“Hey guys.” I throw myself down on the sofa beside Harvey.
“So, how does it feel?” Harvey asks me, waiting expectantly.
I look at him blankly. “How does what feel?”
He tuts. “Becoming an adult. Are you suddenly bestowed with wisdom and maturity?”
I smirk. “I was already bestowed with both those things. I am wise beyond my years.”
I look over at Lottie, who is chewing on a fingernail as she taps the keypad of her phone, deep in concentration. Whoever she is texting must reply, as her phone pings and a big smile lights up her face.
“Who are you texting?” I ask her, pulling her attention from the screen.
She shrugs. “No one special.”
I study her, not convinced. “No one special doesn’t put a smile on your face like that.”
She pockets her phone and sighs. “It’s just someone from work. They want to swap a shift.”
Lottie has recently started working at a local coffee shop in the village. She doesn’t need to work, but she says it will look good on her CV for when she applies for jobs after university.
“Bitch alert,” Imogen warns.
I look up to see Paige waltz in the room like she owns the place. She makes a beeline for Grayson and the boys. Although Grayson has been with me for nine months now, she still flirts relentlessly with him at every available opportunity.
At first it used to wind me up, but now I just sit back and watch. You see, it always plays out the same way. She will place herself in his way and try to engage him in conversation and Grayson will just look through her, looking irritated and move away from her. The biggest sense of satisfaction I get is the look of frustration on her face when he ignores her.
“She doesn’t give up, does she?” Hannah laughs, as we all watch the scene play out.
Paige steps into the centre of the guys and walks up to Grayson, she places a hand on his chest and says something to him. Grayson rolls his eyes and looks down at her before taking her hand and removing it from his person. Whatever he says to her, it must cut her deep as her arms wave around as she speaks before she stomps off out of the room.
“That never gets old.” Lottie grins. “Paige, once again taken down a peg or two by your boyfriend.”
I smile in agreement. Grayson’s eyes lock briefly with mine. He shrugs his shoulders as if to say ‘what can I do?’
My first class is English, so I make my way over to Grayson so we can walk over together.
“Here she is!” Owen hollers. “The birthday girl. Hey, Grayson, you’re dating an older woman now. Everly is a cougar.”
“Hardy-har,” I deadpan, giving Owen a jab in the ribs as I pass him.
Grayson holds his arm out and I slide myself in under his shoulder. “What did she want this time?”
Grayson shakes his head, frowning. “She’s going to the fundraiser next weekend that I’m attending with my dad.”
“You’re kidding?” I blanch.
“I wish I was,” he replies, looking as equally unhappy about this news as I feel.
“Just be careful around her, Grayson. I don’t trust her one bit,” I tell him. Paige was vindictive and I would put nothing past her.
Grayson drops a quick kiss on my lips. “You don’t have to worry. I never let my guard down when she is around.”
I groan. “Remind me to stay away from instagram next weekend. No doubt she’ll post as many photos of the two of you on there, as she can.”
Grayson scoffs. “She can post however many photo’s she likes, still doesn’t change the fact that there is only room for one girl in my life.”
“What about Emily?” I tease, tugging gently on his tie.
Grayson leans into my ear. “Tug on that tie again, and I’ll use it later to tie you up and have you at my mercy.”
I tug on his tie again with a wicked smile, and he laughs. “You coming to mine to study later?”
I chuckle. “Is that what we’re calling it these days?”
Grayson rubs his nose into my hair. “Yep. I plan to get a grade 9 in the study of anatomy.”
FRIDAY NIGHT ROLLS round quickly. Tonight we are off to Louie’s bar to celebrate my eighteenth with all our friends. This week hasn’t been as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I’m just finishing curling my hair when my phone pings. It is a message from Courtney, from home. Courtney had been the one friend from school that I had held onto when I went into the eating disorder unit back up north. All my other friends suddenly disappeared off the radar. No one had wanted to deal with someone who was starving herself. Courtney’s message is to tell me she is off to a party at Jake’s house. Courtney has been crushing on Jake for years, and she never could work up the courage to make her move. I text her back and tell her to grow a pair and tell him how she feels tonight.
I finish up my hair and slip on my heels and head downstairs.
“Wow.” Grayson stops whatever he was about to say to my dad as he sees me coming down the stairs.
My dad follows his gaze, and he frowns slightly. “It’s cold outside, you know.”
I roll my eyes. “It won’t be cold in the bar, Dad.”
Grayson stands up and comes to meet me at the bottom of the stairs. He eats me up with his eyes.
“Will I do?”
Grayson licks his bottom lip and nods. He leans in and kisses my cheek. “You look amazing in that dress.”
Dom bounds down the stairs and pulls me from my eye-fucking of my man.
“Ready?”
My dad looks through the window from where he is sitting on the sofa. “Your Uber’s here. Be safe.”
We pile into the Uber and head over to Izzy and Owen’s house to pick them both up. Everyone else is meeting us there. The
