“Why can’t you go?” Kyle asked, his gaze focusing on me.
Stepping closer to Evan, I said, “I’m grounded.”
“Oh, well . . . that sucks.” Then he got a mischievous look on his face. “Do you want to go? I’m sure I can concoct a plan to get you out of the house.”
“You are not going where I think you’re going,” Ashley immediately said, pointing at him.
“What? Babe, come on! I hardly ever get to wear my ski mask!” Kyle whined, going so far as to stomp his foot.
“Damn good reason for it, too.”
“How long have you two been married now?” I asked, laughing a little and forcing myself to relax.
“Too damn long!” Ashley exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “He’s like a damn dog with a bone, you know. He can’t just let things go.”
“Think so, huh?” he asked.
“Oh Jesus,” Evan said, leaning in and burying his nose in my neck. He looked up after placing a small kiss against my shoulder, resting his chin there. “Was there a reason you wanted to know about the party?”
“Come with us,” Kyle said. “Come on, Ev, it’s the last one before the big game! It’s the last time we’ll get a chance to relax before Coach tries to kill us during practice.”
“I think my invitation was revoked.”
I looked down at my feet, hugging my books to my chest. He still would’ve been invited had I not been in the picture. He stood up straight, his hands still linked around my hips.
“Fuck him. I just re-invited you.”
“I really don’t want to deal with his bullshit.”
“It’ll give me an excuse to smack him around a bit.” Kyle shrugged. “Come on, dude.”
“You should go,” I said.
He looked down at me, clearly surprised.
“What?”
“You should go,” I said again, chuckling nervously. “You’ve had a rough week and getting out with some friends is probably what you need.”
“But they’re not my friends anymore. Not really . . .”
“We’re your friends, dammit!” Ashley exclaimed, tapping her foot on the linoleum. “We invited you. You’re coming, and I don’t want to hear another damn word about it!”
“I don’t want to go without Anna,” he said.
I turned to him, leaning against the lockers so that I was facing him. He tightened his arms around me and pulled me close, smirking.
“I can’t go, Evan. And I probably can’t see you at all this weekend unless you really want to spend all of it working on the project.” He grunted. “So go to the party.”
“Why can’t we just go somewhere else?” he asked, turning to face Kyle and Ashley. “Maybe a movie or something?”
“The only thing going on anywhere tonight is Steve’s party,” Ashley said slowly, as if Evan were dumb. “Why wouldn’t we go there?”
She probably was a very nice person, but right now she sounded like the typical cheerleader that I’d done my best to avoid for the majority of my high school life. I forced my muscles to relax.
“I don’t really feel comfortable—”
“Since when has that ever stopped you from doing something?” Kyle interrupted, waving his hands around. “You’re Evan Drake. Fuck them.”
“It’s his house, Kyle.”
“Did he ever un-invite you outright?”
“He doesn’t say much of anything to me at all, which is another reason why I shouldn’t go to the party.”
“You can’t say that you were uninvited if he hasn’t said anything to you. The invitation is still on the table, and he hasn’t said otherwise.” Kyle held his hands out to his sides as if to say he was a genius. “You are still invited.”
“What are they going to think if Anna isn’t there?” He turned back to me. “They’re going to think that they won.”
“We’ll know the truth.” I smiled shakily at him. “That’s what makes the difference.”
“Yeah, it’s not like you’re going to jump on Brittany and start humping her the minute you walk in. Right?” Kyle said, shrugging nonchalantly.
Evan slowly turned on his heel to face Kyle. Ashley slapped her boyfriend on the back of his head, and I giggled at the perplexed look on his face. Kyle fidgeted when Evan kept staring at him.
“Right. So . . . no problems.” He laughed nervously, grabbing Ashley’s arm and pulling her in front of him in a sad attempt to hide.
Evan turned back to me.
“You’re really okay with this?”
Fuck no. I’m freaking out. My heart is beating ninety miles a second, and I’m terrified that you’ll realize how much you miss everyone else and everything will go back to the way it was before.
“I’m really okay with this,” I said instead, smiling brightly at him.
“I’ll call you first thing tomorrow morning.” He leaned in close to me.
“As you should.”
He smiled, and I sucked in a deep breath before he kissed me.
“And you said the two of us were bad?” Ashley teased.
“Go away, Ashley,” Evan said, pulling back from me and brushing the end of his nose against mine.
“If I remember correctly, you said it first,” I stated, turning again and pointing at them.
I made the mistake of looking down the hallway and found that everyone still lingering and waiting for the warning bell had been watching us. It was easy to pick out Brittany Feldman with her jaw on the floor and her face turning a brilliant shade of red. It was almost impossible to miss her. Kyle turned to see what I was staring at and threw his hands in the air. “Move along! Mind your business, please and thank-you.”
He turned back to us. “Sheesh.”
I looked down at my feet again, tapping my fingers against my books. Weird that Kyle would choose to help me out now when before, he was happy to ignore me. I knew he was Evan’s best friend, but I also knew that it didn’t automatically make him mine. Was he being genuinely nice to me in an effort to make up for everything or was he just showing off for Evan, intent to run back to Steve and tell him all that was being said? I was so confused.
“This is bullshit,” Evan
