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“Really?” The anger was gone from Jacob’s face. He looked ecstatic.

“Yup.”

Axel threw his arm around my shoulders. “There’s our girl.”

I smiled.

“And for the record, I knew this guy was a piece of shit,” Axel said.

I laughed. “You started liking him, don’t even.”

Axel shook his head. “Not even a little bit. Come on, we’re going to that party.” He lifted me up over his shoulder the way he always did with Scarlett.

I screamed.

Scarlett laughed.

Axel started carrying me down the bleachers. And I realized that maybe part of why he was doing this was so that I couldn’t see what Adonis was doing.

But I somehow was able to twist a bit to the left to see.

And Adonis wasn’t looking at me. Because he was too busy laughing at something Gigi said while his arms were wrapped around Gemma.

I sighed. I really needed that drink.

***

I wasn’t sure why I’d ever stopped going out. The burn of alcohol down my throat helped dull the ache in my chest.

And my friends were freaking amazing.

I threw my hands in the air and twirled around in a circle.

Jacob laughed as I wrapped my arms behind his neck.

“You’re smiling,” he said as his hands fell to my waist.

“It’s easy to smile when my dance partner is the best dancer at the party.”

He laughed. “I love when you smile, Soph. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed you.”

“You know, maybe you could have brought me back to life sooner if you’d just had sex with me when I asked you to.”

He chuckled. “I would have just broken your heart all over again, Soph.”

“So cocky.”

He smiled.

He seemed good. He actually seemed happy again. Somewhere over the past few weeks, the hurt on his face had disappeared. It gave me hope that mine would stop soon too.

I wanted to ask about Girl #5, but I didn’t want to push him. And I also kind of hoped she wasn’t here, because I needed him tonight. All my friends were close by, but Jacob and I were the only ones without dance partners.

“The decorations here are kinda lame, right?” I asked. Actually, there weren’t any decorations. Or a theme. We were at some house on the outskirts of the city. “Our party was so much better.”

“I know,” Jacob said. “There aren’t even any monkeys.”

“Did you ever ask Mr. Tanner about those?”