his hand. “I gotta take a piss.”
“Sure,” I mumbled, wondering how I messed up so bad when I thought we were great. How in one night our relationship started unraveling. Or maybe it was always frayed at the edges.
Then he headed inside without looking back once.
I grabbed the blanket in my hands and squeezed. My heart was breaking, slowly but surely. I refused to let tonight go bad. It would be fun. It would be the best night of my life. I glanced across the darkened yard and became aware of the crickets and the rustle in the nearby woods.
He was coming back, right?
I stumbled away from Haley, my heart racing and my hands curled into fists. I wanted a fight. But I didn’t want to fight with her. I tripped on the stairs and slammed my shin into the edge of the wood. Searing pain shot through to the bone. I was probably bleeding and would have a massive bruise, but I didn’t care.
Curses flew from my mouth as I stumbled across the deck. A couple making out on the porch swing grunted then went back at it.
Some party.
Three doors blurred in front of me. I chose the center one and crashed into the room. The party had gone on without me. I joined in on a game of quarters. I missed the cup every single time and drank more. Until my fight with Haley was just a blur.
But that didn’t last long. A few minutes later she walked in, took one look at me, then whooshed right past. Shit.
I played a few more rounds. More drinks. Haley and Kama passed by and headed onto the back porch. I laughed extra loud just to show how fucking fun of a time I was having. Finally, Troy, one of my soccer teammates, shut me down and kicked me out of the game.
“Asshole!” I muttered.
I spotted Carter in a chair in the corner. I double blinked to make sure I was seeing right. Was he making out with Brin? I pushed back from the table, not caring that the chair knocked over. I ignored the complaints. “Sorry,” I held up a finger, “I’m a detective and on the case.”
I wove in and out of the clusters of bodies. At the chair, I dropped to my knees and studied the evidence. A black curtain of hair hid the crime but every detective does his homework and investigates the crime scene. I proceeded with extreme caution. Using two fingers, I separated the curtain and saw two pairs of lips going at it.
Carter pushed me away. “Leave us alone. You’re drunk, man.”
Brin lifted her head and flashed me a sly smile. “Yeah, go find your own girl.” They went back to it.
I slumped against the couch. Haley. What happened out there? What had I said to her? I had the vague impression that we didn’t leave on a good note. She was probably pissed that I tried to go to second base. Figures. The room spun and the conversations that I’d been holding back all night crashed through now that I wasn’t on guard. Dad’s face and his lies as he only told me half-truths. Mom not saying anything. Maybe for some crazy reason, Carly was wrong. If I was playing detective I should probably gather evidence before making the final verdict.
Across the room, Carly chatted away, but her words were stilted and her laughter forced. Eventually, she glanced my way with eyes that would melt even the hardest of hearts. She hugged her friends goodbye and left through the front door. I pushed up onto my feet. I couldn’t let the evidence get away. If she told me that she didn’t know for sure our parents were doing the nasty, this night might not turn out so bad.
Girls took one look at my face and turned away. They never truly wanted me. They wanted Seth, the boy they could never have. Forbidden fruit. Grass was greener on the other side. That pissed me off. None of them knew me. None of them saw the real me. At the door, I turned and held up both middle fingers.
“Fuck all of you!”
I didn’t even make it to the top steps before Jamie grabbed the back of my shirt. “No way, man. Don’t even think about driving.”
The fact that he didn’t trust me not to do something stupid even though I did plan on driving pissed me off. I whirled around and my fist caught his