Focus

“You want to tell me what that was all about?” Levi asked when we were about halfway uptown.

“You didn’t get it from the part you heard?”

“I’m guessing he didn’t actually want to use you as a prostitute.”

“He wanted me to get back with Toby to help his business.”

“What?” Levi’s hands tightened on the wheel.

“I know my dad didn’t really mean it. He’s just desperate. He got the company from his dad—who always called him a failure. He’s just trying to save it.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just mad.”

“I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it?” He put a hand on my arm.

“Good guess.”

“Want to grab some lunch?”

“I’d love some.”

“All right, I know just the place.”

“Where?”

“Semolina’s. It’s good Italian.”

“Sounds perfect.”

I couldn’t believe that I’d just run away from my dad and to Levi. Sometimes life just seemed so complicated.

***

“Come on guys, this is serious.” Anne crossed her arms, glaring at us from across the table.

“How can Halloween costumes be serious?” I tried to pay attention to the economics notes in front of me, but my mind was still on my conversation with Dad.

“We need to come up with the ultimate costumes. I don’t want anything lame.”

“Then come up with one. Why do we all have to have matching costumes?” Hailey used a clip to pull back her hair.

“Because then everyone knows we’re together. It’s more fun.”

“All right, what ideas do you have?” Tiffany set aside her laptop. We’d fallen into a routine of all studying together at the same table at one of the campus coffee shops.

“I was thinking Disney Princesses. We can make them all cute and slutty. Obviously, Hailey could be Ariel, I’d be Jasmine, Allie could be Belle, and Tiffany can have her pick of the blondes.”

I laughed. “Oh, how can Tiffany choose between Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty?”

Hailey shook her head. “No way. You couldn’t pay me to dress up as a love sick mermaid. Next.”

“Fine, what do you guys want to be?”

“Flappers?” I suggested. “I dressed up as one sophomore year, and it was fun.”

“We need to save those for the Prohibition party. I heard it’s epic.” Anne played with the straw in her iced coffee.

“What party isn’t epic?” I asked, biting back a smile. “But, hey, I tried.”

Anne ate a tiny bite of her blueberry muffin. “And it was a great suggestion.”

“Pirates. Why don’t we go as pirates?” Tiffany took a sip of her coffee.

“I like that.” Hailey smiled.

“Same here. It’s classic,” I agreed.

“Pirates…we can work with that. Let’s go as sexy pirates.” Anne was probably already designing our costumes in her head.

“I never said sexy…” Tiffany got a panicked expression on her face.

“It went without saying.”

I leaned over to whisper to Tiffany. “Don’t worry. I’m not wearing anything too slutty either.”

“But remember…Allie’s definition of slutty probably differs from yours,” Hailey ribbed.

Before I could throw a sarcastic comment back to Hailey, Brandon pulled over a chair, throwing an arm over Anne’s shoulder. She stiffened. I wondered what had gone down between them. “Hey guys.”

“Hey.” I gave him a wave.

“What are you all up to?”

“What does it look like?” Hailey played with my little highlighter tabs. I resisted the urge to grab the pink ones from her. I really loved those things.

“You weren’t studying.”

“We’re planning our Halloween costumes, if you must know.” Anne crossed her arms again.

“What are you going as?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Okay when did you two sleep together?” Hailey said the words on my mind—only I never would have said them out loud.

Tiffany spit out her coffee, and Anne turned beet red.

“I’m going to go…” Brandon excused himself quickly.

“Was that necessary?” I asked.

Hailey shrugged. “Sorry, it just came out.”

Anne sighed. “We haven’t had sex, but we got close last weekend.”

“When?”

She looked down at the table. “We met up at the Boot…don’t ask.”

“Okay…” Hailey, Tiffany, and I looked at each other.

Anne quickly brought the conversation back to costumes. “So, who wants to go shopping for supplies tomorrow?”

“Supplies?” I closed my econ book, realizing there was no way I was getting back to it.

Anne pushed away the rest of her muffin, letting us know it was up for grabs. “For our costumes. I heard there’s an awesome costume shop on Magazine Street.”

“I’ll go.” Hailey seemed strangely excited.

“Okay cool. You get out at two tomorrow, right?” It was a testament to how much the four of us hung out that we knew each other’s schedules.

“Yup, we can take the streetcar to my parents’ house and get my car.” Hailey finally released my tabs.

“Okay, great.” Anne was immediately back to herself again. Considering how messed up things were with Levi, I couldn’t judge anyone else for their relationships.

Chapter Twelve

“I can’t believe I’m actually going out in this.” I checked my reflection one last time in the mirror. The pirate costumes Anne designed were actually cute—but also very revealing. A short mini dress was the base of the costume, and with my long legs it looked even shorter. Add in black boots and a low-cut top with laces, and it screamed sex.

“You and me both.” Tiffany finished putting on eyeliner. “No one from home would believe I’d ever dress this way.”

“You’ll have to post a picture tonight.” Hailey laughed. “If it makes you feel better, if we run into my brother, he’ll make fun of me for the rest of my life.”

“Would Owen really care?” Anne asked. She was already waiting impatiently at the door.

“Yes. He still thinks I’m a little kid. Levi and Jared do too.”