21. Saylor
Saylor
I’m having the time of my life at the summer festival. Daisy and I pay for many tokens, and then we go on several more rides. Even Noelle joined us for the carousel, and this is what this trip was supposed to be all about.
Just me and my fellow writers…
My fellow Omegas.
We find a bar in the end. Zale and Trent are already there with Daisy’s Alphas. They wave at us, but we bypass them all, finding our own table near the end of the gazebo.
We even order a few shots.
Music drifts across the festival as people laugh and dance beneath strings of glowing lights and lanterns. Every now and then, another group wanders into the gazebo, ordering drinks before disappearing back into the crowds.
The whole atmosphere feels relaxed and welcoming, and for the first time in years, I find myself completely forgetting to worry about what anyone else may think of me.
Instead, I just drink.
“So,” Daisy starts to say, eyeing me surreptitiously. “I heard my brothers spent the night at your lake house. Spill.”
I regard the Omega curiously over my shot glass. “Do you really want to know?”
It takes her a few moments. Then she pulls a face in disgust, sipping her drink as if to erase the conversation from her mind. “On second thought, no. Perhaps you should keep that information to yourself.”
Noelle chuckles. Then the redhead smirks at me. “You’re free to tell me.”
I peer at Daisy questioningly. In the end, I pull Noelle’s hair aside as I whisper in her ear. She gasps, covering her mouth. “Nice.” She looks at Daisy. “Yeah, you’re best not knowing.”
Daisy groans, and Noelle and I burst into a fit of laughter. Everyone glances our way. Even the guys do, and I still can’t believe it as my head spins yet again.
I am finally dating the Rose pack. Zale and Trent are my Alphas.
Now the three of us play a drinking game, ordering several shots from the bar. Since Noelle is one of the four owners of the lodge, we get our drinks for free.
We drink whenever one of us lets the other know what we have ever let an Alpha do to us, and by the end of it all, I’m completely breathless with laughter.
I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, shaking my head as I try to catch my breath.
My cheeks ache from smiling so much. I can't even remember the last time I laughed this hard.
Back at Silver Grove, I always kept my head down, terrified that someone would overhear me or find another reason to make fun of me.
Yet here, nobody judges me. Maybe that's what I'd been searching for all these years. Not just my scent matches... but people who truly understood me.
“So, what is Manchester like?” Noelle asks out of the blue next. “I’m starting to feel left out since I was the only one who didn’t go to this Silver Grove High.”
I stare at her in shock. “You’ve never been?”
The redhead shakes her head. “Oh, I’ve been to the UK, just not Manchester. Nowhere up north, really.”
Daisy snorts. “Yeah, London isn’t the whole of the UK, Noelle.”
The other Omega nudges her. “I know! But I would love to go to the north of England one day. Frost loves the Beatles, so he wants to see the bars where they played before they got famous.”
I smile, gazing down into one of my empty shot glasses.
“That would be Liverpool. And if you know what is good for you, Noelle, then never mix up Liverpudlians and Mancunians.” I shudder.
“I went to University in Liverpool but grew up in Manchester. So, I know how bad it can get. Football rivalry is very intense there.”
Noelle snorts at my comment, saying something about how she doesn’t exactly follow sports, even in her own home country. Truth be told, I am the exact same.
And then we order more shots.
“Speaking of Manchester,” Daisy drawls next. “I got a message from Martina the other day.”
She studies me carefully, gauging my reaction. I just gaze down into my glass.
I haven’t seen my former bully since Silver Grove. I have run into her ex-boyfriend, Ryan, several times, but never Martina.
It looks as if they didn’t even last a year after Silver Grove. They broke up three months after.
“So... how is she?” I ask, wondering if I really want to know.
Daisy sighs. “She keeps telling me that she has read my book and that she wants to meet up some time. She’s prepared to come to the US and everything, too.”
I smile sadly. “That’s amazing, D. You should meet up with her. I bet you would both have so much to catch up on.”
Daisy grins awkwardly. “I kind of mentioned that you recently got published, too. She said she wasn’t surprised. She remembered how smart and talented you were back at Silver Grove.”
I stare at Daisy, confused. She did? If I didn’t know any better, Martina almost makes it sound as if we were friends.
We were not.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Daisy apologizes. “I just really wanted to rub your success in her face. Sorry. I remember how she treated you.”
I take a few moments to adjust to the news. But then I smile, reaching across and grabbing her hand. “It’s fine, D. I’m just surprised she remembered anything about me at all, other than the fact that I was a massive nerd.”
Daisy smiles. “She was jealous of you, S. She wanted to be you. You had a real gift. And Ryan secretly liked you, so there was that, too.”
Well, she had me fooled.
They both did.
Daisy sighs. “Well, enough of Martina now. Let’s have more shots. Drink if another girl has ever made you feel worthless.”
Daisy and I drink. Even Noelle.
She looks at us when we find her gaze. “What? The girls at Silverpine treated me like crap too because I was dating three of the hottest guys in our grade. So sue me.”
We burst into laughter again, and then we continue reminiscing about our teenage years while getting drunk on more shots.
It’s a night that I will remember for a long while.