Without You

Luke started laughing. “Shit. I would have given my right arm to see Hayes’s face.”

I giggled as I walked up to him and pushed him in the chest. “You’re so mean.”

He threw his arm around me, and we headed back to my house.

“Alex, if he ever hurts you, I hope you know you’re going to ruin a damn good friendship.”

I punched him in the stomach. “He won’t.”

He dropped his arm as we walked into the house. “For his sake, I hope not,” he whispered.

Grace, Maegan, Libby, and I all sat on Will’s tailgate as we watched Colt, Will, and Luke load a trailer with square bales of hay. Luke stopped to pull his T-shirt off, and he threw it down on the ground.

Maegan and Libby both sighed.

“I swear, Grace, your brother has the body of a god. What I wouldn’t do to have my legs wrapped around him,” Maegan said as she fanned herself with a piece of paper.

Grace looked at Meg. “Gross, Meg. I just threw up in my mouth.”

I giggled, but then I noticed how Libby shot her head over and looked at Meg. Both Libby and Meg had a thing for Luke. He was getting ready to head off to his second year at A&M, and from what Will and Colt had said, Luke had his fair share of girls falling over him. He was totally clueless when it came to Meg and Libby liking him.

I bumped my shoulder into Libby’s. “You getting excited about heading to A&M?”

She smiled. “Yeah, I’m pretty excited about it.”

Meg looked over and let out a sigh. “Crap, I really wish my parents weren’t so hell-bent on me going to Baylor.”

Grace started laughing. “Please, bitch. The only reason you want to go to A&M is because Luke is going there. Hence, the reason your daddy won’t let you go to A&M.”

We all started laughing.

“Right? I wonder if I have any chance of hooking up with Luke before the end of the summer,” Meg said.

Grace jumped off the truck, and as she turned to look at Maegan, she put her hands on her hips. In that moment, I saw Aunt Ari all over Grace’s face.

“Jesus H. Christ, stop with the talk about my brother. I can’t take it. It’s disgusting, Maegan.”

I peeked over at Libby, and she was staring at Maegan. I glanced back out and noticed the guys were nearly done. I leaned over to Libby and said, “You should go offer them a drink of tea.”

She quickly looked at me. “Yeah?”

I smiled as I nodded my head.

Libby wasn’t shy by any means, but when it came to Luke, she was beyond shy. Last year, Luke had kissed her behind the bleachers before he headed off for college. After Will had found out about the kiss, he’d punched Luke, but then Luke had explained that he hated himself for kissing Libby. It wasn’t because he hadn’t wanted to kiss her. It had just made their friendship awkward. They used to spend a lot of time together, but Libby and Luke’s friendship hadn’t really been the same since.

While Grace and Maegan were busy going back and forth, Libby jumped down and grabbed three bottles of tea before making her way toward the guys.

“Where is she going?” Maegan jumped off the tailgate.

“Taking tea to the guys.” I looked at Grace and winked.

Grace rolled her eyes and put her finger in her mouth like she was gagging herself. I chortled and jumped off the tailgate. I needed to distract Maegan for a bit to give Libby a chance. I wasn’t playing sides by any means. I just knew that Maegan wanted to sleep with Luke only because she knew Libby liked Luke a lot.

“What are y’all wearing to the party tonight?” I asked.

Grace was the first to answer, “Oh my gosh, I found the cutest dress in my mom’s closet. It’s all vintage and shit. I’m totally wearing it.”

“Jean shorts and a T-shirt,” Maegan mumbled as she watched Libby.

I looked at her. “You of all people wearing just shorts and a T-shirt?”

Maegan glanced back at me and smiled. “Yep. I’m so sick of dressing up for these country bumpkins, only to have them talk about fences and cows. God, I can’t wait to get out of Fredericksburg and Mason. I just want to be in the city.”

My heart sank a little when Maegan talked about leaving. She and Grace wanted to leave Mason as fast as they could while Libby and I dreaded leaving. Mason was my comfort zone. It was where I felt happy, safe, and loved. I hated the few times I’d been to Austin, and I hated UT also. It was too big and had way too many people. Grace was over the moon about going to UT, especially after she’d found out that Michael Clark was going there.