For this time of night, my street is hopping. There are cars lined down the street and through Raf’s gate, I can see his long driveway is full. The party must be in full swing. I pull into my driveway and am surprised that the music isn’t blaring. A responsible party-thrower. For some reason, that surprises me about Raf. Too bad my mom won’t have a chance to get mad enough to call the cops on the rowdy neighbors.
Mom is waiting up when I walk inside and I grit my teeth and smile, aiming for excited exhaustion in my expression.
“So…how was it?”
“Great!”
She smiles and then it falters when I don’t say anything else. “That’s it? Did they win?”
Oh shit. “Uh, yeah! So great. And the party was a lot of fun too.”
She nods and then her eyes twinkle as she leans in. “Did he kiss you goodnight?”
I groan. “Mom. No. He didn’t, okay? We’re friends.”
She lifts an eyebrow and looks me over. “Boys will never want to just be friends with you. Trust me. You probably intimidate him.”
I cringe and shake my head. “Not true.”
I walk past her and hear her behind me. “Well, that’s not an all bad thing, I just mean—”
“Night, Mom. I’m tired.”
“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Josephine.”
I sleep in the next morning and when I wake up I scroll through Instagram. I’ve looked for Raf online before and there hasn’t been much. He seems to avoid having his picture taken. But with a little snooping, I find gold. On Heidi Serrin’s feed, there’s a picture of Raf with his arms around her. I enlarge it and my eyes narrow on how cozy they are. She’s laughing like she’s the happiest girl in the world and I glare at the picture for minutes, hating him more the longer I look at it. The picture already has a few hundred likes. My stomach grumbles and I swallow hard, feeling a pang in my throat. I scroll down and see another photo and nearly throw up. It’s a group shot of Henry next to Melanie Wethers, Ashton has Jen Ames in his lap, and Heidi’s tongue is touching Raf’s cheek.
Gross.
I see red.
My face and body feel like they’re on fire and I toss my phone on the bed. I have no right to feel anything. I don’t even like the guy. What right do I have to be angry at Raf? I even knew he’d most likely be with Heidi. I heard about her plans to reconnect—looks like she got her way. But knowing it and seeing it are two different things.
This guy is trouble. I need to stay as far away from him as possible. I can’t afford to feel anything where he’s concerned.
I’ve just had a shower and am starting a movie when I get a text from Ashton.
Ashton: Missed you last night. What are you doing?
Watching a movie.
Ashton: Can I come over?
I pause for a moment, not positive what he expects from me. I imagine Heidi’s tongue on Raf and all the things I didn’t see that most likely happened last night and start typing. I need to give Ashton a chance, at least as a friend. Sure.
Ashton: :) See you in five.
I meet him at the door and we go upstairs to my room.
“How was the game?” I ask once my door is closed.
“We won.”
I’m glad at least that lie was true.
“Congratulations.” I forge ahead. “Looks like you had a successful night with Jen.”
He grins and gets comfortable on the floor in front of the TV. “She’s always aggressive after I win a game.” He waves his hand. “Not interested. We’re friends. What are we watching?”
“Oh. Why not?”
He glances back at me as I pick up a pillow and hold it up to my chest. “Why am I not interested?” He makes a face. “Just not feeling it.” He shrugs. “Do I need a reason?”
I smile and point to the screen. “I’d started It’s Complicated, but we can watch something else.”
He laughs. “My mom loves this movie.”
“I used to watch it with my grandma all the time. Missing her, I guess.”
“Let’s watch it.”
We start the movie but don’t get far before my mom knocks on the door. I jump and hop up, opening the door. Mom blinks when she sees Ashton is here.
“Oh, hello. I didn’t realize we had company. Sorry to interrupt.”
I’m so shocked by how calm she is about me having a boy in my room, I don’t say anything. Ashton stands up and comes over to shake her hand.
“Hello, Mrs. Sinclair. I hope you don’t mind—Gabriela and I were just watching a movie.”
“Oh, please, call me Sarah. And of course I don’t mind. You’re always welcome.”
He grins. “Thanks.” He goes back to the floor and gets comfortable.
Mom’s eyes widen at me and she bites her lower lip. It’s like we’re two excited girlfriends all of a sudden. I return her crazy eyes, warning her to not be so obvious and she just grins and backs out of the room.
So weird, but I’ll take it.
My phone starts going off and I ignore it. Ashton pauses the movie. “Do you need to check that?”
I shake my head. “Let me just turn off the sound.”
I pick it up and see four missed texts from an unknown number. I gasp when I read the first message and look at Ashton to make sure that wasn’t too loud. He’s engrossed in the movie.
Since you completely disregarded my invitation, you’ll
