unbuckled and got out.
Kaylee pulled the hood of her white ski jacket over her knit hat. I silently thanked my dad for insisting I take a scarf and wear my furry boots and not my sneakers. He’d said a cold front was coming. I think it had arrived.
“Temperature really dropped. The party better be inside,” Kaylee commented through chattering teeth.
“Doubtful. Ben’s parents would kill him if something got broken. Let’s hope that burning wood we smell is their fire pit.”
“Do we go inside the house or around back?”
When we reached the driveway, we saw that Sarah’s blue Chevy Cobalt was parked behind Ben’s pickup truck. A sheet of computer paper had been taped to the garage door—a large black arrow pointed to the side of the house.
“Guess we go this way.” I looped my arm through Kaylee’s and steered us toward the walkway.
The backyard was huge compared to the front. A group of guys stood huddled together near a tall outdoor heater on the patio. Not far from them, five girls sat around a table, deep in conversation. I recognized two of them from my gym class. There were other small groups of people dotting the yard, braving the forty-degree night. Kaylee and I wove through the party, looking for the guys. We said hi to several of our friends, stopping just long enough to see what they were up to. Someone told us Isaac and Josh had left on a chip run.
We spotted Sarah sitting on one of three concrete benches near a large fire pit, chatting adamantly with Lauren Richards and Natalie Parker. Kaylee and I paused. We’d forgiven Lauren and Natalie for their part in what had happened in the fall, mainly because they hadn’t known what an evil psycho bitch they’d gotten mixed up with. Now, had they intentionally dabbled in dark magic and knowingly hexed my friends and me, I would have made sure they had adjoining rooms at the funny farm, but they hadn’t, and they’d stopped hanging out with the person who had—Emma—the moment they’d realized what she was. Forgiving them didn’t mean I wanted to become best buds, though.
“Looks like Sarah has someone to talk to,” Kaylee whispered. “I bet we could duck out of here and no one would notice.”
“We promised Sarah we’d stop by, and we talked Josh and Isaac into coming,” I reminded her, though I could tell by the way she kept glancing longingly over her shoulder that she would have been okay with texting Josh to tell him there was a change of plans. “Come on,” I said before she convinced herself that leaving was the better option.
“Hi,” I said to Sarah as I picked up a skewer.
“You made it!” She jumped up and gave us each a hug.
We waved hello to Natalie and Lauren before taking a seat on Sarah’s opposite side.
“Hey,” Lauren replied.
Natalie held out a bag of marshmallows. I took off my glove so I could grab one.
“Where’s Mark?” I asked Sarah, wondering if he’d left with the guys to get chips.
“He’s helping Ben with the keg. Tapper’s jammed or something.” She pointed toward the house, where several guys huddled around a metal trash can. Upon squinted-eye inspection, I could see the silver keg through the legs of onlookers. A dark figure stood not too far from the excitement.
“Ten o’clock,” I whispered to Kaylee. “That guy we saw yesterday is here.”
He stood in the shadows, smoking a cigarette. Sarah, Natalie, and Lauren pivoted in their seats to see who I was talking about.
“He came,” Natalie squealed.
Lauren nudged her. “Go talk to him.”
“You know him?” I asked.
“We met him at school, and she asked him to the party,” Lauren informed us.
Natalie spun back around so that she was facing Kaylee and me. I could tell she was trying to play it cool.
“Well, are you going to invite him over?” Kaylee asked.
“I couldn’t.” She bit her bottom lip, giving me the impression that was exactly what she wanted to do, but now that he was there, she had a case of shyness. “Is he still watching us?”
Sarah nodded. “He’s hot.”
“If you won’t go ask him to join us, I will.” I hopped up and pretended I didn’t hear her protest. Sarah and Kaylee giggled as Lauren told Natalie to let me go.
The frozen grass crunched under my boots as I cut across the lawn. Mystery Guy’s gaze met mine. For a moment, I would have sworn I saw his pupils flash bright red, but when I blinked, they were as dark as the night. He’d been taking a drag from his cigarette, which had to have been the glow I’d seen.
“We meet again,” I said.
He blew smoke out the side of his mouth. A fleeting smile passed over his lips. “Maybe it’s fate.”
“I don’t believe in fate.” That wasn’t entirely true, though I had never really given the subject much thought. “Do you know Ben?” I asked instead of saying,
“Through his brother, yeah. We’ve been hanging out more since Dan left for school.”
Ben’s brother, Dan, had gotten a full basketball scholarship at some big college.
“Want to join us?” I gestured toward our little group with my thumb. “Natalie’s sitting with us,” I added just in case he hadn’t recognized her under the purple hat.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Thanks, but I actually came because Natalie and I have a mutual friend. I don’t think I’ll be staying long.”
“Oh.” Natalie was going to be crushed. “Your friend’s not here, I take it?” I knew that feeling; I started to think Isaac and Josh were peeling potatoes and baking the chips themselves.
“No.”
“I’m Madison, by the way.”
“Caden. It’s nice to meet you, Madison.”
He went to flick his cigarette into the landscape stones.
“Don’t do that.” When his gaze met mine, I said, “You could start the bushes on fire.” I held out my hand. “Give it to me. I’ll toss it in the bonfire.”
He smiled, and with a shake of his head, he bent down and snuffed out the end of the cigarette. Next, he dropped the butt into my hand. “Thanks.”
A loud cheer erupted to my right. The group of people around the keg exchanged high-fives and pats on the back as Ben filled a red plastic cup with beer.
“Looks like they got the tap working,” I commented and stuffed the spent cigarette into the pocket of my jacket, planning to get rid of it when I joined my friends.
Caden didn’t seem to hear me. His attention had been turned toward the fire pit.
I glanced over my shoulder to find my friends staring at us. Kaylee held her phone up like she’d been taking pictures. I felt like I was in junior high all over again and I’d lost the coin toss to see who would go talk to the cute guy to find out if he was available. That wasn’t too far from the truth. My cheeks warmed with embarrassment.
“Are you sure you don’t want to meet everyone?” I asked.
“Another time.”
Considering he had hoped to hook up with someone other than Natalie, who had invited him to the party in the first place, his reply didn’t surprise me. I tilted my head to the side and shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
He inclined his head as if to say,
I pointed with my thumb toward my friends. “I’d better get back before they think I ditched them. I’ll tell Natalie you said hi.”
“See you around, Madison.”
I gave a half-wave and headed back to the bench. At one point, I thought I felt someone brush up against my arm, but when I spun around, no one was close to me.
“Join me,” a guy whispered.
I looked toward the house. Kyle Wesley and his jock friends tapped their plastic cups together and cheered.
