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Neither was I, by any stretch of the imagination, but she dealt with things I didn’t have to. It was as simple as that. She glared at me fiercely, letting me know I had, in fact, just offended her. I shook my head and swallowed my judgment. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
She plastered a full smile back on and kissed me on the shoulder, leaving me alone in this smelly hell hole. I watched as her body was absorbed into the mass of dancing people. Ana hung on Rachel, and Kai placed herself behind June, all four of them bouncing and moving in unison with the crowd.
“Oli!” Kai shouted, laying her hands on June’s waist. “Do I have permission to touch your girlfriend? I promise I won’t fuck her! Unless she wants to!”
I groaned loudly, though no one could hear it over the music. My face dropped to the palms of my hands, a place it very much frequented, and I dragged my skin down with my fingers.
Oli wrapped his arm around my shoulders and approved Kai’s request. “Have at it, little sis, but watch that mouth of yours!” He then turned to me. “It’s okay,” he said directly into my eardrum, the loud noise sending a wave of pain through my body. “This is called having fun.”
His large arm tugged on my neck as he walked me out toward the dance floor. Oh, no, no, no. Not happening. I wanted to throw a fit, to scream and yell until I found myself alone in silence. But before I knew it, I was surrounded by flailing girls. Both Kai and Oli turned to face me and gave me that look. That look they gave me when they wanted me to drop the act. The only issue is, this really wasn’t an act. Not this time. Being here was truly torture. Loudspeakers and music were all well and good in the right circumstances. I was a musician, after all. But music I hated being blasted directly into my brain in the middle of a crowd after a fifteen-hour journey to another continent?
Jesus fucking Christ.
“Put on a smile for me, Jojo!” Kai shouted as she grabbed my arms. She moved them up and down with her own, making them dance as the rest of my body stayed still. I kept a straight face, though her giant grin demanded my attention, momentarily silencing the rest. She began doing the running man with my extremities, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. A smile exploded through my grimace.
I still didn’t dance, but at least I smiled. She seemed to be content with that.
???
We finally fell out onto the street around 5:00 a.m., pushing through the tiny door of the bar. The air inside had been so hot and suffocating that stepping out onto the sidewalk felt like a goddamn miracle. I knew I would never be able to enter that place ever again. Not after being reminded how great it was to not be in it.
Our hotel wasn’t too far off, according to Kai, so we decided to walk the alleged fifteen minutes. I couldn’t have been more exhausted, but the sight of her still twirling around happily made the fact that I was awake and in public all worth it. She and June were ballroom dancing up the crooked street while Rachel and Ana skipped along behind them.
Oli, Javi, and I followed in an awkward pyramid with Javi at the front. Not a single word was spoken between us. Not until Oli finally piped up.
“Jonah,” he said, nudging my shoulder. I followed his gaze to the monumental building to my left. Above an intricate, round awning and beautiful pillars of stone sat those yellow letters, like trashy graffiti on some architect’s exquisite building. McDonald’s. My god, the place looked fancy. Was this the same restaurant that had dirty ball pits and creepy clowns?
“Hey!” Oli called out to the girls, grabbing their attention. “Stop there for a second!”
The four of them skidded to a halt as Oli took my arm and hauled me into the world’s fanciest fast-food establishment. The inside was nicer than the outside, and I honestly saw the appeal. Plus, Kai said it tasted different here, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little curious. The place was almost as packed as the bar was, and I was relieved to finally emerge back onto the street carrying far too many bags between my arms.
The girls still hadn’t moved from their spot, but Javi had caught up to them.
“Here,” I said to Kai, handing her a small fry as I had so many nights in high school at the 24-hour drive-thru. She took it and spun off, continuing down the road as she ate.
“Shouldn’t we wait to eat until we’re back at the hotel so we can get comfortable, amorcito?” Javi asked, trailing after her and lifting his head from his cell phone for the first time since we’d started walking.
“We will, amor,” Kai said, giving another twirl as the rest of the group fell into step.
“That’ll just hold her over until we get home,” I said. I glanced at Javi and pressed my lips together—my classic attempt at a friendly smile.
He did not hesitate to shoot me a look that told me everything I needed to know about his feelings toward me. They were most certainly not good. Somehow, I didn’t hate it. If he disliked me, I was probably doing something right.
My smile grew, and I showed him my teeth.
Chapter 7
Kai
Oh, shit. Oh, shit, shit, shit. Not today, please. God, not while my friends are here. The familiar headache was already setting in.
“I just don’t like those guys,” Javi whispered to me sharply in Spanish. “If you’d rather be with them than me, then fine, be with them, but I’m out of here.”
We were huddled in the corner of the hotel room where Jonah, Oli, and June were staying for the week, arguing quietly by the door. The entire group had slept here last night after we stumbled home with our McDonald’s, all of us sprawled across the beds, couch, and floor. I did my best to keep the conversation at bay; it would’ve been rude to wake everyone else up. But my nerves were through the roof, and I could already feel my stomach pitting for the moment when he’d inevitably walk away and leave me in the dark for hours, perhaps days.
“Javi, come on.” I placed my hand on his arm. “I want to be with you, and I also want to see them. They’ve been my best friends since I was a kid. Why can’t we all hang out together?” I tried to keep my tone sweet. Just one wrong word and he’d blow his top.
“There’s no such thing as guys and girls that are just friends.”
