happened the last time Emery drank two wine coolers.”
Spider and Kaipo make eye contact and I swear I see Kaipo shiver. I try not to smile at how my words delivered their intended purpose.
“He’s right,” Kaipo says. “If the cops had found her before we did—”
“She wouldn’t have gone through with it.” Spider doesn’t sound like he believes his own words.
We all drink our beer to keep from being honest with him, not that we need to, he knows he’s full of shit. She had a gallon of gas and a lighter when we caught up to her outside of her dad’s house.
He shifts in his seat, clears his throat, and then finally reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his card. “I’ll get the tab.”
Kaipo waves down the waitress. “I’ll get our food to go.”
“Probably best,” Carey says and downs what’s left of his pint.
I smile into my beer and finish it off. A burst of excitement in my stomach, adrenaline maybe, the same feeling I get before a big game, has me anxious to get up and move. I’m going to see Bex tonight. And Riley tomorrow. I frown. The chicken wings and mozzarella sticks churn in my gut.
No, I won’t make myself sick about this. I’m committed to exploring things with Riley. But that doesn’t mean I can’t also get excited about seeing Bex.
This is the lie I tell myself the entire Uber ride home.
Bex
“This is awesome,” Rowan says from her spot across the hot tub from me. “We totally have to turn moonbathing parties into a regular thing.”
I slurp down the rest of my Piña Colada and set my glass aside. “I agree.”
“We should do it every full moon.” Emery takes a bite of the pineapple garnish from her empty glass.
Rowan scrunches up her nose. “How often is—”
“Every twenty-nine point five days,” I answer then want to kick myself for sounding like a know it all. My mom’s words filter through my skull, just because you know the answer doesn’t mean you have to say it. She was always trying to dumb me down around boys. Men don’t like women who are smarter than them. I roll my eyes to the stars and then linger there looking at them. “Did you know the lunar cycle has an affect on the hormones of animals?”
“What kind of effects?” Emery asks.
I drag my eyes, a little lazy from the booze, to hers. “It makes them horny.”
Rowan snorts and Emery grins.
“There’s no way it doesn’t have the same affect on humans, I mean, we’re animals too.” I push up out of the hot tub to sit on the edge of the deck, keeping my feet in the water. “I’m going to do an experiment.”
“Oh, fun! I love experiments.” Rowan pops out of the water too, and Emery wordlessly follows.
“Let’s test the hypothesis that moonbathing releases sexy hormones.” I brace my hands behind me, lean back, and tilt my chin up. “Let’s actively soak up the moonlight for five minutes and see if it makes us feel any different.”
“I’ll set the timer,” Emery says through her laughter.
“You guys have to really try, okay?”
Rowan’s expression is all business as if she’s been given the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap equation to solve.
“Timer’s on. Go!” Emery says.
We all assume a chest open and up position with our feet still dangling in the water, eyes closed. I giggle at how ridiculous we probably look, but the rum drinks help to numb any embarrassment. These are the kinds of things I can’t do with my sorority sisters. They’d call me a nerd and tease me relentlessly. Rowan and Emery always welcome my insane ideas and embrace me for me. I don’t have to pretend around them.
“Feel anything yet?” Emery asks.
“I think so, but that could be the alcohol,” Rowan answers.
I focus on my body, my breasts, my lower belly, and gauge any changes I might feel. “I’m getting light headed, does that count?”
We all burst into a fit of laughter, tears forming in our eyes for some reason. Emery’s timer goes off and makes us laugh even harder. I drop to my back and cover my face while Rowan and Emery’s laughter turns to near-silent wheezing.
“Looks like we found the party!”
Every bit of hilarity dies in an instant at the sound of Carey’s voice. I scurry to sit up but the liquor makes me more uncoordinated than usual so I feel like a turtle trying to get off it’s back.
“Why are you here?” Rowan