Emmy & Oliver - Robin Benway Page 0,46

said. “He’s just a douche bag. I mean, he’s in college but still goes to high school parties? It’s ridiculous. Where’s Caro? She always hangs out with the cool people.”

“Emmy!” Caro waved from the second-floor landing, a red cup already in her hand. “Wherefore art thou, Emmy?”

I waved at her, then looked at Oliver. “Do you know what we need?”

“A drink.”

I tapped my nose. “Bingo.”

A few hours later, the party had progressed (or de-gressed, depending on your point of view) nicely. And by that, I mean that I was drunk.

So was Oliver. So were Caro and Drew and pretty much every person I had seen since leaving Brandon behind. I was sticking to beer, but Caro and Drew were both doing shots and inventing some sort of complicated drinking game that involved a basketball, a feather duster, and some refrigerator magnets, and made no sense to anyone but them.

“You have to do the thing!” Caro screamed at him, waving the feather duster. “Shot!”

We had moved back down to the kitchen, but half the party was in the backyard, smoking weed and playing music. Someone had produced an acoustic guitar, as well, and there was an odd, drunken version of “Hotel California” being played.

“Ugh,” Caro said, dropping down onto my lap. I was sitting because, frankly, standing seemed too complicated. I had slumped into Oliver at some point, as well, his arm propping me up.

“Here,” Caro said, then put the feather duster on top of my head. “It’s a hat!”

“Why, thank you!” I said, then modeled it for her and Oliver. Drew was still kneeling on the ground, trying to figure out the magnets. “What do you think? Couture?”

“Ooh la la,” Oliver said. His words were a little sloshy, a nice change from earlier in the night. “You can wear it when you surf.”

“Impractical,” I told him, then plopped it down on his head. “It matches your eyes.”

“Picture! Picture!” Caro cried, then dug her phone out of her pocket and took a few staggered steps back. “Smile!”

We smiled. “Whoa, why is it—?” Caro squinted at the screen, then held it out in front of her. “I can’t tell if I’m blurry or if the picture’s blurry. And oh my God, who brought that goddamn guitar? I want to kill them. Do you know how you can tell who the douche bag is at the party? It’s the guy who starts playing the acoustic guitar.” She took the feather duster back from Oliver and jabbed it in the direction of the backyard. “Take that! And that!”

“Is it Brandon playing?” I asked her and she turned and pointed it at me.

“Oh God, probably. Brandon’s not even a douche bag. He’s a douche CANOE. A whole canoe, Emmy!” She sat back down in my lap and dropped the duster on the floor. Drew quickly snatched it up and took it back to the magnets. “Is he tripping or just really drunk?”

“He was hitting on Emmy,” Oliver said, his chin now resting in his hand.

Caro frowned. “Drew was?”

Drew just laughed from the floor, then started stacking the magnets.

“No,” Oliver said. “The douche canoe.”

“He was not!” I protested, trying to turn around, but my limbs were perfectly comfortable where they were and had no intention of moving.

“Oh, he totally was,” Caro said to Oliver. “I mean, I didn’t see it, but he always hits on her. What did he say to you that one time, Em?”

I reached for my beer, then took a sip and passed it to Caro. “‘You’re not like other girls,’” I said in my best dude-bro voice.

Oliver frowned a little. “Is that bad?” he asked. “I thought you were gonna say something way worse.”

“It’s bad!” Caro and I both screamed at the same time, then immediately jinxed and unjinxed each other, crossing our fingers and rapping our knuckles against the wooden table. “It’s just a stupid thing to say,” Caro added after we could both speak again.

“Like, what’s wrong with being like other girls?” I added. Just thinking about Brandon and his stupid comments was getting me riled up, killing my buzz, and I sat up from Oliver and immediately felt a little cold. “Why, because I surf? Plenty of girls surf. It’s not exactly a rare thing here. I’m not, like, this dinosaur fossil that he discovered. And girls are awesome! Caro’s a girl and she’s awesome.”

“I am.” Caro nodded to herself, then jabbed a thumb into her chest. “More people should be like me!”

“Agreed!” Drew announced from the floor. “Who