Michelle poured us a couple of beers, beaming like a lunatic.
“What?”
“Steve’s here!”
I grinned. “I hope you’re planning to talk to him. It’s the perfect chance.”
She agreed, inhaling a long swig of her beer. “I just need to find the nerve.”
I lifted my cup. “Liquid courage right here, suds and all.” A memory of the last time Michelle and I drank flashed through my mind, and I coached myself to take it easy tonight.
“Hey, Pete,” she said.
My heart backflipped. He stood right behind me.
“Ladies,” he said. “Excuse me.”
I moved out of his way. “Sorry.”
Pete filled his glass, and the silence stretched between us. I took in his feathered dirty-blonde hair, those amazing green eyes, the easy way his letterman’s jacket hung on his frame.
“How’ve you been?” he asked, clearly directed at me.
So now you’re going to be Mr. Polite? “Fine. You?” My heart pounded traitorously.
“Never better. I’m surprised to see you here.”
“Reese invited me.”
Pete nodded, a slight smirk crossing his face as if remembering an inside joke. “Reese,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing. You ladies have a good time tonight. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He smiled and walked back through the sliding glass doors.
“That went better than expected.” It was the nicest Pete had treated me in many months, since that horrible night at Round Table Pizza.
“Let’s go back to the living room,” Michelle suggested.
I laughed, knowing she was looking for Steve, and followed her.
When I exited the bathroom, I heard muted sobs. I peered around the corner and found Mary Murphy dabbing at her eyes with a napkin, sitting alone at the dining room table. Although the extent of our relationship consisted of the occasional hello at the bus stop, I couldn’t walk away.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She glanced up, her eyes red and slightly puffy, and shook her head.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I sat in the chair next to her.
“It’s Jake. He’s acting like a dick.”
Even I knew they had been tight since junior high. “You guys seem so close.”
She nodded, blowing her nose into the napkin. “We are. Except when he’s trying to get in some other girls’ pants.”
Realization sunk in. Mary liked Jake, another victim of his dreamy good looks. “I’m sorry. That’s pretty crummy.”
“Totally. Then he’ll come crawling back, and I’ll let him. I do it every time.”
“Have you tried talking to him?”
She shrugged. “Nothing changes. Thanks for listening to me, though. We’re neighbors, aren’t we?”
I nodded. “I think we live about two blocks apart.”
“Are you friends with Jaime?” Mary mopped her face, drying the last of her tears.
“Sort of. We met when Pete O’Reilly and I dated for a while.”
“That’s right, but then you were with Alec Mays, right?”
Ugh. “Unfortunately. I should have stayed with Pete.”
“I can relate. Jake’s not the guy for me, either—and probably never will be. He just uses me.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.” Like I would have a clue.
She laughed suddenly. “He won’t get anywhere tonight.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He’s after Sabrina Jackson.”
“The one with the really tight pants?”
Mary smirked. “That’s the one, and her pants are a fortress. She can barely wriggle them on, but no one, and I mean no one, gets them off. She’s the biggest tease at Skyline.”
I couldn’t help but smile, and even though I didn’t know Mary from Adam, I was drawn to her side. Good luck, Jake!
Jaime entered the dining room and crashed into the wall, her birthday buzz obvious. She burst out laughing and we joined in. Her eyes shone brightly, her cheeks stained with a slight flush. The alcohol high accentuated her looks.
“Mary, are you crying?” Jaime sounded disgusted.
“Not anymore.”
“You better not cry one tear over that jerk of all jerks.” Her harsh tone startled me.
“I’m not.”
Jaime turned to me. “Was she bawling over Jake?”
I fumbled, the moment awkward. “Um…well—”
“I knew it!” she snapped.
“He’s all over Sabrina,” Mary confessed. “And it may be a dead end, but it still bothers me.”
Jaime guffawed. “Jake will be Jack by the end of the night, as in jack-yourself-off.” She laughed loudly at her own joke and directed her attention to me. “You talk to Pete yet?”
“We ran into each other at the keg. It’s the first time he’s spoken to me in months.”
“Was he nice?”
“Amazingly, yes. He seemed surprised to see me.”
“Blame Reese. He thought it would be good for you two to hook up again.”
Now I understood Pete’s earlier comment. “I doubt that’s in the cards. He made it pretty clear he never wanted to have anything to do with me ever again.”
Jaime humphed. “And you believe him? Guys are so stupid. He still likes you.”
He does? “How do you know?”
She shrugged. “I just do.”
“You made a cute couple,” added Mary.
“Trust me. You should give it another try,” Jaime said.
“Who made a cute couple?” Steve said, eavesdropping in the hallway.
Jaime pointed at me. “Pete and Anna.”
“I might steal her first.” He winked at me. “Or you,” he told Jaime.
She laughed and threw her arm around him. “You are kind of handsome.”
I excused myself to revisit the keg, mulling over what Jaime said about Pete still liking me as I made my way through the crowded house. How could she be so sure? She couldn’t. No matter, I had sworn off men anyway.
I found Jim Ryder pumping his cup full of beer. He paused to fill mine. Jim was one of the few boys our age with a shave-worthy mustache and real sideburns. Friends since third grade, I
