could see with just the light from the projection screen and a few posts around was beyond me, especially to have study-like focus.
“You want something to eat or drink for the movie?” Ashton’s deep voice broke my attention. I shook my head, rejecting his offer that stung my skin. “Yirp, Alex!” he shouted over my head. Seconds later, a guy was at our shoulder, kneeling over.
“Yeah, Spence?”
Ashton pulled out his wallet and counted off a few bills. “Aivery, you want something to eat?”
“Cheese pizza and Canada Dry.” Aivery’s head whipped away, going back down to her phone.
“Get me popcorn and a Sprite,” Ashton requested. His eyes lifted to me. “What do you want?”
I shook my head, declining again.
The Alex guy snorted. “Pizza?”
“Nah. She ain’t gone like that previously frozen shit,” Ashton mumbled, dismissing that idea with a quickness. “Get her popcorn, water, and Skittles.”
Alex tossed me a look, asking for approval. I lifted one shoulder, wanting him to just go away. I was uncomfortable and didn’t want to be here. Relief washed over me when he finally left, jumping over legs to get out of the bed of blankets.
“That’s what all you girls do?” Al asked me, tossing his chin to the other side of Ashton where the girls were still busy with their phones and magazines. “Or just girlie girls?”
“What’re they doing?” I asked.
“Y’all find y’all little outfits yet?” Al’s country accent cracked me up, even if I didn’t show it.
“Shut up, Al!” Andrea rolled her eyes. “How about you focus on what you’re gonna wear in case you run into Brielle backstage.”
“Brielle would throw the fuck up,” Aivery hissed, and the girls laughed.
Al took it on the chin, shaking his head. “Y’all putting a lot into something so small. Just have fun with it. Wear something you can get drunk in, ‘cause that’s exactly what y’all gone do.”
“Stop hating, Al!” ShawnNicole warned.
“Tori…” He was even louder this time. “You ain’t answer. You do all this to get ready to go out?”
“Only to get walked to the curb to take a poop?” Aivery asked.
My head whipped over to her. As her friends—except ShawnNicole—laughed, she ignored their reactions and kept at her search.
“Knock it off, Aiv,” Ashton mumbled, sitting back on his hands, face toward the movie screen.
His scent annoyed me, reminding me of an inappropriate proximity to him I’ve had too many times.
“You going to the concert, Tori?” ShawnNicole asked.
“You know she’s not,” Karmen snorted.
“You don’t know,” ShawnNicole snapped. Her eyes swung back to me as she leaned over her crossed legs to see me. “I’m asking because I’m almost booked for next Tuesday.”
“Oh, shit!” Andrea’s eyes were wide as beach balls. “Are you going to the concert?”
I only heard of this concert here a few seconds ago. Why did I feel pressured about going? And they weren’t inviting me to go with them. They were just being nosy to see just how poor I was. These stupid humans were different. The shit I saw in movies about snobs in school cliques was true. They were so superficial! Who cares about a concert—
Wait. Brielle?
“Y’all wake me up when your high goes down,” Aivery coughed into her hands.
Such a bitch…
And just when I was about to say so, I caught the full lips of her boyfriend next to me, and my pussy literally pulsed. There was no way I could fight with her when I’d been kissing him. And liking it.
“No.” Andrea looked puzzled. “Like…really?”
Was she still asking if I was going?
“Well, just let me know,” ShawnNicole rasped. “If you tell me what you’re wearing, I can do something that would work with it.” She winked before her attention dipped back down into the magazine on her lap.
“So…” Andrea’s eyes squinted. “…you are going?”
“The fuck, Andrea! Would you stop!” Aivery screamed on her friend. “You know the girl hardly got two pennies to rub together to afford ShawnNicole’s campus prices. What makes you think she can afford to go to a Brielle concert?”
Among the snickers from Andrea and Karmen, ShawnNicole demanded, “Don’t do that, Aivery. Not that it’s your business, but Tori has an account with us. It’s never in the red or low. She has a nail allowance, too, just like you. So don’t go there.”
That’s it. It was time for me to go. When my eyes met Ashton to tell him I was out, his said something different. Then his head dropped to one side.
“Why do you always do this?”
Offensiveness building in my chest, I asked, “What?”
“Why do