The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,15
toll.
“Aaron…” I turn back to him, stumbling slightly at the sudden movement. “Let’s go have sex in your room.”
A gasp of delight comes from behind him, and I just manage to focus enough to see that it’s Sarah, watching this exchange greedily. To be honest, I’m surprised she doesn’t have her phone out to record me so she use it to humiliate me with later.
“Abigail,” Aaron says calmly, “we’re not going to have sex. You should go home.”
“Oh.” Hmm…he’s a guy, and guys always want to have sex. “Why not? Are you sleeping with someone else tonight?” He just blinks at me, clearly not prepared to answer, and I rack my brain to try to remember if he’s dating anyone or if I’ve seen him with someone tonight.
Nope, he’s definitely single.
Oh…wait…he’s Chase’s best friend, and there’s that whole bro code thing.
I guess it makes sense that he doesn’t want to sleep with me. “Is it because you’re Chase’s best friend and we used to date?”
He blinks at me.
“He doesn’t care,” I tell him.
The room becomes even more silent, if at all possible, and I see everyone look toward the windows at the back of the kitchen. When I look to see what they’re all looking at, I see Chase is standing there, watching our exchange with a strange expression on his face. Livy is beside him, only this time there’s more space between them, like they’ve purposely stepped away from each other, and she’s looking worried. I dismiss her expression, though—Livy always looks worried.
“You don’t care, do you, Chase?”
“Abigail.” Aaron steps closer to me and lowers his voice. “You need to go home and sober up.”
“He doesn’t care,” I insist. “He never did.”
Aaron’s face softens. “Abigail…”
Okayyyy, clearly it’s not going to happen with him.
I shrug my shoulders. “Relax, Aaron. I’ll find someone else.”
Then I push myself away from the countertop and walk toward the door to the hallway. I must be drunker than I thought because I trip on absolutely nothing and nearly go flying, but someone reaches out to grab me before I fall. I look up to see some guy with reddish blond curly hair looking down at me, some guy I don’t recognize and who doesn’t look particularly sympathetic to my plight. I shrug him off and continue toward the door, walking straight into Brendon, who is just about to enter.
“Hey, Ab—”
“You’re coming with me,” I immediately tell him, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the kitchen and back into the party. I’m heading for the stairs when I notice someone coming out of one of the downstairs bathrooms, and I steer off from my route and push him into the empty room before anyone else can get in.
He looks around in surprise. “What’s going on?” he asks, obviously confused but still with a smile playing on his lips.
I manage to smile back at him as I lean against the bathroom sink, grateful that it’s there as it’s pretty difficult to stand right now.
Brendon, Brendon, Brendon.
What was I thinking asking Aaron to hook up? Brendon is the obvious choice. He’ll literally get with anyone, and if the amount of practice he’s had is anything to go by then he’s going to be good at it.
“Huh? Abigail?” He walks toward me, concern starting to appear on his face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I tell him with all the certainty I can muster just as there’s a bang on the bathroom door.
Brendon glances at it. “What’s going on?”
“Go away!” I shout.
“Abbie, it’s Sasha. Open the door.”
Brendon looks between the door and me in complete confusion. “What’s happening?”
“I’m fine, go away,” I call back.
“Brendon, open the door,” Sasha yells.
He moves toward it, but I step in front of him. “Ignore her,” I command with complete conviction. “She’s fine.”
“Um, well—”
I reach for the hem of my top and pull it over my head in one swift movement.
His eyes almost bulge out of his head. “What the hell are you doing?!”
I lift my foot up and pull off my left boot, throwing it onto the ground. I reach for my right foot and am just about to yank that shoe off too when there’s more knocking on the door.
I look up, squinting at Brendon, who has now backed away from me in horror. “Abigail! Put your shirt back on.”
“No,” I tell him simply. “We’re going to have sex.”
He looks like I’ve just told him I’m having his baby. Shock and complete and utter horror cover his face.