the cutest thing: he’s teasing her about something, and her whole face is lit up, like she’s having the time of her life.
I grin. My work here is done.
“Hey B, where’ve you been?” An arm snakes around from behind, and I feel Cameron lean down to kiss my forehead. I tense. This is going to be the hard part: acting like nothing’s wrong until the news about him and Kaitlin breaks.
“Long story.” I force myself to smile, scooting over so there’s room beside me. “I’ve had the craziest night.”
“It’s been awesome,” he agrees, collapsing next to me. “But I missed you.” He kisses me lightly on the lips and then drapes an arm on my shoulder.
“Awwww.” Courtney giggles on my other side. “So cute!”
But Cameron was always the cute one. Even now as I study him, he looks like an adorable puppy, with his clothes wet through from the pool, and his hair dripping on my bare shoulder. It’s why I started liking him, how he was so sweet and genuine when other guys would try and seem cool, like they were serious players or something. Cameron never pulled that crap — I always knew exactly how he felt about me. At least, I thought I did.
“I like the shirt.” He grins, tracing the letters.
“And the socks.” I stick my feet out, wriggling my toes. “It’s all about the socks.”
He laughs, and I wonder how he can be like this, so normal. It’s like nothing has happened, and he wasn’t groping Kaitlin in the back of that limo a few hours ago. I start to feel disorientated, as if maybe it never happened at all, and I had some weird hallucination from the pain medication. But I only just took the pills, and I saw them together — too gross to be a dream. It was real.
“I’ve got to run inside,” I say, bobbing up. He grabs my hand and pulls me down to kiss me again.
“Come back soon.”
Courtney makes another envious noise, so I smile brightly, ruffling his hair the way I always do. “Sure!”
There’s a major line for the bathrooms downstairs, so I head up to Brianna’s room on the first floor. She’s got an en suite up there, along with every kind of perfume and styling product known to mankind, stacked in neat rows across the wide double sink. I linger by the mirror, checking that everything looks just perfect. Bad enough I’ve had to cover for where I’ve been all night; if anything seems even a little off with me, people will start asking questions. And if there’s one thing my friends love to do, it’s gossip.
“There you are, bitch.” I look up as Kaitlin swans in, beaming. She hugs me, checking her own reflection at the same time. “That outfit is the cutest! You should have said you were changing — we could have matched.”
She’s still wearing her pink dress. The easy-access one.
“Oh, yeah.” I try to grin back, even though I’m hit with a sudden urge to leave my handprint on her face. I turn away. “It was a last-minute thing.”
I rummage in my purse, not even paying attention until I can’t find my lip gloss. Then I realize: I switched bags with Meg. She’s got my ultra-juicy gloss, and I’m stuck with . . . ChapStick? I sigh.
“Anyway, I was meaning to say, my mom fixed up that spa day.” Kaitlin hops up on the counter top.
“What?”
She rolls her eyes. “Remember, that bonding thing? It’s set for next weekend. You and me, and our moms, and Brianna and her mom . . . We have to invite Sonja Ellis too”— she wrinkles her lip —“but they’re trying to get her parents on their charity board thing, so I guess it’s important.”
My heart sinks. Of course, our parents. They’re all connected by now — the lunches, tennis games at the club, dinners while us kids are out together. Just another reason I have to bite my lip and give Kaitlin a careless smile.
“Sounds like fun!” I exclaim, slamming my purse shut. “Come on, let’s go get some drinks.”
Then something makes me stop. “Hey, have you talked to Cameron?” I keep my voice casual.
Kaitlin looks up. “Tonight? Not much, he’s been around, though.” She raises her eyebrows. “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing . . .” I sigh. “He’s just acting kind of weird.”
I sneak a look to check her expression, but Kaitlin doesn’t flinch. “Like how?”
“I don’t know . . . he’s being kind of clingy. Really