the front of the beer line and grabs us two red cups of golden frothiness before shoving one in my hand. We tap the rims together.
“Salut!” she says before rather impressively downing the entire container in one thirsty gulp.
I raise my brows and take a dainty sip.
“What?” She swipes the back of her hand across her lips. “It’s been one long-ass week.”
Even though Ethan made a point of showing up at the game, Sydney still isn’t talking to him. We’ll have to see how this one plays out. Although, I have my suspicions as to what will transpire. These two are like Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick. They can’t be together, and yet they can’t be without one another.
“I’ll be right back, I’m going to grab another one,” she says.
As she turns away, I shout, “Hey, I don’t want to carry you home tonight. You’re like dead weight when you pass out.”
She flashes a grin before returning in record speed. “I needed that first one to take the edge off.”
Mission accomplished. The edge has clearly been taken off.
When a song that has been playing all summer long comes on, Sydney whoops and throws her hand in the air before moving her body to the rhythm. Several guys in the vicinity take notice. Unable to resist joining her, I follow suit and let the beat flow through me. One song bleeds into another, and we dance in the tiny bit of space we’ve managed to carve out for ourselves. When a pair of male hands wrap around Sydney’s waist and spin her away, I peek around to view the culprit. Her shoulders tighten, and all the lightheartedness she had managed to find in the music drains away, leaving a pissed off Sydney in its place.
I should have known...Ethan.
“Can we talk?” His voice is barely audible over the chatter of people and music pumping around us.
Emotion flickers over Sydney’s face before she shrugs. “Is there really anything for us to talk about?”
It feels like we’ve reached the point in the evening where I should make myself scarce. I’m not looking to referee this conversation.
Sorrow fills his eyes as his face falls. “I’m sorry, Syd. I was a jackass. I care about you, and I’m not ready for this to be over.”
She takes a tentative step toward him before tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know. Maybe we’re better off as friends. All we do is fight when we’re together.”
The girl makes a valid point. He should really listen to her.
“Yeah, I know. But I still want to make this work.” There’s a pause. “Don’t you? Don’t we owe it to ourselves to give this one last shot?”
When she remains silent, he closes the distance between them before cupping her cheeks with his hands. Then he leans in and plants a kiss on her lips.
If I know Sydney (and I do), she’ll react one of two ways. One, she’ll scratch his eyes out or two—
She’ll melt beneath his hands, and they’ll start sucking face.
When her mouth opens under the pressure of his, I know exactly how the rest of this night will go. And that’s with the two of them playing an intense game of tonsil hockey while I stand around feeling like an awkward third wheel.
Sydney tosses her empty cup over her shoulder before twining her arms around his shoulders. From somewhere behind her comes a disgruntled—hey!
I take another sip of my now lukewarm drink and wince. Icy cold beer goes down a lot easier than room temperature hops and barley.
Yuck.
As I step away to give them a bit of much needed privacy—even though they’re making out in the middle of a crowded party—Ethan pulls away and stares at me with a dazed expression.
“Ummm, Justin is around here somewhere.”
Great. Exactly the person I wanted to contend with. This night has officially gone down the tubes. Justin and I haven’t spoken since he dropped me off Wednesday night. There’s been a text or two, but otherwise, we’ve both been busy.
I jerk my thumb over my shoulder and point to nowhere in particular. “I guess that would be my cue to leave.”
Ethan flashes me a lopsided grin before his lips return to Sydney’s. With one last look at the pair, I shake my head and take off. It’s even more jampacked than when we arrived an hour ago. People are crammed into the first floor of this house like sardines.