You and Everything After

“I don’t think so, Ty. Chick just nuked us all,” Marcus peaches says, and while he’s talking, I watch the screen, where Cash’s character, and mine, are rescued by a cloaked starship that suddenly appears and saves our bodies before they melt. Since tonight I’m Adrianna, I stand up with both of my hands in the air, turning to face my opponents, pumping one fist a little higher than the other in victory.

“You’re so dead…pumpkin,” I grin, tossing my control back over to Cash, and backing away, serenaded by a few whistles and the sound of Marcus’s ego being absolutely torn to shreds by every other guy in the room.

“Uhm, do I need to teach you how to flirt?” Paige asks, hooking her arm through mine, while we head out the back door to the large patio where everyone else seems to be gathered.

“What? You think that’s going to turn guys off?” I shrug at her, lifting myself up to straddle the block wall around the patio.

“Cass, how do I put this? That? It doesn’t really make a guy think about taking your clothes off. You pretty much made that entire room of men feel inferior,” she says, her attention split between me and some tall jock who just sat on the other end of the wall.

“Maybe,” I say, swirling the last remnants of beer in my cup before chugging the last sip. “But there was one I don’t think minded all that much.”

Ty

Sexy ninja. It took her less than five minutes to have every videogame-playing asshole at this party by the balls.

“Dude, that was hot,” I say, punching Nate on the shoulder while everyone else in the living room scrambles to recover—Marcus and his brother, mostly. Once Cass defeated the game, they shut the Xbox off, clearly not wanting a repeat ass whooping.

“You have a strange set of standards for what’s hot, man,” Nate says, handing me an extra beer and heading to the back patio. The second we pass through the door, I see her sitting on the wall on the other side.

“Maybe I do, bro. Maybe I do,” I say, not able to take my eyes off her. Her legs are tan and long, and I love that she’s wearing shorts and a T-shirt. The high-maintenance chick that’s obsessed with salad dressing is with her, and she looks like she’s dressed for a goddamned prom. “What do you think…freshman?”

“I don’t know. Yeah, probably, I guess,” Nate says, half paying attention and pulling himself up to sit along the block wall. “If you hit that, you’re keeping that shit in her room, though. I need my sleep, and I’m not hanging around the hallway waiting on you to get some.”

“Oh, Nathan. You and your beauty sleep,” I tease, doing my best to eavesdrop on their conversation a few feet away from us. Cass keeps flitting her eyes my direction, trying not to smile. It’s cute, the way she’s afraid of getting caught.

“Come on, bro. You owe me one,” I say, untying one of Nate’s shoelaces and pushing forward to approach the two blondes.

“Goddamn it, Ty. I don’t owe you shit, and you know I hate it when you fuck with my shoes,” Nate says somewhere behind me. I’m already zeroed in on everything in front of me though, and the adorable smile playing out on Cass’s face as she bites the side of her bottom lip, trying not to blush.

“You read Gamer,” I say, knowing full well she does—based on the ass whooping she displayed a few minutes ago. I don’t sleep well, and when I can’t sleep, I play video games—all of them.

“Maybe,” she says, sipping at the beer in her cup. She’s being coy; it’s cute. “You…read Gamer?” she asks, one eyebrow cocked upward.

I grin in response, wink, and then tip my cup back finishing off my beer. Her cup’s empty too, so I take this opportunity. “Get you another?” I ask, brushing my hand into hers just to see how she reacts. She looks down when I do, rapping fingers against the cup where I touched skin—almost like she’s not used to being touched that way.

“Yeah, I’ll have another,” she says, handing me her cup. I notice the salad dressing blonde scoot in closer, nudging her in disapproval.

“Relax, I’m not an asshole. I won’t drug her,” I say, and her friend just stares at me, hard, her brow low and her facial expression clearly not trusting me at all. She grills me with that gaze for a few seconds before turning her attention to Nate, suddenly forgetting all about me.

“Be right back,” I say, holding both cups in one hand and pushing myself back inside.

The crowd around the keg is thick; I move toward the kitchen and pick up a few smaller cups, filling them with the tequila I brought. I pour eight shots, putting them on a plate in my lap, knowing I can probably talk Nate into doing a few with me. I know he said he was done with this…but I think he’ll play along just long enough for me to get in with Cass.