“Isn’t Josh going with us?” I ask Quinn, who clearly doesn’t hear me. I receive no answer other than her yelling “Shit!” from behind the bathroom door.
As we stand in the living room awaiting her arrival, Kaeleb glances at the ballet flats covering my feet. His lips twitch as he asks, “No Docs tonight?”
I narrow my eyes and smirk. “No. I got these on sale yesterday when I went shopping with Quinn.”
His mouth loses the struggle and a smile breaks across his face. “And the jeans as well?”
My eyes drift to the new jeans with the threaded designs on the back pockets that Quinn forced me to buy saying that I had “hella ass” while telling me that I “needed to show off my goods more”.
“Yes, the bra and panties that you saw earlier too, but you didn’t seem nearly as inquisitive about those.”
Kaeleb laughs under his breath. “Well, I was…distracted. I might need to see them again. You know, so they don’t feel left out.”
After straightening out my concert tee—because some things never change—I glance back up at him and grin. “Highly doubtful, but good try.”
He cocks his brow in return. “Oh, how I do enjoy a challenge.”
“Is that so?” I ask, my smile becoming wider.
He says nothing, but saunters over to me and loops his fingers inside the waistline of my jeans. Pulling me into his chest, he wraps his arms tightly around my shoulders and tenderly kisses my forehead.
With his white T-shirt fitting snugly across his chest and his worn dark blue jeans, he looks downright delectable. As usual. My hair tugging during our make-out session only enhanced his rugged sexiness. The tips of his hair are masterfully disheveled and I silently applaud my styling skills as I rake him over.
He lowers his head and brushes his mouth against mine. Just as my lips part, his tongue performs a shallow sweep and I moan as his taste floods my mouth. Quinn enters the room, clearing her throat and effectively breaking us apart.
Kaeleb winks at me before turning his attention to Quinn. His brows hit the night sky as he offers, “Wow, Quinn. You look amazing.”
She graciously accepts his compliment as she twirls around. Wearing a short, black, tube dress and killer heels that make her legs look a million miles long, she looks absolutely gorgeous. Her hair is up in a tight, sleek ponytail, giving her that sexified secretary look. She’s even donning thick-rimmed, black glasses that, oddly enough, pull the whole ensemble together.
“Thanks, Kaeleb,” she responds with a sheepish grin. He drapes his arm around her shoulder and kisses the top of her head, a gesture that I find incredibly endearing. I smile inwardly at their interaction, until my mind changes course.
“Hey, where’s Josh?” I ask, again.
Her face falls a bit. “He has plans, something with the guys. He just called me a couple of minutes ago.”
I fight the urge to shake my head in disgust. Over the last couple of weeks, Josh’s presence has been virtually non-existent, and there’s only so much hurt I can see on my friend’s face before I’m called to action.
Verbally and/or physically.
“Quinn,” Kaeleb says softly, his arm still over her shoulder. “Something’s off. I don’t trust him.”
She plasters on a fake smile before looking up at him and shaking her head. “No, he’s fine. I think he’s just stressed about midterms or something.”
“Or something…” I mutter, under my breath. Quinn shoots me a dirty look and I widen my eyes.
Stopping the argument before it starts, I snag my jacket off the back of the couch and shrug it on as I segue into a different topic. “Where are we going, anyway?”
Her face lights up and she quickly disengages from Kaeleb to grab her purse from the kitchen bar stool. “We’re going to BLUE!”
Kaeleb’s eyes shoot wide open and my head jerks back as I forcefully remark, “Quinn, that’s a twenty-one-and-up club. There’s no way we can get in there.”
She responds with a giggle, opening her purse and whipping out her wallet. She hands a laminated card to both of us. “Surprise!” she adds.
Flipping it in my hand, I look it over. With shock etched into my face, I glance to Kaeleb, whose expression is the mirror image of mine. My face pinches when I eye her excitement. “Quinn! These are fake I.D.s!”
She laughs, placing the wallet back inside her purse before hoisting it on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. They’ll get us in, that’s all that matters.”
Utterly astonished, I stare at the picture in the corner and recognize it immediately. It was stolen from last year’s student ID.
My hair is black with blue edges, my eyes are completely white with the exception of the black ellipses in the center, and my face is washed-out and grotesquely pale.
This is Raven. Not me.
“Quinn, I’m not going to be able to get in with this!” Shock and fear lace my tone as I bring my eyes to hers.
She waves at me dismissively. “Oh my God! Yes, you will. They don’t look at that shit anyway, just the date. You’ll be fine.” As she makes her way toward the front door, she grabs her coat off the back of the couch and throws it on as she walks.
Kaeleb and I, however, remain standing in place, both of us extremely hesitant to follow her.
The lack of footsteps must have clued her in, because she hastily whips around and crosses her arms over her chest. Tapping her foot anxiously, she looks up and moans to the ceiling.
“Come oooooon, guys!”
Bringing her eyes back to us, she folds her hands in a pleading gesture. “Pleeeeeeeease! I need to get out! I can’t study anymore!”
My mouth scrunches to the side as I look at Kaeleb. I watch his brows lift along with his shoulders as he answers, “I could get out for a while.”
I narrow my stare, but soon it soon relaxes with the realization that I really need to get out of here too.
Today was beyond stressful.
Quinn jumps up and down with our concessions as Kaeleb confidently strides over to me, circling his arm around my waist before we make our way out of the apartment.
Twenty minutes later we arrive at the club and pass through the entrance with no problem. Kaeleb and I grin excitedly at each other while Quinn makes a beeline to the bar and signals for the bartender.
Once she has his attention, she turns back to us for our order. “Um,” I deliberate. “I’ll take a Colorado Bulldog.”
Kaeleb jerks his head at the bartender. “Corona.”
Quinn orders herself an Appletini and three shots of Patron before throwing her credit card down on the bar. After the drinks arrive, she turns and hands us the shots. We all grin at each other before raising the glasses in our hands.
“To best friends!” Quinn shouts.
“To best friends!” we cheer back.
Licking the salt off the rim, we slam down the alcohol and bite down on the lime wedges. The soothing warmth of the liquid courses down my throat and my mouth spreads into a lazy grin.
After placing the shot glasses back on the bar, we finally find an open table and take our seats. “We’ll have to open a tab with a waitress. I closed up there,” Quinn states, tilting the green concoction toward her mouth.
Just as she finishes her sip, the bass from No Doubt’s Just a Girl thumps through the sound system and Quinn’s eyes shoot wide open. “OH MY GOD!” she screams at the top of her lungs. “I looooooove this band!”
“Me too!” I yell back.
And I do. I have their poster on my wall.
Of course.
She tips her drink and swallows it in one gulp, slamming the martini glass down when it’s gone. Wiping her mouth with the back of one hand, the other reaches forward to grab my arm from across the table. “Let’s dance!”
She wildly launches out of her chair and almost knocks over the table. Our drinks wobble with the force of her blow, but thankfully, nothing spills. Tearing my eyes away from the near disaster, I glance up just in time to see her press the bridge of her glasses back up on her nose as though nothing happened. She simply smiles back at me and I cast a sideways look to Kaeleb, who just grins as he reclines in his seat.
Crossing his ankle over his knee, he laughs and says, “Go tear it up, girls.”
I narrow my eyes, but he just jerks his head toward the dance floor. Before I can say anything, I’m forcefully yanked away and pulled to where bodies sway and bounce to the beats thrumming through the air. Quinn looks at me and smiles before seductively running her hands up her dress and swaying her hips. I can only grin back because I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. But as the tempo builds and the bass pounds around us, I lose myself in the music and before I know it, I’ve kicked my shoes off and finally found the rhythm of the beats with my body.
Turning away from Quinn, my movements slow when I see Kaeleb still sitting at the table with a concrete scowl as he stares across the room. I follow his gaze until my eyes land on the source of his anger and my body freezes where I stand. The whole room disappears as I hone in on the sight in front of me.
Josh’s head rises from Sabrina’s neck as her leg unwraps from around his waist. She remains pressed against the wall behind her, but his arms soon cage her in as he lowers his face and kisses her deeply.
Once their lips meet, I jump into action. Snagging my shoes from the floor, I march past Kaeleb, who’s already rising from his seat and falls into step with me.
Quinn’s voice comes from behind us, but the only sound I can hear is the roaring in my ears. Still shamefully melded together, they don’t notice as we approach. With Quinn on my heels, she runs right into my back when I hastily stop only a foot from where they stand.
“What the—”
Quinn’s voice is replaced with a gasp, followed by a soft whimper. The pain in her tone slices right through the blaring music and the heartbeat in my ears, muting all the other sounds around me.
All I can hear now is her cries. Each one released further fuels my anger as I siphon them, pumping her agony into my heart and churning it into a fiery rage as it boils over inside of me.
Kaeleb reaches forward and grabs Josh by the collar, heaving him backward and easily tossing him to the floor. Sabrina stumbles, but soon rights herself as she takes in the three of us standing in front of her.
There is no surprise in her features.
No apology.
No remorse.
Just pure maliciousness streaming from her a*shole expression as her eyes land on Quinn.
And then she smiles.
“Poor Quinn,” she sighs, “I guess Josh is all mine now.”
“Josh?” Quinn’s broken voice comes from behind me. “Is this true?”
I watch as he rises from the floor, avoiding her eyes while straightening his shirt from Kaeleb’s attack. He moves to stand by Sabrina, giving Quinn no answer other than placing his arm around Sabrina’s shoulders.
F*cking a*shole.
She throws her head back in laughter before she drops her eyes to Quinn, her whimsical expression settling into contempt.
“It was a long time coming, sweetie. And I can’t say that I blame him.” She tsks as she shrugs her shoulders. “I warned you about that muffin top.”
Another heartbreaking sob comes from behind me as Josh barks out a laugh, setting everything into motion. Kaeleb rears back and hauls his fist across Josh’s face, snapping his head backward. He crashes into the wall behind him before crumpling to the ground. I leap forward, throwing my shoes to the side, and snatch Sabrina by the shoulder. Pulling her face into mine, I shout, “You f*cking jealous bitch!” and clench the top of her dress tightly. I hold her in place as my open hand flies across her face.
Sabrina gasps and lifts her fingers to cover the red welts rising on her face. Once she feels them with her fingertips, her face contorts with anger. “F*ck you and your loser friends, freak!”
Her hands fly toward my face, but I swipe them away with little effort. Rage takes over as I dig my nails into the skin of her shoulder and move to strike her again, but I’m stopped short when I feel an arm snake around my waist, and as I’m pulled away from her, a guttural scream releases from my mouth. I claw at the arm and kick my legs, but it’s useless. I’m lifted off the ground, still thrashing and screaming at Sabrina, and brought into Kaeleb’s side. As he turns us away, I come face-to-face with Quinn who’s tucked securely underneath his other arm. Her hands cup over her glasses as she bawls from within the safety of his hold.
My feet drag the ground as he half-carries, half-drags me away from the scene in haste, most likely trying to get us out of here before security arrives. As we arrive at our table, my eyes remain glued to Quinn and I choke on a sob as the reality of what just happened drives more tears down my face.
Kaeleb releases Quinn but maintains his hold on me as he collects our belongings from the chairs. Once he’s done, he wraps his arm tightly around Quinn’s shoulders, whispering in her ear and kissing her on the temple as he leads us toward the door.
She leans into him and clutches his jacket, burying her face deeply. Her shoulders shake with sobs, and my heart shatters as her anguish pierces my chest. I reach across Kaeleb’s body and wrap my hand around the back of her head, trying to comfort her as we make our way outside.
But it’s no use.
The cold air hits my bare feet, but I don’t care. I finally find my footing and pull her tightly into me. Our heads hover together against Kaeleb’s chest as he directs us and I refuse to let go of her until we arrive at the car.
Kaeleb finally releases me, opening the passenger door and shuffling me inside. After chucking our belongings on the floorboard, he shuts me in and I watch through the window as he releases Quinn. Placing his hands on her head, he forces her to face him as he speaks. His gestures are emphatic, even going so far as to shake her gently when she looks away. Quinn stares back at him blankly, clearly giving up on her fight to avoid him, but her tears continue to fall freely. Kaeleb swipes them away and eventually stops speaking to pull her into an embrace. After holding her for a long while, he tenderly kisses her forehead and opens the back door of his car to guide her inside.
As it shuts behind her, I adjust the rear view mirror. She turns away from me, avoiding my stare as she looks out the window, and maintains her gaze until eventually her face crumbles and falls into her hands.
No words are spoken on the way back to the apartment.
There are only Quinn’s raspy wails from the backseat and the intermittent blows of Kaeleb’s palm against the steering wheel as he drives.
Yet, to me, the most damaging sound as we make our way home isn’t either of those.
It’s my complete and utter silence.
I have no idea how to comfort my friend.