On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,1
strange sensation washed over me. Part of me was flattered at the idea that a stranger, a guy as cute as Joel, could like me. But the other part... the other part was still too broken to care.
“This year is going to be so much fun,” Josie went on, “I can already tell.”
I murmured a vague reply. Because this year should have been fun, but then my world had been flipped on its head and I’d spent the last eight months in a permanent state of darkness.
Given everything that had happened, it was a miracle I was even here.
But I had to do this.
No matter how hard it was, and how much I didn’t want to be here, I had to do it.
If not for myself…
Then for her.
A few hours later, a knock at my door startled me.
“Hey,” Josie stared back at me as I opened it, her smile morphing into a frown. “Is everything okay?”
“What?” I blinked. “Uh, yeah. I didn’t realize what time it was.”
When I’d finally managed to untangle myself from Josie, after her insisting I attend the party, I’d thrown myself into a day of unpacking and pre-course reading.
I liked to keep busy. If I didn’t, it was too easy to become paralyzed by the grief I tried so hard to keep locked away.
“I brought supplies.” Josie held up a bag, and I gave her a tight smile.
“Great.”
Without invitation, she ducked past me and into my room.
Okay then. I guess this was really happening.
It was just a party, what was the worst that could happen? I would show my face, smile in all the right places, then quietly slip out and retreat to my room. I wasn’t against faking a stomach-ache if absolutely necessary.
Madison, my best friend from back home, would be rolling her eyes at me if she saw me now. She’d made me pinkie promise that I’d try.
‘Try to make the most of it, she’d want you to’, had been her parting words as we’d hugged before she left for UCLA.
I’d never been like her: outgoing and warm, a real social butterfly. But I was even less so since my mom passed.
Losing her had been like losing a part of me—all the best parts. Now I didn’t feel whole. A ship without its anchor, drifting through uncharted waters.
I shut down those thoughts, not ready to deal with them.
“Okay, I brought you some apple and peach fizz; no alcohol, but it tastes like fancy champagne.” She waggled her brows as she pulled out the bottle. “Have you decided what you’re wearing?”
“I was just going to wear jeans and a t-shirt.” My shoulders lifted in a small shrug.
“Not going to cut it.” Josie thrust the bag at me and sauntered over to my closet. “It’s the first party of the semester. You want to make an impression.”
As if I cared.
“Jeans will work but you need to pair it with something sexy like...” she fingered through my limited array of blouses and halter tops, “this.” She pulled out a black lace cropped halter top. “Perfect.”
My brows furrowed. It was one my mom had insisted on buying last summer when she’d been going through her ‘push Calli to try new things’ phase.
“I’m not sure it’s—”
“It’s eighty degrees out. Trust me, the less you wear, the better. College parties can get crowded. Can I use your bathroom? I brought a couple of outfits to try.”
“Sure.” I flicked my head to the door, accepting the halter top from her.
“Joel is going to die when he sees you in this.” She shot me a saucy wink before grabbing her bag and ducking into the bathroom.
I spent the next thirty minutes helping Josie pick her outfit. She settled on jean shorts and a skintight cropped t-shirt with a black and gray ombre effect. She looked killer and was clearly confident in her own skin.
“Lip gloss?” she asked me.
“I’m good.”
“Suit yourself. We should probably leave soon if we want to get there ahead of time.”
“Do we want to get there ahead of time?”
“Sure we do.” Josie chuckled, rubbing the corners of her smoky-lined eyes. She caught my eye in the mirror and frowned. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“I’m just not sure I’m ready for a party.”
Disappointment glittered in her gaze, and I hated that I’d put it there when she’d been nothing but nice to me. “If you really don’t want to come, I can always go alone.”