by Molly E. Lee
The game was over before we could blink.
Katy jutted her lip out. “Can we go again? I wasn’t…ready.”
Braylen laughed, shaking her head with a look that clearly said you’ll never beat me, but she indulged her anyway.
With a better idea of the game and the buttons, Katy held her own as the second round started.
“Ha!” She screamed. “Eat that shit, Braylen!”
“Lucky shot, Katy. You had to get at least one in. Won’t happen again.” Braylen was quick to respond.
Randy and I exchanged a look but kept our mouths shut, and I kind of hated that we were sharing a moment.
Both girls perched on the edge of the couch, clicking away on the controllers like they were actual weapons and this was a real fight.
“Damn!” Katy smacked the controller against her thigh after Braylen killed her again. “You’re too good!” She laughed and Braylen joined her.
“You’re getting better,” Braylen said.
Katy groaned, clicking the buttons the second her character was back on the screen.
“Take it easy, ladies,” Randy said, lightly touching Braylen’s shoulder. “It’s just a game.”
Both girls huffed at the same time, and though it was lighthearted and they were joking with each other, the tension between the two was undeniable. I’d never seen Braylen so focused or determined to win. It was as if there would be an actual prize at the end of the game and she wanted it more than anything else in the world.
“Damn!” An eruption of cheers sounded from behind me and I whirled around, only now realizing the girls’ battle had become a spectator sport, the room crowded with bodies where before it had been just us four. “She’s kicking your ass, Katy!” someone shouted from behind me and I cringed.
Katy clicked harder, giving it her all, but in the end, she couldn’t beat Braylen.
Bray shot off the couch, her arms flung toward the ceiling in victory. I grinned at her, loving the real smile that beamed on her face—the one I recognized as easily as if we’d been playing in her basement.
“You almost had me there for a second,” Bray said when Katy gave her a high-five. The two girls smiled at each other, and it made hope flare in my chest. Maybe they could be friends. Maybe, if Katy and I started dating, Bray could still be just as big a part of my life as she already was.
“Play a round with me?” Katy asked me before shooting Braylen a questioning glance. Braylen nodded, but something harsh flashed behind her eyes. A blink and it was gone. I took her seat as she stood up, opening my mouth to tell her thanks, but Randy cut me off.
“Let’s get some air?” He touched the small of Braylen’s back, gaining her attention.
She nodded, sparing me a glance before returning her focus to Katy. “Good game,” she said, smiling, before letting Randy lead her out of the room.
After I let Katy beat me—something I’d never let Braylen do—a different pair of players claimed the seats on the couch, starting up a new game.
“You want to finish that dance?” Katy asked.
“Sure,” I said, following her until we reclaimed our dance spot on the floor.
I couldn’t get the look in Braylen’s eyes out of my head, even as Katy returned to popping her hips all around me. There was something there. Something that bugged the hell out of me. And the moment between us that Katy had unknowingly interrupted didn’t help, either. What had Braylen been about to say? She’d looked so serious. It could’ve been the way her body had melted into mine, but I’d had her that close hundreds of times.
Why is tonight different?
Moving to the beat, I once again tried to force the thoughts from my mind, but it was impossible. Especially when I saw Randy taking Braylen through the sliding glass door, leading her outside with two bottles of what Bray had been drinking all night in his hand.
Chapter Seven
Braylen
“I was trying to give the two of you space,” Randy said as he led me outside. “I didn’t know Barbie would be that quick to find him.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “Thank you, though. I was about to tell him, but she seems to pop up whenever I gain my nerve.”
“How many hours do you have left before your friend blows the whistle?”
I glanced at my cell. “Three,” I said.
That’s all the time I had to fulfill the Zoey agreement, but damn if I didn’t want to. After so many failed attempts, the task seemed effin’ impossible. How the hell was I supposed to come clean when it was clear I’d never get a second alone with Fynn? One where his mind would be focused on something other than the gorgeous princess following his every move?
We’d just walked past the dance floor before coming outside, and I’d gotten more than an eyeful of Katy shaking all her perfectness around Fynn. The hurt that zinged in my chest as he’d supported her with his hands on the small of her back had killed all the warm fuzzies his touch had given me after he’d cheated his way into winning the video game. The way he’d held me had felt so right—like his arms were meant to pull me toward him, not push me away.
At least my new wingman’s friendship was helping stave off the devastation that overran my heart with each failed attempt at opening up to Fynn. Randy was funny, sweet, if not a little overconfident—but I figured that came naturally to an adrenaline junkie like him. There was something comfortable about being around him. Maybe it was easier because being around Fynn and constantly fighting my feelings was an exhausting battle that had drained me for entirely too long.
The music echoed outside of the house and across the patio, past the pool, and right to the edge of Lennon’s property. Students danced in random cliques, some holding drinks, others simply making-out against the exterior of the house. Some chatted in groups, breathing in long pulls off a shared smoke, and from the smell of it, it was definitely not a cigarette. I laughed slightly as we passed the group taking hits, inhaling the scent I’d only experimented with once—for a story, of course.
Fynn had helped me. Taken the plunge right alongside me in my basement, eating brownies until three a.m. while we contemplated the real point of high school. We laughed half the night away before passing out.
“Braylen!” Zoey’s voice cut through my memory and I cringed as I turned toward the sound.
She stomped across the patio, taking careful steps into the grass as she came to meet me where Randy and I had been walking the trail at the edge of Lennon’s house. “Where are you going?” she asked once she’d reached us. Eyeing Randy and then me, she crossed her arms over her chest.
I shook my head. “Nowhere. We’re just getting some air.” I motioned to Randy. “Randy, Zoey. Zoey, Randy.”
“Can I steal her for a second?” She didn’t bother waiting for Randy’s permission; instead, she grabbed my arm and pulled me far enough away from him that he wouldn’t stand a chance at hearing us.
“Didn’t I just see you dancing with Gordon in there? What’s that about?” I asked, freeing my arm from her grip and hoping she’d forgotten all about the task she’d forced on me earlier.
“Strategy.” She popped her hand on her hip. “What is that about?” She glanced at Randy over my shoulder.
“Nothing.”
“Bull. That boy could be an Abercrombie model. I’m not faulting you, I just thought Fynn was your endgame tonight?” She smirked. “Or are you trying to make Fynn jealous?”
I hissed, my eyes darting around the area as my cheeks reddened. Luckily everyone around us was too involved in their own groups to hear her. “Smooth, Zoey.”
“If you are, that is a brilliant plan.” She pushed some of my hair off my shoulder. “And the clock is ticking.”
I opened my mouth a few times, trying to find the words to explain to her how painful the prospect of telling him now was for me.
“I know, and I’ve come close to telling him a couple times, but he’s so wrapped up in Katy…and I keep running into them everywhere I turn.
It’s awful, and it doesn’t give me the best opportunities to spill my guts, you know?”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve realized the challenge,” she said, taking in the battle of emotions I wore clearly on my face. “It’s been a hell of a day.”
“I noticed,” I said, finally. “Want to fill me in with more details?” I crossed my arms over my chest, prepared to dive into her problems and not mine.
She sighed. “Gordon Meyers.”
“Yes, I’m aware he’s on your hit list…but you two looked wicked cozy out there…” I gestured toward the sliding glass doors that led back inside, where I knew Katy and Fynn were still dancing. Unless they’d given that up and moved on to…
“Again. Strategy.” Zoey cut off my torturous thoughts. “I know you’re busy tonight, but be sure to stick around till the end. I’ll want to fill you in on every glorious detail, but I saw you with the college dude and freaked. And because I love you, I will ensure you give your own heart a chance.”
“I know you will.”
“Good,” she said, smiling. “Then let’s make a new plan. How’d flirting go? Maybe up it and flirt with the college boy in front of Fynn, too. It might make him see you differently.”
I rubbed at my temples. I never realized the art of love was so damn exhausting.
“The college boy is Randy,” I said. “He’s actually trying to help, too. Appointed himself my wingman. And, like I said, I have tried to tell Fynn, but…” My eyes trailed back toward the doors and I turned Zoey so she could see.
“What?”
I pointed to the exact spot where Katy and Fynn were super snuggly on the dance floor.
Zoey gasped, her hands flying over her mouth. “That bitch.”
“Trust me. I’d rather hate her, but she’s making it extremely hard to.” I sighed. “It’s not her fault.”
She spun on me. “Totally her fault. Everyone knows Fynn is yours.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “No one knows that! It’s not true. Just because…” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “I’m in…ugh, no one knows anything. But you see him? He’s practically drooling. How can I possibly tell him, now? Please, Zoey. Just…can we let it drop?”
She chewed on her bottom lip, contemplative as I held my breath. She shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Braylen.” She shrugged. “You have to tell him. You’ve got me and college boy on your side.” She eyed Randy over my shoulder again, who surprisingly was still waiting patiently where we’d left him. “I can’t let you give up. You have a real shot at happiness—which you deserve. You have to go for it.”
“Your stubbornness is totally killing me tonight,” I teased, but smiled at her. I was so glad she had my back. “I’m seriously doing the best I can.” It’s not like I wanted to fail, wanted to live out the rest of my days pining over my best friend and wondering what if?
“I know.” She pulled me into a hug. “I can’t help that I love you and that I’m pushy.”
I chuckled with her. “You’re the queen of pushy.”
“Thanks for loving me anyway,” she said, grinning at me.
“Always.” I squeezed her, using her energy to help ease the strain of the night. I’m going to miss her as much as Fynn. The truth twisted my heart, but I shoved it down. I had three months before I lost her to Stanford. I’d make sure to get in plenty of time.
“Good to know,” she said, drawing me back to myself. “Because I need you to hear this.” She planted me with her serious don’t-interrupt-me gaze. “It isn’t fair that Fynn hasn’t noticed your feelings, but it also isn’t fair that the playing field isn’t leveled. How is he supposed to entertain an idea he doesn’t even know exists? If you told him…well, at least then you would have no regrets.”
There were times when I thought of Zoey as the most intelligent girl I knew, and then there were times I wanted to strangle her for making everyone else’s problems look so easy to fix. This was one of the latter times.
“Want to talk about Gordon’s speech some more?”
She glared at me and I chuckled.
“Exactly,” I said. “You handle your boy drama and I’ll avoid mine.”
“You’ve got less than three hours. Avoid all you want. Fynn will know one way or another by midnight.” She wrapped her arms around me in another supportive hug I wished didn’t feel so good. I knew she was only doing this because she cared about me, and a part of me truly appreciated the fact that she didn’t want me to go off to college never knowing what could have been. “And he’s not my boy—”
“Fuck you!” A scream cut off whatever Zoey had been about to say and we whirled around to find the source of the voice. Jarred Marsters—a varsity baseball player who ran with Don and Katy’s crew—stomped toward the line of cars parked along the edge of Lennon’s property. He spun around, attempting to walk backward as he pointed at three guys who ran after him. “I don’t give a shit what you say! Thin crust is better than thick! You’re all assholes! I’m leaving!”
I arched an eyebrow, following Zoey as we walked toward Randy, who watched the scene with an amused look on his face.
“Does Jarred think he can get out of that line of cars somehow?” I asked once we’d stopped next to Randy.
“He better not!” Zoey snapped. “Mine is four down from his.”
Randy pulled out his cell and swiped open the camera, switching it to video mode. “This should be good.”
Jarred was surprisingly fast with his keys for how drunk he sounded, and was inside his car with the doors locked before the guys could stop him. They each took turns pounding on the window, cursing and trying to persuade him to get out.
Who knew Jarred had a stubborn streak?
The ignition roared to life, his little Honda growling almost as angrily as Jarred had been.
“Oh my God,” Zoey said, grabbing my arm. “He’s actually—”
“Yep.” I cut her off, unable to take my eyes off the scene.
Jarred moved the car in micro-inches—reversing, forward, reversing, forward—and we all held our breath as we watched.
“How has he not hit—” I stopped talking the second I saw the nose of his car swipe the bumper of the SUV in front of it, before he revved the gas too hard and went flying down the small hill right next to where all the cars had lined up.
We moved forward, as if a string connected us to the movements of his car. Randy kept his phone steady, recording every second of it. A loud crash jolted my nerves and we came to a stop once we saw the hood of the Honda kissing a very large tree at the base of the hill.
“We should call an ambulance,” I said, reaching for my phone as I watched the three boys run down the hill after Jarred.
I stopped with my thumb over the call button when Jarred threw open his door. He climbed out and tossed his fists in the air. “I’m alive! Hell yeah! Someone get me a beer!” He shouted before high-fiving each of the guys and joining them in the climb back up to the house. “I love you, guys,” he mumbled, gripping an arm around two of them.
Randy laughed, pocketing his phone. I locked eyes with him, still shocked, and he shrugged.
“Idiots,” Zoey said, nudging me. “You golden?”
I nodded. “Glad he’s not hurt.”
“You know what I meant.” She eyed me.
“Yes, Mom. Go. Return to war or whatever it is you were doing before you followed me out here.”
She gave me another quick hug and made her way back to the house with a redefined determination on her face, entering the party that resumed as if we hadn’t just watched a classmate nearly total his car and then come back for more beer.
“That’s going to be a good one for the channel,” Randy said.
“How did I know you had your own YouTube channel?” He had hinted at it earlier but hadn’t confirmed my suspicions.
“Because you’re a stalker?”
I smacked his chest, which was much harder than I remembered from crashing against it earlie
r. “You wish. I don’t even know your last name.”
“Collins,” he said.
“How many followers do you have?”
“A few thousand.”
“Nice.”
“It’ll be better when I get more videos up. I have an entire plan mapped out for the summer. It includes a road trip, my crew, and a ton of gravity defying stunts that are sure to earn me a few thousand extra regular viewers.”
I nodded, enjoying the discovery that he was a planner, too. Fynn always teased me about my knack for planning out a future event down to the last detail. Looking at Randy, with his cut muscles and face gorgeous enough to star in a vampire movie, he could gain followers just from a profile picture. “Do you ever set up the stunts before they happen?”
He furrowed his brow. “Nah. We open at the action. You know, fast music, killer stunt, cut to credits.”
I chewed on my lip for a second. “If you got in front of the camera and explained what you were about to do, then maybe elaborate a few ways it could go wrong, it would up the tension. A slow build to the big show.”
His eyes lit up. “You are a writer.”
I shrugged. “It also wouldn’t hurt if you did all that shirtless.”
He laughed, playfully nudging my shoulder. “Maybe someday you can be my wing-girl?”
“Absolutely.” I grinned, knowing I would have it much easier than him. It wouldn’t take five minutes to find a girl interested in him.
“Bray, you all right?” Fynn’s voice sounded from behind me, shocking me so hard I feared he’d heard me thinking about him.
I clenched my eyes shut. How was it possible to be on a property as big as this one and we kept getting in each other’s way? Turning away from Randy, I was happy to find Katy wasn’t grinding up and down Fynn’s body. A definite plus.
“I’m good, Fynn.” I glanced over my shoulder down the hill where Jarred had crashed his car. “Jarred is probably going to have to get a summer job to fix his car, though.” I tried to laugh, but the sight of Fynn, glaring at Randy like he had a right to hate the guy, made nothing about the situation funny. “Where’s Katy?” I asked when he didn’t say anything.
