Page 109 of Tell Me Something

“Yep. Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, and NYU.”

“That’s awesome. I’ve never known anyone to get into all of them. I told you your personal statement was incredible.”

“Well, thank you for critiquing it and looking over my application. It meant a lot.”

“Of course. Are you celebrating?”

“That’s the plan,” Brian replied, taking him off of speaker. “Meet us. I’m bagging on Josh for dinner, and I think you should come down. Yeah, so who cares?” Brian winked again.

I figured Josh would be plenty pissed off when he found out that all of his friends were aware of my news, but he wasn’t—and that they were taking me out.

“Good. Prepare for a long night. Mark will meet us there in a couple of hours.”

Once we arrived at the piano bar, he got us a great table within minutes.

“I can’t thank you enough for this, but Josh is going to flip that both of his best friends are out celebrating with me, and he doesn’t even know what for.”

“Well, then, he should’ve asked,” Brian quipped back but then relented a little. “All right, I’ll text him the place. If he shows up, then good. But if not, you’re going to have a great time anyhow, okay?”

Sounded good to me.

I WAS PRETTY MUCH DRUNK. It was after ten o’clock, which meant a firm four hours of drinking. Mark and Brian had been thrilled that I loved the beer that was on draft, and we’d done a chugging contest. I’d lost, big time.

Sasha sat beside me and handed me the glass of water that Will had been kind enough to order from the waitress. Catherine had unfortunately been out of town. Brian and Mark were recalling a story from college when I glanced up and saw Josh walking toward us.

“Hey, look who decided to join the party,” Brian drawled.

Surprised, Josh looked toward Mark, “I didn’t know you were coming, too.”

“Well, Brian called me to come down for the celebration.”

If Josh found this odd, he didn’t say so.

Brian pulled out a chair. “Take a seat. Let’s get you a drink.”

“So what’s the celebration exactly?” Josh queried, looking at me.

My face heated at the fact that he was the only one still in the dark. “I got into all of the law schools I applied to.”

I couldn’t read his expression, but at least his words were sincere. “That’s terrific. When did you find out?”

“I started receiving letters Tuesday, and the last one from Harvard came today.”

Josh held up his glass. “Cheers, then. Congratulations.” His eyes flicked over mine, and then he turned toward Mark in conversation.

“You feeling okay?” Sasha asked me, and I faked a smile.

“Yes, a little bit tipsy. Excuse me. I’m going to make my way to the ladies’ room and make sure my balance is still intact.” Will helped me out, and I gave him a smile. I needed to get myself together. Seeing Josh again after a week of radio silence had me off balance. The drinks didn’t help.

In the restroom, I took a deep breath and glanced in the mirror. At least I didn’t look too bad for working a full day and then drinking for a few hours. And my stomach was cooperating thanks to the carb fest Brian had insisted on ordering before starting on the beer. As I came out of the restroom, I came face to face with Josh. I hadn’t expected him to follow me, but he appeared to have been waiting for me in the hall.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He searched my eyes.

“I just did.” I didn’t mean to be flip, but I was a little drunk and a lot annoyed with the man.

“I meant before you told everyone else. Why didn’t you tell me earlier this week?”

“It must have slipped my mind what with all of the phone conversations we shared,” I retorted sarcastically. He hadn’t once contacted me.