“Dad.” I spin around. “Look at me.” I wave my hands up and down my body. “I’m in one piece. I’m alive. I’m not even hungover, because I didn’t drink last night. I stayed in Boston because of the storm and the power outages. I didn’t feel comfortable being out on the roads.” I slam the mug down in the middle of the counter. “I did the responsible thing and I’m getting shit for it. Do you to realize how ridiculous that is?”
“Really? So you were acting responsibly when you drove to Westlynn in the aforementioned storm and power outages to rescue Eric Royce from a crackhouse?”
I freeze. How the hell does he know about that?
As guilt climbs up my throat, I inhale slowly and remind myself that I have nothing to feel guilty about. I’m not obligated to tell my father every detail of my life.
He waits for me to say something. When I don’t, he spits out an expletive. “Louisa Royce called me last night. She didn’t have your cell phone number, and she wanted to thank you again for getting her son home safe. And here you are telling me you’re not doing anything reckless. Why are you seeing him again, Brenna? He’s trouble.”
“I’m not seeing him. He was in trouble and I went to help him.”
“Why? He doesn’t deserve your help. He doesn’t deserve shit.” The raw hatred in his voice is terrifying. Dad isn’t a Care Bear. He’s never going to shower you with kisses and compassion. But he’s also not coldhearted.
“Dad. Come on. Eric’s not an evil person. He’s just in a bad place.”
“And it’s not your duty to rescue him from that place.” He drags both hands over his scalp. His gaze is a little wild. “Do you know how worried I was after I got off the phone with his mother? Not knowing if you were all right?”
“You knew I was all right. I told you I was staying with a friend.”
“What friend?” he demands again.
“It doesn’t matter. But you know it wasn’t Eric, because Louisa wouldn’t have called to speak to me if I’d spent the night there. So please, just relax.”
“You want me to relax,” he mutters. “We have a crucial matchup this weekend, and instead of preparing for it, I’m worrying about whether or not my daughter is placing herself in danger.”
“I’m not placing myself in danger.” My throat tightens in frustration. I want to stomp my foot like a little kid, because I don’t understand him. Dad has two modes: he’s either ignoring me and completely disinterested in my life, or he’s screaming at me for shit that didn’t even happen.
I’m trembling as I pour my coffee. “I’m only going to tell you this once,” I say, and my voice is as shaky as my hands. “I am not involved with Eric again, and I never will be. He still calls me sometimes, usually to hit me up for money.”
I turn to face my father. His expression is harder than stone.
“I gave him money, one time,” I admit. “And then I realized it would become a habit, so I never did it again. He doesn’t phone that much anymore, maybe a couple times a year. Last night when he called me up, crying and scared because he didn’t know where he was…forgive me if it makes me a reckless fool that I didn’t want somebody I used to love to die in the fucking street.”
“Brenna,” Dad starts gruffly.
“What?”
“Just…” He blows out a ragged breath. “Tell me who you’re staying with next time you’re out all night. Don’t make me worry like that again.”
Then he leaves the kitchen.
JAKE: You ok?
* * *
ME: Yes and no. Dad’s gone back to ignoring me, so I assume he’s gotten over it. Heading to Summer’s now for girls night.
* * *
JAKE: Fuck ya. Film it for me.
* * *
ME: What do you think happens at girls night?
* * *
JAKE: Naked stuff, obviously. Pillow fights. Kissing practice. Actually, wait, forget that. We’re in college. You’re teaching each other how to eat pussy.
* * *
ME: Yes that’s exactly what we do. You’re such a pervert.
* * *
JAKE: Yup. Anyway, I’ll call you later.
* * *
ME: You don’t have to do that.
* * *
JAKE: I know I don’t have to. I want to.
I bite my lip to stop from smiling at my phone. But I can’t stop the warm, fuzzy sensation in my belly. Last night started out so awful, and ended up so…not awful.
I still can’t believe I slept with Jake. Figuratively and literally. I had sex with him and then I fell asleep wrapped up in his strong arms. I’m in trouble. I think I really like this guy, and I don’t know who I can talk to about it. Summer would tell Fitz in a heartbeat, and Audrey and Elisa suck at keeping secrets.
As I’m approaching Summer’s house, my landlord Wendy sends an update about the basement.
WENDY: Basement’s still not ready. Maybe another week, possibly less. We found mold growth in the utility room, and we’re working to contain it. For now, I need you to send me a complete inventory of what you lost in the flood. We’re filing the insurance claim this week.
* * *
ME: I’ll send it later. And please tell the mold guys to hurry up! I can’t live with my dad anymore.
* * *
WENDY: LOL the idea of living with my parents again makes me want to die.
* * *
ME: Exactly. Hurry!
* * *
WENDY: We’ll do our best :)
I put my phone away and enter the house without knocking. The high-pitched giggles in the living room tell me that the girls are already here. I find Summer on the couch with Audrey. Summer’s friend Daphne is curled up in the armchair, and rounding out the group is a face I haven’t seen since the morning at the diner. Rupi Miller. AKA, Hollis’s stalker-slash-girlfriend.
“Brenna!” Rupi says happily. She’s on the floor lounging on an oversized pillow and wearing a similar outfit to what she had on at the diner. A light-blue, A-line dress with a lacy collar, black tights, and two sparkly barrettes in her raven hair. She looks cute and prim, and the blue shade of her dress goes amazing with her skin tone.
“Come sit with me,” she urges. “Also, you look gorgeous! Guys, how gorgeous does she look? I can’t believe your skin—it’s so luminous. What do you use for it? On mine I use a homemade mask that my mom told me about. That’s how I get my pinkish hue. It’s—”
“I’m going to grab a drink,” I interrupt.
Rupi is still chattering as I leave the room. I don’t even know who she’s talking to anymore. Maybe herself?
Summer trails after me into the kitchen. “Holy moly, Bee, that girl can talk. And I thought I was a blabbermouth.”
“You are and so is she. Two blabbermouths can exist in the same realm, babes. It’s not like Highlander.”
“What’s Highlander? I haven’t seen it. Is that the one where the woman travels back in time?”
“No, that’s Outlander. Which, by the way, we absolutely need to watch because the leading man is smoking hot.”
“Oooh! All right. Let’s do it after the semester ends.”
“Done.”
As I pour myself a glass of water, Summer raises her eyebrows. “It’s girls’ night,” she reminds me. “We’re drinking margaritas.”
“I’m hydrating first. I’ve barely had anything to drink today. I was holed up in my room working on my final paper for Comm Theory.”
When we wander back into the living room, Rupi is still gushing about her homemade face mask. “It’s just chickpea flour and yogurt, and I swear it is the best exfoliant ever. You’ll be glowing after.”
Audrey and Daphne are hanging on her every word. “I’m officially intrigued,” Daphne says. “I’m always on the hunt for a good exfoliator. My skin is garbage lately.”
“We should do it now,” Audrey suggests. “Do you have chickpea flour and yogurt?”
Summer dons a blank look. “I have no idea.”
“Let’s go check.” Rupi races toward the kitchen with Audrey and Daphne hot on her heels.
I watch them go. “Did they just become best friends?”
“I think they did.”
“Are she and Hollis actually a thing?” I ask as I steal Daphne’s spot. I settle in the armchair and curl my legs under me.
“I have no idea. It’s the strangest relationship I’ve ever seen.” Summer lowers her voice. “She’s either screaming at him or he’s screaming at her. Otherwise, they’re making out.”
I bite my lip to keep from laughing. “If you think about it, that’s exactly the kind of relationship I would expect Hollis to be in.”
“Me too. But it’s so weird.”
“Exactly, like him.”
Summer smirks. “Says the person who made out with him.”
“So? You’ve never made out with a weirdo before?”
“You made out with Mike?” Rupi appears in the doorway, jaw agape.
Uh-oh.
For a second, I debate lying to the girl, until I realize how ridiculous that is. Who cares if I kissed Hollis? Besides, it’s not like he cheated on her with me. “I did,” I confirm. “But you don’t need to—”
“Ha!” she interrupts, her brown eyes twinkling. “I totally knew! Mike tells me everything.”
He does?
“And don’t worry, I’m not mad at you,” Rupi assures me.
“I wouldn’t have cared if you were.”
“Ha, you’re so funny.” She giggles, then asks Summer a yogurt-related question before darting into the kitchen.
“I wasn’t joking,” I tell Summer. “I wouldn’t have given a shit if she was mad.”
She snorts. “I know.”
My phone vibrates, and I commit a girls’ night faux pas by checking it.
JAKE: How’s it goin’ over there? Have you had a girl-on-girl orgasm yet?
* * *