If We Ever Meet Again - Ana Huang Page 0,64
smile. The jackhammers in his head multiplied. “Think of all the friendship toasts we had yesterday.”
She half-laughed, half-snorted. “Yeah. So you really don’t remember what happened last night?”
Unease unfurled in his stomach. “No…”
“That’s too bad.” Cleo took a deep breath and looked down. The seconds ticked by. When she looked up again, her expression was almost apologetic. “Blake, we slept together.”
“Earth to Blake.” Farrah waved her free hand in front of Blake’s face. “Hellooo? Anyone home?”
He snapped back to the present, but the guilt and nausea from that morning continued to churn in his stomach.
“Sorry.” He had to shout to be heard over the noise. It was close to fireworks time, and anticipation rippled through the crowd. “I was thinking.”
“It’s ok.” Farrah patted his hand. “I support you trying new things in the new year.”
Blake side-eyed her. “Do you have to be a smartass all the time?”
“It’s better than being a dumbass all the time.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. When he was around Farrah, it was easy to forget anything else existed. Easy to pretend everything was fine when he wanted to fall to his knees and beg her forgiveness.
He wanted to tell her what happened over New Year’s their first night back, but she looked at him with so much love and trust he knew he couldn’t tell her. Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
What happened with Cleo was a one-time thing. There was no use destroying Farrah and himself over a stupid mistake he didn’t remember. Right?
The lead weight in his stomach grew heavier.
“The fireworks are about to start.” Courtney rubbed her palms together. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “We need to find a good spot.”
“Good luck.” Leo scooted closer to her to allow a young couple to pass. “This place is a zoo.”
“That’s negative thinking and I will not stand for it. We’ll find a spot.”
True to her word, Courtney shouldered her way through the crowd and squeezed them into a corner on the Garden’s Zig Zag bridge. She earned them plenty of dirty looks, but they were going to have a fantastic view of the fireworks.
“Damn, Court.” Sammy looked impressed. “I could’ve used you during my holiday shopping.”
“Come to Seattle and I’m all yours.” Courtney leaned into Leo, who draped an arm over her shoulders. “I missed you guys.”
“I’m so glad I’m here instead of back home.” Kris twisted her ring round and round her finger. “My dad and the stepmonster-to-be can suck a giant bag of balls.”
The rest of the group exchanged glances.
Farrah had filled Blake in on the drama. Kris’s dad’s fiancée convinced him to cut Kris off for “irresponsible spending.” It seemed their extravagant trip to Macau for Courtney’s birthday was the last straw. He dropped the bombshell on Kris the day she returned home.
Kris with a black Amex was grumpy enough. Kris without a black Amex? Nuclear territory.
“He’ll cave. He always does,” Courtney reassured her.
“You’re his only daughter,” Olivia added. “Obviously, you take priority over his girlfriend.”
“Ha. Tell that to him. She has him totally brainwashed. Like she’s that responsible with money! She owns like twenty Birkins.” Kris’s lip trembled. She set her jaw and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “It’s fine. When I’m home for the summer, I’m going to make my dad see what a pathetic gold-digger she is. Their wedding won’t happen. Not on my watch.”
“Let us know if we can help,” Luke said. “We can, I dunno, dig up dirt on her online.”
Judging by the expressions on his friends’ faces, Blake wasn’t the only one who was surprised. Kris and Luke usually bickered more than an old married couple.
Kris choked out a laugh. “Thanks, but I got it.”
“Did we enter the Twilight Zone?” Sammy clutched his heart. “You guys are acting like friends.”
“Yeah, right!”
“As if!”
Kris and Luke spoke at the same time. They stared at each other sheepishly while everyone else laughed.
“We’ve always been friends. All of us. No matter how much some of us bicker.” Courtney squeezed Kris’s and Luke’s hands. “Actually, we’re more than that. We’re family. And there’s no one else I’d rather celebrate the Lunar New Year with.”
The group looked around at each other. Nine college students from all over the US, brought together by fate or circumstance. They couldn’t be more different. Some of them would’ve never been friends had they met anywhere else but Shanghai. Yet here they were.
A family.
In a place as crazy and ever-changing as Shanghai, they were each other’s constants. The ones who had each other’s backs. From overcoming culture