Page 23 of Valley Girls
Rilla’s heart raced, trying to think fast enough to be clever and funny in reply. “Um ...” She readjusted her grip on the container.
“Dude. Tell me where this goes, or I’m dropping it here,” Petra said to Gage.
Thankfully, everyone’s attention shifted from Rilla’s grasping for words.
“Just dump it,” Gage said to them, pointing to the floor beside the door. “We didn’t sort anything out.”
Rilla followed Petra, shuffling the container back toward the door.
“He’s not fucking anything up in there, right?” Petra asked Adeena, sitting on a stool on the edge of the kitchen island.
Rilla quietly joined her, careful not to knock any of the food or draw attention to herself.
A white boy with shattered blond hair, a British accent, and long, lanky limbs frowned over the boiling pot he stirred. “Hey, my sister-in-law is Pakistani. That’s why we signed up for the same meal.”
“Don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on him.” Adeena raised an eyebrow in his direction.
He rolled his eyes.
“We’re lucky I found her tonight,” Petra said. “Otherwise, we’d have to seduce her with Gage and Hico’s food and we all know how that would go.” Petra glanced to Rilla. “It’s not good,” she said in a low whisper.
“I heard that.” Gage bellowed from the hall.
Petra rolled her eyes.
“This is really the only thing I can cook,” Adeena said. “And like, macaroni mix-ins. If my mother was here, she’d tell you I don’t actually cook this very well and I need more practice.”
“It seems like you should be looking for a girl who can be seduced by granola,” Hico said from the couch in the living room beyond them.
“If we can’t give her Walker, we have to give her something. Granola isn’t going to cut it,” Adeena said, shoving the wisps of her hair back over her forehead and studying the contents of her skillet.
A snort of exasperation escaped the British boy.
Rilla’s cheeks warmed. “Listen. I don’t ...” she protested.
Adeena and Petra looked at her, bemused, likego ahead and deny it.
“Yeah,okay,” Hico said.
“We all have our weaknesses, all right?” Rilla muttered.
Both girls cracked up.
“Don’t we all when it comes to Walker,” the British boy said.
“Walker will sleep with anything thin and blond,” Petra said.
Rilla tried to look like she didn’t care, even as her stomach sank. She searched the memory of Walker’s face, that intensity directed at her, but the memory was foggy—all she was certain of was how she felt under his gaze. “Are you guys search and rescue climbers too?” she asked.
“Oh god, no,” Petra said. “We’re just dirtbags. Out of school for the summer, or trying to string together enough money to climb. Eammon usually lives in a van, but he’s upgraded this summer.”
“I don’t know what to do with all this space. I’m going to be spoiled,” the British boy said.
“But you,” Adeena said to Rilla. “You live in the Valley? And you don’t work there?”
Rilla nodded.
“How did you manage that?” Adeena asked.
