Page 28
“It has aname?”
He nods. “Oh yeah. Maybe burn the clothes you wore yesterday, and we definitely need to help you forget. Nothing good happens there. It’s like acurse.”
I already have a curse, and it’s not like I need any more of those.
Groaning, I slump back in my chair. “I don’t know if I have it in me to go out twice in a row.”
Callum turns toward me. “It’s the weekend, we have a week off, and you aren’tthatold.”
I scoff and throw a stray coaster at Ian, which he catches. “Stop teaching your boyfriend to be a smartass. I miss when he was polite.”
Callum huffs and smacks my head, which is yet another habit he’s picking up from Ian the Shithead.
“He’s a fast learner. Not my fault.” Ian cracks his beer, thinking. “Let’s go to The Barrel? Steve is initiating the team rookies tonight.”
All two of them?
I haven’t kept up with the group chat, but I vaguely remember something about an outing. “Fine, let’s do it,” I say, opening my own beer. “It’s not like we have another option since you baby juniors refuse to get fake IDs.”
CHAPTER TEN
DEAN
“Fuck, he pushed me off of him,” I groan. “And then he ran off because I’m an asshole who pushed for too much.”
Claire sticks out a stiff arm and pats my back exactly twice. “That…sucks. Sorry.”
I know she means well, but I learned very quickly not to expect much comfort to come from the likes of her.
“Yeah. It’s whatever,” I mutter. “But I really thought there was something there.”
Sighing, Claire offers her bottle of tequila to me, which I refuse with a shake of my head. “Look, Nick could be going through something. Don’t overthink things.”
Easier said than done.
“Thisis exactly why I don't try hooking up with guys I already know,” I add. “Because fucking it up is more than a strike to my ego.”
“Hey, we should go out tonight so you can stop moping around,” she suggests, and I’m grateful for the subject change. “I’ll snag a table at Fusion, or we can go to The Barrel.”
Neither of those options sound appealing, but I'm feeling a dive bar more than a dark, expensive club. “Let's do The Barrel.”
Claire’s phone is out within a second, and she sends a barrage of messages in quick succession to someone before getting a reply. “My brother’s there with a few of his friends. Let’s join them.”
I stay firmly planted on my couch. “Your brother’s on the baseball team. Who exactly is he with?”
A flicker of realization crosses her face, and she sendsanother message. “The two freshmen, and everyone except Nick, Jeremy, and Ian. The baseball team is having a freshman initiation night.”
“At abar?” That’s met with nothing more than a shrug, so I continue. “Okay, let’s go, I guess.”
“Come on, man. Where’s theenergy?” Claire dumps some of my vodka into a glass along with some of the lemon soda she brought. “Take this and get changed. Maybe into something less boring than yesterday.”
I comply, accepting the drink and dragging my feet into my bedroom. The Barrel isn’t where you go if you’re dressed nicely, so I grab a random pair of black pants and a sweater that’s half a size too large. Wincing, I down the mixture Claire poured for me, holding my breath as the liquid burns my throat, and give my head a shake.
Then the two of us put our jackets on and make the short walk over to WMU’s infamous dive bar that walks a fine line between serving underage college kids and staying in business.
“Oh, and if my brother hits on you, pour a drink over his head for me, won’t you?” Claire says right before we walk in.
“Wait, he’s?—”
