Chapter 17 #2
to jump when she turned around and spotted me.
“Good God,” she said. “Scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry. Need some help?”
She gave me a smile and nodded, handing me one of the bags. “This just got delivered. Lulu seems to think we’re all one step
away from starvation. Or maybe it’s that she went nuts with Benny’s American Express card.”
“I’ve known him all my life and he’s never once let me use it.”
Jazmine snorted. “You don’t have a cartoon swimsuit.”
“Right?” I said, looking over my shoulder. “I can’t figure out why it bothers me so much. I guess she’s wearing it ironically,
but it makes her look . . .”
“Like a ding-dong?”
“Old.”
When Jazmine raised a brow, I said, “Like someone who’s trying to look younger.”
We both glanced at her. Maybe I was wrong and just needed to accept that Lulu was in Benny’s life now, cartoon swimsuits and
all.
“Hey,” Jaz said in a low voice, setting down her bag of food. “So, this isn’t the most ideal place to talk about last night
. . .”
“Thank you for texting me that you were safe.”
She nodded. “Thank you for not freaking out.”
“Oh, I freaked out, trust me. But I’m trying to keep an open mind. And fair warning, Seb already told me about breaking you
out of the Vanderburg compound and the confrontation with Paul in the parking lot that got him that black eye.”
“Ah,” she said, squinching up her mouth. “So you’re up to speed.”
“Am I?”
An awkward moment passed, then we both started talking at the same time.
“Look—”
“Hey—”
We chuckled nervously, then I said, “You first.”
She blew out a hard breath. “Okay, so if you talked to Seb, I guess you know that I haven’t really been able to sit down and have a polite conversation with Paul since Seb got me out of the compound that day.
There’s only been shouting and black eyes.
So I felt like I owed him an explanation about what I saw that day at the compound, and why I ended . . . our relationship.”
Heck, I wanted an explanation about what she saw that day, but she didn’t volunteer any information.
“So, anyway,” she said, lashes blinking. “We talked. I told him my side of the story, and he listened. And hopefully we both
got a little closure. Hard to know because it’s just so messy, this thing between us. And when everything’s on the table,
I just can’t see any kind of future with him—”
Thank God!
“But,” she continued, “I dunno. Maybe we can be friends when all the emotional wreckage gets sorted.”
I studied her face and saw anxiety and lack of sleep. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She hesitated, then nodded firmly and repeated, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just not sure if I’m ready to face all my problems
yet. I know that sounds immature—”
“Hey, avoidance can be a legit coping mechanism. I mean, it’s basically how I got through first semester. I couldn’t deal
with Nana’s death, so I didn’t. I blocked everything out. Avoidance is happiness.”
One brow slowly arched. “Is it happiness, or just being unhealthy as hell?”
“Is there a difference?”
She snorted a light laugh. “Look, the bottom line is that I’m okay. Mostly? But yeah, I honestly don’t want to even think about Paul today, so maybe there’s something to your avoidance thing. Would much rather focus on a treasure hunt.”
“Hey, no argument with that. Treasure hunt it is.”
“Thanks, Paige.” She looked relieved and smiled at me. “Come on. This food smells good. Let’s go see how many egg rolls the
boys can eat before they puke.”
We hauled the bags to the dock, where Lulu was fooling with the music while Seb and Benny were huddled over a mason jar filled
with weed. Benny was rolling some kind of mutant joint involving multiple papers pieced together with some impressive origami
skills.
“Jesus, Benny,” I said. “Are you making a voodoo doll?”
“Tulip,” he said, looking smug. He held up a ridiculously fat joint that vaguely resembled the flower after which it was named.
Jazmine took a seat on the bench across the table from the boys. “Is that the hashish from the dispensary north of town? Remember
what happened the last time you rolled one of those.”
“What happened?” I asked, sitting next to Jaz.
Lulu plopped next to me. “I found Benny asleep in the next-door neighbor’s gazebo the next morning.”
“Worth it,” he said, smiling to himself. “Besides, the Wags have never really partied together, have we?”
“Not unless you count beer and cooking sherry when we were fifteen,” Seb said. “What better time to start than now, though?
We’ve got a Mabel clue to crack, and I personally don’t have work tomorrow.”
“Me neither. It’s Friday, no paddleboard classes,” Jazmine said.
“Free as a bird,” Lulu agreed.
“Paige?” Seb asked, raising a brow. “You sticking with prim and proper? Or are you going to get in the mud with us?”
Everyone looked at me.
“Jesus with the peer pressure,” I complained.
“Look, this is how I see it. Yesterday sucked,” Benny pointed out. “For many reasons, not looking at you, Jaz—”
She lifted her good arm. “I’m sorry. I have no idea how Paul found us at the brewery—he wouldn’t tell me. But we hadn’t been
in contact, so it wasn’t me. I’ll take the blame for making the choice last fall to hang with him instead of telling him to
get lost. But hasn’t every one of us done dumb things?”
“Facts,” Seb said appreciatively, clapping a couple times. “I dub thee forgiven, Jazmine Elizabeth Neely.”
She flipped him off good-naturedly.
“If everyone is forgiven, can we all just chill today?” Benny asked. “No drama. Buena onda.”
“Fine,” I said. “Buena onda.”
“Woo-hoo!” Lulu shouted while Jazmine grinned at me. Across the table, Seb gave me a tiny, mischievous smile and said, “Well,
all right, then. I say we call this Wags meeting to order properly. Benito, light ’er up!”
Benny happily complied, and we all took turns puffing off his monstrous origami creation, coughing and teasing one another.
When it got passed to me a third time, I could already feel it warming me from the inside out and slowing my thoughts. Seb
must’ve noticed, because his foot nudged mine under the table.
“Hey. Should probably take it easy to start. Always more later.”
I was a little embarrassed that everyone might be thinking I couldn’t keep up with them, which is how I’d felt at every party I attended back in Cambridge—all two of them.
But none of the Wags gave me a hard time, and when the tulip was ash, I felt lovely and relaxed.
My previous worries receded to the background, and soon we were all digging into the spread of food Lulu had ordered, laughing and retelling old stories.
Gossiping about the town. Even teasing Jazmine about Paul.
I forgot about everything else. It was just us, old friends, and not even Lulu’s presence could put a damper on that.
Strangely enough, she was the one who got us all talking about the treasure hunt again.