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Tray came outside a few minutes later and sat with me, Mandy, Tristan, Erin and Jasmine. We had segregated, somewhat. Mandy, Tristan, Erin, and Jasmine were at my patio table.
The rest sat opposite us, across the pool.
After the Jasmine’s incident, Amber and Sasha were inseparable. I was thinking that her plan had backfired. Now she was stuck with Mandy and…me, I guess.
Carter arrived two hours later, complete with a one hundred foot sub.
“Hey, beautiful,” Carter greeted, throwing an arm around my shoulders.
“What’s this in celebration of?” I asked, grinning back at him. I liked Carter—remember when I slammed the door in his face?
“Uh, it’s more of a de-celebration. I have to head back to boarding school. My ‘extended’ holiday is officially over.”
“What?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry. I should be getting another ‘extended’ holiday in a few months. It doesn’t take me long to get into trouble there,” he reassured me, squeezing my shoulders and steering us away to a corner. “So, let’s talk about you and my best friend, who I haven’t seen like this since…ever.”
“What do you mean?” I grinned lightly, but dreaded what he was going to say next. I had it feeling it was going to turn into some mushy feelings crap that I always run away from. But this was Carter, so I sucked it up and waited for what he was going to say.
“He looks relaxed, Taryn. I don’t know what you do.” He laughed. “Okay, I know exactly what you do, but any girl can do that too.”
I punched him in the chest.
“No, no, I don’t need the details. I just want to tell you, as Tray’s friend, thank you, for whatever the hell that works between the two of you. He looks good.”
Not today. He looked like he was wound tighter than a forty year old virgin who learned masturbation was ‘evil.’
“Uh…yeah,” I replied, unsure of what I was supposed to say.
It must’ve appeased Carter, because he nudged me in the shoulder playfully, and then exclaimed, “Tristan! You big slut!” He took off and jumped into her lap. “I heard what you did last night.”
“You hear the news?” Mandy asked, she materialized from behind me, a drink in hand.
“You’re drinking again?”
“Oh no. This is water. My drunk fest was yesterday. I’m good, thanks,” she said dryly. “Did you hear Carter’s going back to his school. It sucks.”
“Why does he go to boarding school?”
“Because his parents think he can get a better education elsewhere, where all his friends, like Tray, are not. They’re not big fans of Tray. Actually, a lot of parents aren’t fans of Tray.”
“How come?”
Mandy snorted. “Are you serious? Have you looked at Tray? He looks like sex on a stick. Mom and Dad would freak if they found out you’re dating him. Wait, you are dating, right? I mean, you’re still not in denial? Because it’s getting annoying.”
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “We both know we’re in a relationship. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“I’m going to throw that back at you the next time you’re yelling at me about Devon.”
Touché.
I argued anyway, “That’s different.”
“No, no. No, it’s not, Taryn.” Mandy laughed. “But anyway, Carter and Tray used to be inseparable when they were younger, but…I don’t know. Tray went through some phase and he became scary. People either worship Tray or they hate him. Most parents fall in the ‘hate’ category.”
I didn’t like this conversation. I shrugged. “They just don’t know him.”
“No one really knows him,” Mandy commented. She paused for a minute, studying Tray. “I mean, I know he likes beer, sex, and pizza. That’s about it and I’ve known him my whole life.”
