“Little Lennox! Are you in?” he calls out to me, and I see the same items in the middle of the forming circle he had on the night Weston got drunk. Which means one thing: there are going to be a lot of very unobservant Castaways in a while, Jorn included.
Stassia lifts her arm off my shoulders and shoos me with her hand. “Go, I’ll probably come join in a bit.”
Sig nods as well, so I walk over to the circle and stop just outside of it.
“I don’t know how to play,” I say, eyeing the pieces resting on the floor.
Jorn pats the boards next to him. “I’ll teach you. Either you’ll be really good, or you’ll be wrecked by the end of the night.”
I sit down next to him and cross my legs under me as he goes through the rules, making sure everyone has a drink before passing the dice off so we can start. It seems simple, a game of chance and bluffing, but as more drinks are consumed, one of those things will get more and more difficult.
The nature of the game means that I am going to have to act like I am drinking as much as the rest of them, or it will be obvious that something is different about my bottle. I can’t risk them finding out and trying to switch it out, or even worse, suspecting something more is going on.
I need to start my act now. I have to pretend, and get worse the longer time goes on.
In a way, this might be helpful. No one will suspect I have any plans of leaving if they think I am drunk. I won’t stand out, I won’t call attention, besides whatever I do to convince everyone with my behavior.
I pay attention to every time the bottle comes to my lips and slowly loosen up, but even without the wine, I feel myself lightening. The game is actually fun, and everyone’s laughter is contagious. I can’t help but enjoy myself, forgetting for a while that I’m about to leave these people. I have every intention of coming back, as long as everything goes according to plan, but I still feel a twinge of sadness at the thought of leaving my friends.
I lose a round, Veck easily calling my bluff, and raise my bottle to my lips only to tilt it back and find it empty. My faceheats, and I feel eyes on me, but I know it’s not the stare of the others playing the game. I know Weston is watching.
Be convincing, Lennox.
“Sig!” I shriek with a giggle. I look around for her, exaggerating my movements and waving my bottle in the air. “Sig! I need more!”
“Here, you can have some of mine,” Jorn offers, extending his bottle to me.
I scrunch my nose and stick out my tongue, pushing his bottle back into his chest. “I’ll have my own, thank you.”
“Whatever you say, Little Lennox,” he says and tips the bottle back, taking a large gulp. The side of my face burns as I look through the crowd for Sig, spotting her as she stops behind Jorn. She raises an eyebrow and hands me a fresh bottle, taking my empty one out of my hands.
“Thank you,” I say, drawing out the sound before taking my round losing drink. I turn back to the game and hazard a glance up, my eyes colliding with the molten teal ones I know have been watching me since the moment I sat next to Jorn.
The wine may not be real, but the energy buzzing through my body definitely is the same. Everything is going to change after tonight, and I don’t know how Weston will react. I don’t know if he’ll ever look at me with the same intensity ever again after I betray him and go back to Dane. I don’t know if he will ever believe I trust him again, or trust me the same way, but tonight, I’m going to use the situation to my advantage, and finally say what I’ve been wanting to say for a while. Even if he only thinks my lips loosened because of the wine, I’ll know they hadn’t.
I’ll know my words are real.
I just need him to hear them.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Leaning against the rail with his ankles crossed out in front of him, Weston stands alone, a bottle dangling from his hands in his lap, watching the game. Specifically, watching me. My eyes snag on his and I look away quickly. My cheeks already hurt from smiling and laughing as we play, but I can’t hide it when I catch him looking. I lift the bottle to my lips again, trying to hide the smile and focus back on the next few rounds.
Hopefully, my ruse is working.
Eventually, Stassia nudges my shoulder, trying to squeeze her way into the circle.
“I’m in! Move over!” Her mood seems to be considerably improved, her joy having returned and I shoot her a smile.
“Take my spot Stass,” I say. “I need a break.”
A chorus of boos led by Jorn sounds around me as I withdraw myself from the circle. Stass slides in behind me, and I fake a stumble into her back as I try to step away. The group laughs, and I join in, faking another wobble before righting myself and making my way across the deck.
Right toward Weston.
He’s motionless as he watches me the entire way, except for his eyes, tracking my every movement as I stumble my way up beside him.
“You didn’t want to play?” I ask, pointing my thumb over my shoulder back at the circle just as a burst of laughter rises into the night.
