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Alone. Good.
Maybe I should have a beer first, I think, but I shake my head at myself. Ridiculous.
I take a deep breath and start after him.
I haven’t gotten five feet before I hear someone shout my name, and look over to see Charlie, Violet, and Violet’s best friend Adeline.
Charlie’s waving, a beer in her other hand, her hair bouncing. I hesitate, glancing after Levi, feeling like my bravery and my chance are both slipping away.
“Juuune!” Charlie hollers, so I put on a smile and head over.
Charlie is smiling. She’s smiling a lot.
She’s smiling… too much.
“Hi,” I say, and then because I have to say something, “Great party.”
There’s something going on. I can tell: the looks on their faces, the sudden weird buzz in the air. Something is going on and I don’t like it.
“It had better be,” she laughs. “I was here until ten last night fixing the rotted-out floor on that gazebo, and Daniel made all the boys come over and chop wood for the bonfires.”
“Yeah he did,” says Violet, grinning.
“I can’t believe you didn’t call me,” Adeline adds.
“You’ve told me one billion times that you have zero interest in these guys,” Violet says. “You know I can get you Seth or Caleb’s number. You know that.”
“I’m not interested in dating them,” Adeline says, sounding slightly exasperated. “But they’re all cute and you know how I feel about men chopping wood. You know, Violet.”
“It was very good,” Charlie says.
Adeline raises an eyebrow.
“I’m engaged, not blind,” Charlie grins.
“I heard there would be bonfires,” I say. “Are they going up soon?”
“I think so,” Violet confirms.
Then she takes a long sip of her dark beer, looking at me.
“Don’t you love bonfires? They’re so cozy, and warm, and romantic, and you can really snuggle up with someone and maybe get up to some stuff,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Violet,” admonishes Adeline. “Be nice.”
“Can you?” I say, my voice about an octave higher than it should be.
Do Charlie and Violet know what we have in common? I wonder.
“Oh, you can get up to some stuff,” Charlie confirms, her own beer nearly empty.
“So much stuff,” adds Violet.
I’m pretty sure this is not their first drink of the night.
“I thought you guys were going to be cool,” Adeline says dryly, looking from one to the other.
I clear my throat.
“Cool about what?” I ask, smiling what I’m pretty sure is a weird smile and wishing Silas would hurry up with my own beer.
“You know,” Charlie says, and then winks at me.
It’s a big, demonstrative wink. She winks so hard that she leans a little, her curls bobbing.
She knows. I am now one hundred percent sure that they know about Levi and me.
I’m equally certain that it’s not my place to confirm this to them. It’s Levi’s secret to keep, and even if I’m being terrible girlfriend right now, I’m going to keep his secret as well as I can.
“I don’t know anything?” I say, still trying to get out of it. “What is it I know?”
Violet leans in toward the center of the group.
“We’re in a club,” she stage-whispers. “The three of us. Not Adeline. Though Seth and Caleb are both single, I think.”
“Again, not my type, thanks,” Adeline stage-whispers back.
“What club?” I whisper, determined not to give it up until I have to.
“Levi told us,” Charlie whispers, also at top whisper volume.
The three of them look at each other.
“Well, sort of,” Violet says. “It’s slightly more accurate to say that the guys got it out of him at axe-point.”
I dig in my heels, metaphorically. Also physically, a little bit.
“Got what out of him?” I ask.
Behind me, Levi clears his throat. I whirl around.
“Hello,” he says, standing there casually, one hand around a beer and the other in his pocket as he slowly scans each of us, looking suspicious.
“Hi,” I say, my palms suddenly sweating for several different reasons.
“No,” he says, thoughtfully, coming forward to join our circle. “I don’t think I like this.”
“What’s not to like?” Charlie asks, still smiling too much.
“Au contraire, it seems like there’s plenty for you to like here,” Violet adds.
“They’ve been drinking,” says Adeline. “And they’re both total lightweights.”
“Yeah, and you’re that Russian chick from the beginning of the Indiana Jones movie where the bar gets set on fire,” Violet says.
“Marion Ravenwood,” I say. “She wasn’t Russian.”
“Right, her,” Violet says, pointing at me.
Tell him now before you lose your nerve, I think. Just excuse yourselves and walk five feet away and say the words: I have a job interview in South Dakota on Wednesday.
“Bless her heart, she’s still trying to keep you two a secret,” Adeline says.
Levi sighs.
“My brothers found out that we’re seeing each other,” he says, his voice low, quiet.
I glance at Charlie, Violet, and Adeline, all of whom look somewhere between pleased and extremely pleased.
“Seeing,” Charlie says, making air quotes with her free hand.
