Finn’s either in denial or doesn’t care. He doesn’t seem the slightest bit stressed by what happened. Maybe he’s still high on weed.
“I say we just lie low and see what happens,” Parker says.
“No one says a word about this to anyone.” Briggs’ eyes dart to the three of us. “Understood?”
We all nod.
Briggs stares at me with those intense blue eyes. “That includes your dad.”
“Yeah, got it,” I say, looking away.
“Ella!” Briggs yells.
“What?” I look back at him.
“I’m serious. You don’t tell him anything about what happened tonight, even if he asks.”
“Yeah, I know. I won’t say anything.”
His eyes remain on mine a moment before he finally looks away and turns back to the front. “If anything happens, we tell each other. There’s no fucking secrets, even if it’s something you don’t want one of us knowing.”
“Like what?” Parker asks.
“Who the fuck knows? I just don’t want secrets being kept. You do that shit and it puts us all at risk. We all need to know what’s going on.”
“What if people ask about tonight?” I say. “What are we supposed to tell them? Do I say I was with you guys? Because my dad’s going to wonder why you guys were on that road when you found me. Maybe I should just tell him I got a ride with someone else.”
“You can’t.” Briggs turns back to me. “The cop already saw you with us. If something happened and we ended up being questioned by the police, our stories wouldn’t match up. They’d talk to your dad and know you were lying. And then they’d think we lied about other shit.”
“So what do I tell my dad about why you guys were out there tonight?”
“Tell him I was getting weed,” Finn says. “It’s not like I’m going to get in trouble for it. My dad knows I go there to buy from that guy. He’s even had me buy some for him.”
“Just tell your dad we were out for a drive,” Briggs says to me. “He doesn’t need all the details.” He looks at Finn and Parker. “If anyone else asks where we were tonight, keep it vague. Just say we went for a drive. You don’t need to tell them where, and nobody needs to know we picked up Ella. The less we say, the better. If people ask why we didn’t show up at the party tonight, just say we decided to do our own thing.”
“What about Scarlett and Aubrey?” Parker asks. “Scarlett’s been texting me, asking why I’m not there.”
“Tell her what I just said. That we decided we didn’t want to go.”
Briggs’ phone rings and he checks it.
“It’s Aubrey,” he says, “Listen and learn.” He answers the call. “Hey, babe.” He pauses, and I hear her yelling through the phone. “Aubrey, stop. I’m not going to listen to this. You either stop or I’m hanging up.” He waits a moment, and I hear her quiet down. “I get that you’re pissed but you just have to deal with it. It took forever to get the weed and then we decided to stop at Finn’s house and hang out. Just stay at the party and have a good time. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I hear her say something in a whiny voice before Briggs ends the call.
“I’m so fucking tired of her,” he mutters. He turns to Parker. “She knew we went out there to get weed. Did you tell her that?”
“No, but I told Scarlett we might drive out there.”
“That’s fucking great. So now people know we were on that road.”
Parker’s phone rings.
“That’s Scarlett,” Briggs says. “You need to tell her what I just told Aubrey.”
When Parker answers the call, I hear a girl yelling, “Where the fuck are you? I’ve been waiting all night!”
“I’m at Finn’s house,” Parker says, looking at Briggs. “Babe, I can’t talk now. Just have fun at the party and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
