Lust

instability, wouldn’t do her best to talk him out of a relationship he clearly wanted to stay in (not that she planned to stick with talking)-on the other hand, Harper reminded herself, wasn’t it her duty as a true friend to help him see the error of his ways?

“You know I’m always here for you, Adam,” she said, hoping he would hear the emotion in her voice, would, for once, realize what all her loyalty, all her attention, all her efforts really meant.

“It’s true, Harper-you’re really a great friend.”

And that was Adam-hopelessly oblivious, as always.

But so painfully perfect, in every other way.

She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining what it might be like to open them to a different world, one in which Adam was sitting across the table gazing at her in that way, that tender awestruck way that had always been reserved for Beth. If she could just get him to really look at her, to see what he was missing. She raised a hand to her neck, let her fingers play their way down the bare skin until they reached her silky neckline-if she opened her eyes, would she catch him sneaking a forbidden glance, wondering what lay beneath?

She opened her eyes.

And the answer was no.

He wasn’t even looking in her direction-he’d turned toward the door, toward a gaggle of girls from their school who had just walked in. Toward Kaia. Of course.

And there went her perfect night, her golden opportunity.

Kaia spotted them, raised an arm in greeting, and treated Adam to a long, slow smile. Harper just sneered. And waited.

Adam paused for a moment, nodded briefly in acknowledgment-and then turned away.

Harper breathed a sigh of relief, and only then realized that she’d been holding her breath, tensed and ready for rejection. But Adam was still there, and Kaia-one eyebrow raised in-surprise? Skepticism? Disbelief? Whatever-Kaia sat down across the bar.

Good. And you’d better stay there, Harper thought. She resisted the impulse to make some snide comment about her nemesis-or about the fact that Adam seemed suddenly to have abandoned his Siamese twin act and was actually allowing some space to intrude between him and his illicit beloved.

No reason to ruin a perfect moment-even for the perfect snark.

Besides, the important thing was that he was staying away. Whatever the reason, Kaia had lost this round-she was across the bar and Harper was here, across from Adam.

Across from his deep blue eyes and luscious smile and biceps that could-

“Harper, there’s-there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

That’s it-no more gazing, no more dreaming, she told herself sternly. Must stay focused. Listen. Even though he was looking at her so intently-was, unbelievably, leaning in close and laying his hand on top of hers. Even though it was hard not to lose herself in the electrifying contact and in fantasies of where this might be going… No. Must focus. Pay attention. Hope.

“You’ve always said I could talk to you about anything,” he began hesitantly.

Harper just nodded, afraid, for once, to speak.

“Well… you know that Beth and I have been really happy together, that I think she’s wonderful…”

His voice trailed off, and Harper nodded again, impatiently. There was only so much of this she could listen to, and if the evening was about to devolve into yet another monologue about Beth’s million-and-one divine attributes, she was going to need a lot more to drink.

“And I mean, she is wonderful,” he continued, “but…”

But? That was more like it.

“Well, this last week I’ve just been-”

“Harper! Harper! Over here!”

Oh God, not now.

Distracted by the shrill voice, Adam broke off what he was saying, and they both looked up to see a pale, skinny girl waving frantically from a few tables away.

“Harper! Look, we’re here too!”

A ditzy blond sophomore who’d decided last spring to make Harper her role model, life trainer, and personal guru, whether Harper liked it or not.

It wasn’t enough that the girl followed her around so much at school that Harper had dubbed her “Mini-Me”? She had to follow Harper here, too? Had to ruin what might have been her perfect night?

“Just ignore her,” she urged Adam. “What were you about to say?”

Adam paused, then laughed nervously. “You know what? Forget it.”

“But-”

“No, you go talk to your friends-I’m heading off to the bathroom.” He grinned. “You’ll still be around when I get back, though, right?”

“I don’t know, Adam.” Harper looked pointedly at the next table over, where a middle-aged guy with too much stomach and too few teeth was chugging his beer, soggy cigarette lodged firmly in the corner of his mouth. “Lots of hot prospects around here-once you disappear, who knows who I’ll find…”

He laughed, and Harper forced herself to join in. But as soon as he turned away, her face turned to ice. What if, when Adam came back, he’d lost his nerve, and never said whatever it was he’d been about to tell her? She couldn’t believe that one loser with bad timing had just torpedoed her moment-and here came Mini-Me now, dragging along her equally bland best friend, aka Mini-She.

Both apparently gluttons for punishment.

“Hey, Harper, didn’t you see us over there? I can’t believe that you’re here too!” Mini-Me gushed.

“Isn’t the band great?” Mini-She asked excitedly.

“Yeah, and the lead singer is so hot-don’t you think?” Mini-Me added.

Harper looked up on stage, where scruffy Reed Sawyer, stoner, sixth-year senior, wannabe badass, all-around burnout-and lead singer of the Blind Monkeys-was torturing a guitar with only slightly less incompetence than the rest of his band of losers.

“I think love must be blind and deaf,” Harper drawled.

The girls looked back at her blankly.

Harper was undecided. Despite their utter cluelessness and stalker tendencies, she rarely went out of her way to torture these girls-not out of pity or virtue, but because they were embarrassingly easy targets. On the other hand, as demonstrated by tonight’s disaster, her tolerance had apparently been a hideous mistake…

“Hey, you know who else is here?” Mini-Me asked.

“Britney Spears?” Harper guessed.

“No way-but how cool would that be?!” Mini-Me said. Apparently she’d been absent the day sarcasm genes were handed out. “No-Kaia’s here! And you should see what she’s wearing-she says it’s from Dolce and Gabbana.”

“So cool,” Mini-She sighed appreciatively.

Harper rolled her eyes, taking only minimal joy in the fact that her little friends had apparently intruded on the new girl’s night too. The last thing she needed right now was a Kaia lovefest. Enough was enough.

“You know, the scene here is getting kind of lame,” Harper confided. “I think pretty soon I’m going to head out to this party I heard about. You should-oh wait, no, they probably wouldn’t let you in.”

“What?”

“Where?”

“A party?”

Good, she’d hooked them. Now, to reel them in. “Yeah, some college guys who haven’t gone back to school yet,” she continued. “They’re set up in this old warehouse along the highway.”

“No way!” Mini-Me said breathlessly. “So… think we could come with you?”

“Well… I probably shouldn’t even have told you about it.” The girls looked crestfallen. “But since I have…” She pretended to stop and think for a moment, and then, “Hey, why not? If I give you the password, they should let you in.”