Jessica Rabbit costume. She’s wearing a seamless red wig, a bright red sparkly dress with a slit, and gloves—basically the whole shebang.
I turn back to look at Jake, who glances at her one more time before shifting his attention back to me.
“Oh, come on, Jake. You still hate her even when she looks that good?” Dakota is a gorgeous woman…and now she’s headed straight to our table.
“Shit,” I hear Jake mutter.
Levi leans in. “What’s going on?”
“Dakota?” Stevie gasps. “I haven’t seen you in months. How are you?”
She gives her a warm smile. “I’m surprised you remember me, but I’m good, just dropping in to say hi to Emma.”
That’s interesting, considering we’ve only really spoken once or twice, aside from the day at the soup kitchen. I have a gut feeling that she isn’t here just to see me.
“Hey, Dakota.” I wave to her from the middle seat in the booth.
She lays a hand on her hip and shifts her gaze to the man sitting next to me. “Johnathan.”
Kamila and Levi flinch, knowing how much that’ll piss Jake off.
He leans back and flashes a shit-eating grin. “Dax.”
After she gives him a disgusted look, Dakota turns to me. “Are you coming to the soup kitchen this weekend?”
“Um, no, not this weekend, but next Sunday I will.” I clear my throat. “Kamila, Levi, and Jake are coming too.”
“It’ll be nice to have you there, Levi and Kamila.” I bite my lip at the silence that follows, feeling Jake’s anger radiating from him. “All right, I should get back to my friends.”
“Yeah, you do that, Dax.” Jake tilts his head.
Why does he keep calling her Dax?
She decides to ignore him. “Bye, guys.” Dakota walks away, swaying her hips with every step, drawing nearly everyone’s attention except for Levi and Cameron, who are only watching Jake.
Dakota’s silver eyes peek over her shoulder, noticing Jake’s stare, and she smiles as if she’s won some kind of contest.
The six of us sit there in silence, waiting to see if the man of the hour will say anything.
“Do. Not. Ask,” he grits out.
Everyone in the group mutters their own version of “wasn’t going to,” while some of us cough or clear our throats, deciding it’s for the best that we don’t ask.
After ten minutes, people are onstage singing and pointing to their friends, having the time of their lives.
I momentarily get distracted thinking about Grayson and what he might be doing tonight.
It’s only been a day since I last saw him, but the memory of Tuesday keeps crossing my mind at the most unexpected times.
Sighing, I debate whether to take out my phone.
Jake and Levi are both too close for either of them to see who or what I’m texting.
Instead, I settle for people watching while someone sings a song that’s been played to death.
Thankfully, there’s nobody else here dressed as Tinker Bell, though I do see a lot of the same repetitive costumes from movies.
Harley Quinn, the Joker, characters from Grease, Clueless—hold on.
My head swivels back, doing a double take at a girl in a basic witch costume sitting next to another woman and two men.
My focus stays on the man dressed as a fireman… a sexy fireman.
Grayson is here. At King’s Wolf, students surround him everywhere, but more importantly, the woman in the witch costume has her arm wrapped around him as he talks to his friend, who has his own girl leaning on his shoulder.
He’s on a date.
The man I slept with three days ago is on a date with someone else, even though we’re supposed to be exclusive.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, and of course, Jake hears me. I quickly look away, but he manages to follow where I was watching and sighs.
“Emma—”
“Not here,” I say quickly, and smile at my friends, pretending that everything is fine when in reality, I’m fucking pissed. I would’ve expected to feel sad or hurt, and sure, it may be lying underneath this anger, but oh, do I feel pissed.
A drink. I need a drink.
“Jake, can you get us a round of shots, please?” I ask sweetly.