“No way!” Charli gapes at me. “Grounded for leaving the seat up? Dude, that’s harsh.” She flicks her thumb at her brother. “Darian would have spent half his life grounded.”
“Shut up, I’m not that bad.” He swishes his hand through the air while Charli whips a look at him, then immediately sways in her seat, grabbing her head with a soft groan.
Darian lurches forward. “Are you gonna be sick? Do not puke on me. I only got these shorts a couple of weeks ago.”
Charli groans again and pitches toward him like she’s about to upchuck, and Darian lets out this weird yelp, jumping away from her.
She slumps onto the floor, dissolving into a pile of giggles. “You are such a princess,” she teases him, then puts on a mocking voice. “I only got these shorts a couple of weeks ago.”
Nix starts to laugh too, and Darian rolls his eyes, scratching the top of his head and muttering something in Spanish that I don’t quite catch, but it makes Mac laugh.
The guy is fluent in Spanish. Like me, he grew up bilingual. Apparently, the housekeeper and gardener taught him. And he had a Spanish nanny at one point.
Me, I grew up speaking English and Mandarin. I’ve tried learning other languages at school, but they never stick. According to my parents, English and Mandarin are all I need anyway. I guess it is in their world… and that’s the only one that seems to matter.
“Vamos, manita. Levántate.”Darian bends down to help his sister off the floor, and I rise from my chair when he topples over and starts laughing as well.
So many drunk bodies in this house right now.
With a sigh, I walk around the table and bend down to get the two giggling siblings off the floor.
It takes me about forty minutes, but I eventually get everyone to their respective rooms. I try to get them to down a glass of water before they fall into bed, but I’m only half successful. Ben’s sober enough to help me, and so is Cash. Between the three of us, we get drunk heads onto pillows. Teeth brushing and face washing are forgotten about as people flop onto their mattresses. Sawyer’s snoring before I even walk out of the room.
The hardest one to get to bed is Mac. He insists that he isn’t that drunk and “We should go for a midnight swim.”
Yeah, not likely, dude.
“It’ll be great. The stars will look so good tonight.”
“They’ll be blurry fuzz balls in the sky for you,” I assure him, wrapping my arm around his waist and helping him up the stairs.
It’s a mission. The guy might be the shortest member of the team, but he’s strong and stubborn, and I eventually just pick him up and throw him over my shoulder.
He’s not impressed and yells like a toddler, but as soon as I fling him onto his bed, he starts laughing, rolls onto his stomach with his arm flopping over the edge of the bed, and… yep, he’s gone.
After that, I check the house is secure, then brush my teeth, wash my face, and slip into bed like the good boy I am.
Lifting the curtain aside, I stare up at the moon. It’s a bright, glowing orb in the sky, and I’m mesmerized by it, a small smile tugging at my lips.
As awkward as tonight has been, it was also kind of fun.
I’m glad I’m here.
My stomach clenches at the thought, for a second wondering what my parents are thinking.
Who cares what they’re thinking! You’re living for once. Let yourself enjoy it!
And I want to.
I’m just so used to always doing what I’m told.
I’ve been too afraid to check my phone, and although I’m tempted to reach for it now, I squeeze my eyes shut and force myself to wait and deal with it in the morning. Ma will have no doubt been texting me in a fury, and I’ll never get any sleep if I have to deal with the weight of her disappointment right now.
So I open my eyes and stare at the moon until it starts to fuzz around the edges.
Dropping the curtain, I roll onto my side and will myself to fall asleep.
15
