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I look anywhere but at Emily, not feeling the courage to face her yet. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“God, ‘Me, stop being so awkward,” she starts laughing and I can’t help but follow.
It might be the alcohol, but it feels good to laugh with her, to have her by my side after this long.
“I’m sorry,” she says once she’s stopped laughing. “I started seeing Luke and all of a sudden the rest of the world didn’t matter. I was the worst friend possible. And I’ve been dying to talk to you but…it just always looks like you don’t want to open up about what’s going on.”
“I’m sorry too.” I take her hand in both of mine and lock my gaze with hers. “I have been reluctant to share what’s going on…and I think part of me was just too ashamed to. Em, what I said to you about Aaron…it was not only out of line but unjust. I can’t begin to imagine how much it hurt to hear it.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything about your house, and I surely shouldn’t have used Camila to get back at you. I love you, ‘Me. I’m sorry.”
She pulls me into a tight hug, and I almost cry from happiness. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too. So much,” she replies.
When we pull away, I look at her from head to toe. “Luke…what happened?”
She snorts and rolls her eyes. “I need more alcohol to talk about Luke and to hear about you and Jake because I don’t think what Luke told me was the whole story.”
“What did he say?” I chuckle.
“Bullshit. That’s all he says. That’s all this group says anyway.” She says it in such a light tone that I wonder if she means it, but an uneasy feeling settles in my stomach.
Between Camila’s words and Emily’s, it’s not simple to think Jake is as honest as he pretends. Add Nathan’s warning and a heaviness takes a seat on my shoulders.
“Come, let’s drink.” Emily grabs my hand, and we walk back to the party. As we pass both doors of Rose’s and Jake’s rooms opposite each other, Emily stops.
“I need to ask you something,” she says, excitement filling her voice.
“Go ahead.”
“Which one is Jake’s room?”
I can’t help but laugh at her. “This one,” I say pointing to the door on my right.
“‘Me, do you know how many girls would die to be in this room?”
My laugh heightens and I try to push her toward the entrance of the hallway. “Stop it, would you?” Trust Emily to force any worry out of my system with her silliness.
Before either of us can move we hear Rose’s voice spill from her room. We can hear her perfectly well because her door is ajar. I’ve noticed her door is never fully closed if she’s on her own.
“You’re not selling me anything? Since when?”
Em and I both look at each other and agree in silence to keep listening. Curiosity, curiosity, my worst flaw.
“Don’t give me your ‘you’re too young’ bullshit you’ve been selling to me since we fucking met. That’s how we met, Carlo.Just…just let me talk to Roy.”
Emily shrugs and looks at me. “She’s just trying to score,” she whispers. “Let’s go.”
“Fuck, Roy, I thought you were the smart one out of you two. Is it Sam? Did he say that? Tell him to go fuck himself. You three can suck each other’s dicks. It’s only a tiny step further from kissing his ass.”
Em and I both look at each other barely able to hold out our laughs at her words. We hear her move behind the door, and both hurry out of the hallway.
As soon as we reach the living room, Jake snatches me away from Emily, pulling me into a tight hug.
“Mm,” he says smelling the top of my head. “Which shampoo do you use? Or does it smell amazing just because it’s on you?”
“It’s yours, idiot,” I giggle. “I showered here”.
“Oh, that might be why it smells so good then.” He messes my hair, slides his hand until it’s at the base of my hair, and grips me tight until I look up at him. His lips crash on mine and the smell of vodka has replaced the weed.
“Boy, you’re going hard tonight, aren’t you?” I ask.
He shrugs as he pulls away, giving me his most innocent smile. “It’s the last day of the semester. I’m celebrating the start of the holiday!”
I smile back at him because I love him like this, careless and happy.
“Tonight’s gonna be a big night.” He gives me a long, hard kiss and I happily kiss him back.
Tonight is going to be a big night.
