Page 87 of Fifty First Times (Sharing You 0.40)
He’d smirked. “Afraid I’m going to try something with you since I won’t have my two girls this week? You know me, can’t live without all that mindless sex, doesn’t matter where I get it.”
Despite the sarcasm, the comment had conjured images that had made my stomach dip. “I’m not that easy,” I’d retorted. Like an asshole. But that was my go-to safety zone right now when everything seemed to be falling down around our friendship. This would probably be the last time I’d spend nights at his family’s house. Things wouldn’t be the same after today.
So now I was content to sit here in the cold and drink myself stupid while I watched the party go on around me. Malcolm was sitting on the other side of the bonfire on a fallen log, with his arm and a blanket wrapped around McKayla Ryan. He was murmuring something in her ear and giggling. A few other people were sitting around them, passing a flask around the group. And from what I could tell, they were playing some sort of game, daring each other to do stupid shit. One guy had already stripped down to his boxer shorts and run around the bonfire three times. Truth or dare without the truth part. Seemed appropriate. Dares were safer. Truth had only gotten me in trouble today.
Someone’s shadow crossed over me, flickering in the firelight, and I looked over to my left and up. Colette smiled down at me as she lowered cross-legged onto the ground next to me. “Hey there, stranger.”
“Hey,” I said, taking in her new look. Sophomore year really had been good to her. Her red hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was doing something different with her makeup. I could still see the freckled tomboy she used to be, but everything was more polished. “Long time no see. You look great.”
She sipped her hot chocolate and smiled over the rim of her cup. “Thanks. You too. But that hasn’t changed. You always did.”
Confident and forward Colette. That was new. I liked it. At least I hadn’t totally ruined her self-esteem when I’d fumbled around and had trouble staying excited during our one time together. “So how’s it going?”
>
“Been better,” she said with a shrug. “Just broke up with a guy. He cheated.”
“That sucks.”
She took another long sip. “Yeah, way worse than finding out the guy you like doesn’t like girls. That I could deal with.”
I nearly choked on my drink.
She bumped her shoulder against mine. “Come on. I was a virgin but I wasn’t dumb. I’d fooled around with a few guys before that. I could breathe on them and everything would stand at attention. Your body had no interest in mine.”
I shook my head. “Yet you still went through with it?”
“I just thought we were doing it wrong. I didn’t figure it all out until a few days later. I was watching you watch him one day in gym.” She nodded in Malcolm’s direction. “I saw how you looked at him when he wasn’t paying attention. That’s when I figured it out.”
My throat felt like a hand was squeezing it.
“Are you and Malcolm . . .”
“What?” I said, finding my voice. “No, he’s not . . . no.”
She glanced over at the other group, and I followed her gaze. Malcolm still had his arm around McKayla, but he was looking straight at us. Colette gave him a little wave, and he unleashed that devastating smile on her. The one that always made my gut clench.
Colette grabbed my hand and tugged. “Come on, let’s not be those people with broken hearts crying in their drinks.”
“Wait, no,” I said, even as she was pulling me to my feet. “I’m fine over here.”
“Nope,” she said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Tonight’s about fun. I’m going to have it and so are you. Don’t make me pull out the you-owe-me card. I lost my virginity to a guy who doesn’t like girls. That’s trauma.”
“You don’t look all that traumatized.”
She grinned. “I totally am. Come on.”
My drink sloshed as she dragged me toward the group, but she was a force that would not be thwarted.
“Hey,” Colette said, guiding me into the makeshift circle. She plopped down on one of the blankets spread along ground and patted the spot next to her. Feeling like I’d been demoted to Pomeranian status, I sat. “What are y’all up to?”
Malcolm’s attention darted my way but quickly moved back to the others.
“Well, Thomas just ate an ant to get twenty bucks from me,” Will said.
Colette blanched. “Gross.”
“And now, we’re trying to convince two of these lovely ladies to kiss because most of us have gone through over two years in college and have yet to see girls making out. This was promised to us in the college code,” Will said seriously.
