I relaxed and shooed Angie away before I turned back to her. “So are you dating anyone?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
I could hear Angie and Ben bickering behind me, but then Angie huffed out, “Fine!” She stormed off. Ben gave me a small smile before he bounded after her.
“Look.” I dropped the façade. “I didn’t want you and Angie to have another round.”
Her smile was bitter now. “Oh, you mean like that last eight times since Las Vegas.”
“Eight?”
Marissa snorted. “Where’ve you been, Alex? It’s a normal thing for her and me to get into it. It wouldn’t be a party if Angie and I weren’t screaming at each other. There was hair pulling at the last one.”
“Really?”
She rolled her eyes. “I thought you were getting better. What happened to you? You slipped back into the land of the dead. Are you able to graduate? Did you get all your studies done?”
“I got a full scholarship to Grant West.”
It took a second before I realized what I said. Then I gasped and my mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe that had slipped out. I hadn’t told anyone, well, I hadn’t told Angie yet.
Marissa’s eyes bulged out and she was quiet for a second. Then she whispered, “Holy shit, Alex. Really?”
I nodded, still in shock.
“Wow, that’s, wow. That’s great. Congratulations.”
I nodded again. Everything started reeling around me.
“So, you’ll be with Jesse then? Like, for real? You guys can be a couple.”
Everything fell flat again. I shrugged as I responded in a monotone, “We ended things in Las Vegas.”
“What?” she squeaked. Her hand clamped onto my arm. “Are you serious? The two of you are done?”
“Have been for awhile,” I said through gritted teeth. “You and Cord?”
“Oh.” She waved a dismissing hand in the air. “He’s been back twice. We hook up, but that’s it. I’m not stupid. Cord’s like Jesse, they’re not relationship guys. He’s told me about all the girls at their college. They have groupies there. Can you believe that?”
I nodded. I really could.
“Yeah, I guess you’d know, huh?” She sipped her beer and gave me a shy smile. “I got into Kellan College.”
“Oh. Congratulations.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Yeah, me and Sarah. We’re going to be roommates.”
“Oh.” Pain speared through me. She had replaced Angie and me so quickly. “That’s good for you then.”
She nodded, biting her lip now.
“Isn’t it?”
All the happiness, all the excitement left her. Sadness flooded her next and she heaved a deep sigh. “Are you okay, Alex?” She edged closer to me and gripped her cup tighter. “I know things didn’t go right between me and Angie, but I never stopped caring about you as a friend. I know Angie’s your best friend. She’s always been closer to you than me, but I’m just worried. Are you okay?”
Oh no. We’d taken a nosedive into the emotional and not-things-I-talked-about. I shook my head and started to back away.
“Alex.” She hurried after me.
“No, stop.” My insides twisted around each other. I needed to get away from her. I couldn’t hear anything more from her. She’d left me. I couldn’t handle taking her back.
“Alex.”
“Stop.” I turned and darted through the crowd. Angie and Ben were in the kitchen. I knew they’d be getting drinks, so I turned down a far hallway and ran into someone. A hard chest hit me and I stumbled back, but before I hit the wall, an arm snaked around my waist holding me in place.
“Hey, Alex.” Eric set me on my feet and bent so he was eye level with me. He gentled his voice. “You okay? You look upset.”
“Everyone is so damn worried about me,” I snapped out.
He straightened abruptly. His blonde hair was gelled at the tips; it gave him a wet/bedroom look. It seemed to make his blue eyes all the more smoldering and I could see why so many girls fancied him. With a loose white tee shirt over ripped jeans, Eric could’ve been a model.
And holy hell. When did I start noticing him in that way?
I cursed under my breath before I squared my shoulders back. “I’m sorry, Eric.”
“Hey, no problem.” He lifted his cup in front of him and raised his eyebrows. “I’m just here, drinking, hanging out at my place. Have you been here before? Wait, you must’ve.”
“Your seventh grade birthday party.”
His cheeks reddened and he made a point to drink from his cup. Then he coughed. “Yeah, that’s not embarrassing. We did our ‘seven minutes in heaven’ thing, didn’t we?”
I couldn’t stop a chuckle at that memory. We had been shoved inside, but it’d been the longest and shortest seven minutes of heaven in my life. “You kissed me on the cheek.”
“I did?” A wide smile appeared. “I was aiming for your lips. I was trying to be aloof and mysterious. Did it work?”
I shrugged, but my stomach fluttered as I remembered the feel of his cool lips. I’d been so excited. I had pulled Angie into the closest bathroom and squealed about my first kiss on the cheek. “I had a crush on you back then.”
His eyebrows shot up again. “You did?”