Page 72 of Bless My Body

“Yeah, I’m in.” I’m a little surprised she agreed so easily. I had talking points ready to convince

her and everything. She hasn’t gone to a party with me in months, so I’m not going to question it.

Maybe she just knows I need my best friend right now.

It’s been a week since I left Ezra’s, and I still haven’t talked to him. He hasn’t made any effort to

reach out to me, but I have a feeling he’s waiting on me. Which is fine. That’s the way I want it.

“Yay!” I say, doing a little clap. “It’s going to be so much fun. We only have a few parties left until

college is over.”

“Let’s not think about that tonight,” Stella says as she gets up off her bed. “Let’s just have fun.”

“Yes. You have no idea how much I need this.” She gives me a knowing look. We haven’t

discussed Ezra this week, but she likely knows I haven’t talked to him.

“What are you going to wear?” she asks, ushering me into my room so we can go through my

clothes. We end up settling on cutoff shorts and a black crop top, and I leave my hair straight. It

reaches almost to my waist when it’s straight. My mom constantly tells me I should cut it, and I think

that might be the main reason why I refuse to. I don’t like being told what to do. Unless it’s Ezra

telling me what to do. There he goes, sneaking into my thoughts again.

Stella throws on a form-fitting tank top and black high-waisted shorts. She puts her hair up in a

messy top knot. Ozzy looks very unhappy about going to this party, but to his credit, he doesn’t

complain. He throws on his dark-wash jeans, black T-shirt, and black combat boots—his typical

attire. I’m not even sure he owns anything that’s not black.

Once the sun goes down and Stella and I do our pre-game shot, we head out to Greek Row. The

University is only about ten minutes from our house, so it doesn’t take long to find the fraternity and

park on the street. Both sides of the street are full of cars, so we park a ways away from the house

party. As soon as we get out of the car, we hear the music thumping and follow the sounds until we get

to the house.

I make a bee-line for the kitchen to fill up a red Solo cup with beer from the keg. I get Stella a

cup, too, even though I know she’s just going to sip on it all night. She’s not a big drinker. Total

opposite of me—the yin to my yang.

I chug my cup and get a refill before we mingle with the crowd. Most of these people are the

usual suspects at parties, so I know them. Stella doesn’t always go to parties with me, so I introduce

her to the people she doesn’t know.