Chapter 2

"Oh hell no," I say, pleading desperately with my eyes. The last thing I want is to spoil my weekend at some party with the chance to run into them. I need more time. I groan out like a child. "I don't think I can handle this yet. What if he corners me in front of everyone and accuses me of egging his car?"

Alice grabs my shoulder and locks eyes with me. "But we did? And who cares! You need to show them that they didn't break you! And let's be real. Aiden may be dumb, but he's not that dumb. He wouldn't humiliate you any further than he already has. Plus, you can find someone so much hotter than him and." She mumbles, "Oliver is already in there waiting for us."

"Ouch." I sigh and look at the mansion overflowing with people as if it's an anthill, but instead of ants, it's overflowing with many Cambrick High douche bags we went to school with. My favorite.

"You know I didn't mean it like that. I just know you will get over him if you start dating again," she says in a matter-of-fact tone while giving me a warm smile—somehow thinking it will melt my icy heart.

It does.

I can't say no to her. "Fine." I unbuckle my seat belt without glancing her way. I know Alice, and I won't hear the end of it until I at least try to enjoy myself. I turn to face her and raise an eyebrow. "But just so you know, you're forcing me against my will."

Alice tilts her head. "You're such a drama queen."

I let out an exaggerated sigh, turn my head and stick my tongue out at her. She rolls her eyes and we both step out of the jeep.

"Oliver!" Alice calls out; her voice barely audible over the pulsing music. People are crowding the entrance of the narrow hallway but she forces us through not caring about the randos side-eyeing us as we bump into them. I grip tightly on her baby blue blouse, so I don't lose her in the sea of drug-induced people. The stench of booze and cotton candy smoke assaults my nose. Someone must be vaping a ton to be able to keep the whole place smothered.

I scan the room and hope I can spot Oliver's black curly mess, but the living room is just as bad as the hallway—overflowing with people who are syncing their bodies to whatever heavy bass song that's playing over the speakers.

I tug on Alice's blouse and point towards the sliding glass doors. I know Oliver and he'd be outside with the stoners even if he can't smoke until Hockey season is over.

I take the lead and head for the sliding glass doors. We step outside and I feel a rush of relief. "That place is suffocating."

"Oh, stop. It's our first official college party, let's enjoy it," Alice purrs and then pushes me towards a table that has a bunch of cheap bottles of alcohol. Most are half empty. "Beer or this strong shit called, umm, Amsterdem Vodka?"

My stomach twists from the word. We drank vodka last week and I still don't believe I fully recovered from it. "I'll have a beer."

"Good choice," she says, grinning like a fool. She grabs two Cors Light, and hands one to me.

I pop it open and take a sip. "It's better than last weekend I guess." I look over at Alice and she has already chugged it, and is moving on to the next one. "Damn, you're not messing around."

"We're less than a mile away from my house. So, fuck no, I'm not." Her face lights up and it makes her deep gold-speckled eyes shine as she spots someone that interests her. Alice is gorgeous and a lot of guys throw themselves at her. I thought I could see through the rotten ones with bad intentions for her. But in reality, I need to be looking at the guys I bring into my life. I press the lukewarm beer to my cheek and attempt to snap out of it. Alice wants to have fun. I want us to have fun. We need this. I need this.

I chug the last of my beer until there is nothing left but foam. I crinkle my nose as it leaves behind a slight bitter taste, but I ignore it and reach for another.

"Oh, get it," Alice says, wiggling her hand in my direction.

I giggle at her lame words. My vision suddenly goes dark as two hands block it.

"Guess who," a deep voice whispers right into my ear.

I don't have to look to know who it is. I turn around and gently push him away. "Oliver, you're such a weirdo."

Ouch, that hurt." He exaggerates, lifting his hand to his shoulder.

His curls are in disarray as usual, but it fits his image well with his oversized white band tees and slim-fitting jeans you won't catch him dead without.

He has a red solo cup in hand, filled with god knows what, and brings it to his mouth. He chugs it and then sets it down on the table next to us. "How are you doing, Lils?" he says with a grin stretching across his face and places his arm over my shoulders.

"I'm doing good. Alice talked me into something completely idiotic." My eyes dart over towards Alice, but she's too busy chugging another beer and seems to have made her way to the cute guy who caught her attention—that I now recognize to be Landon. A guy in our U.S history class that she has been crushing on for this week. Damn. She works fast when she wants to. I look back at Oliver and say, "I might be leaving with you tonight."

He glances at Alice and then chuckles, shaking his head. "I didn't think you had it in you," he says teasingly, squeezing my shoulders and then slowly drops his hand just to place it in his jean pocket.

"What's that supposed to mean? I can be bad if I want." I poke his pecs out of habit. Hockey must be working for him.

"Oh yeah coming from the girl who couldn't even sneak into a R-rated movie when we were younger," he says jokingly as he wiggles his eyebrow at me.

I shake my head. That was years ago. "You're exaggerating, I just don't like scary movies, that's all." I lift my face to catch him staring across the pool.

Checking out some girl. And of course, the girl is Emily. One of Britany's minions. I wish he liked someone else. But I still need to be supportive of his choices because he has always been supportive of mine. Even if the guys I chose hadn't always been the best.

I nudge his shoulder. "Go talk to her. I mean you're practically drooling over her." I encourage him with an awkward thumbs up.

Oliver shifts his body towards me and bends down to steal the space between us until I can feel his breath on my cheek. "That bimbo? Never. I was checking out Tyler right behind her." He points to the side of Emily and my eyes glide over towards Tyler. Who is shirtless and attempting to balance a couple of beers on his six-pack like it's something to marvel at. He continues, "Turns me on, you know?"

I let out a loud laugh that surprises me, then I start fanning my face. "I'm heating up over here just looking at him. You should take a few pointers from him. He knows what he's doing. I'd smash." I giggle and look into Oliver's pale green eyes. I missed talking to him like this, but ever since he joined the Hockey team, he's had less time for us. But with him around, I always feel like things are starting to look up.

"Hey, you want me to walk you home? I know the guy Alice is with, Landon. He's a good guy. And I know how parties aren't your thing," Oliver says, nudging me.

I squint at him and say nothing as I grab another beer and chug it in a matter of seconds. Against my will, I belch and quickly cover my mouth. "Excuse me."

"Ah, that's hot," Oliver laughs as he squints his eyes and waves his hand in front of his face like he smells something sour.

I give him a goofy grin and say, "I ate strawberries before I got here, it can't smell that bad."

"You'll be surprised," he replies and he shakes his head at me in disapproval. "So, let's get out of here." He grabs my hand to lead me to the gate.

I tug away out of reflex. "Oh, no. You really shouldn't underestimate me again. Hell, maybe I'll take Alice's suggestion and find a cute guy in the mix of this crowd and take him for a ride," I counter and give Oliver one of my awkward winks that's more of a twitch as I break away from him. Instantly regretting the words that come out of my mouth; I walk towards Alice.

She's with a small group of people playing a round of beer pong as she waves me over. My eyes wander over towards Landon's opponent. Sandy-blonde hair and kind of short, but muscular. Not my usual type, but maybe that needs to change.