The Wrong Path - By Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris Page 0,27
waiting for confirmation.
“We’ll be there,” Zach assured her flirtatiously, winking. Claire giggled and rolled her eyes.
Annabelle was desperate to ask what the plan was if one of them was turned away at the door for having a fake ID, but she didn’t want to bring down everyone’s good mood, so she kept her mouth shut.
They began talking about the new club and how cool it was supposed to be, so Annabelle tuned out, stirring the milkshake the waitress set in front of her. Her friends were laughing loudly, drawing the attention and stares of other patrons, but she felt strangely conspicuous in the mass of it. Normally she reveled in being part of the crowd that drew so many looks of admiration, but tonight she just wanted to be sitting at home in her game room with Trevor, watching a movie.
She darted a look up at him. He was reclined back in the booth, his arm stretched out behind her, laughing and looking completely relaxed and comfortable. She grinned when he looked down at her, and he grinned back before returning to the conversation.
Annabelle tried not to sigh. Trevor was having a great time, and she would just bring him down if she continued acting the way she was. She needed to cheer up. So what if she really just wanted to be somewhere alone with him? Trevor was having fun, and he had sacrificed his evening to go to a movie he had probably hated just for her—the least she could do was stop pouting.
In the corner, Annabelle spied a boy and girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen, having dinner with their parents. They looked embarrassed and uncomfortable to be with their parents, and kept shooting longing looks at Annabelle and her friends.
The sight made her heart ache. She wanted to tell them they were lucky their parents were still healthy and able to take them out to spend time with them, because it wasn’t a luxury everyone had. She wanted to tell them to enjoy being young, because in a few years pressures they couldn’t even comprehend would become daily occurrences. She wanted to tell them she would be willing to trade places with them for the evening in exchange for their cheeseburgers.
Instead she lowered her head and stirred her milkshake.
She had to hide how subdued she felt through the rest of the meal. When Trevor drove her home, he walked her to her door, and all her melancholy feelings vanished as he leaned down. Standing on her front porch, the moonlight overhead casting a silver glow everywhere, Annabelle received her first kiss.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, almost shyly.
She swallowed the squeal in her throat and nodded. “Tomorrow,” she agreed, grinning up at him.
Trevor Scarlett had just kissed her.
Trevor Scarlett, who she had loved since she was a child, had just kissed her.
As soon as she was in her room, she threw herself on the bed and let out an excited screech. No matter how difficult it was to be in her crowd at times, there were definitely benefits… and being able to be with Trevor Scarlett was the biggest of all.
Chapter Seven
Annabelle stared at Trevor, passed out in the passenger seat, then looked into the backseat of the SUV at the pile of unconscious bodies that made up her friends, dismayed. Out of the twelve people crammed into the SUV, only Parker remained awake. He sat in the backseat squished between Erin and Mary, belligerently talking about how gorgeous Annabelle was and all the things he could do to her.
Tears of helplessness welled up in her eyes as she stared at the dashboard. The night had started out well enough—they had gotten together as planned at Claudia’s, packed into Trevor’s SUV, and had successfully managed to get into the club. But then her friends had started drinking copious amounts of alcohol, growing increasingly rowdy and dancing wildly on tables. When Mary had passed out mid-sentence onto Zach’s shoulder and the others had just laughed hysterically, Annabelle had decided it was time to leave. It had taken almost an hour to gather everyone together to get them out to the SUV, but she had managed.
And then they had all promptly fallen asleep, including Trevor, who Parker had practically carried out of the club.
Annabelle choked on a sob. She didn’t know how to drive a manual car. How was she going to get everyone home when she was the only sober one and she couldn’t drive? If she called