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“Remember what I told you about them,” Salem says over her shoulder. As if I could forget.
“Hey! You made it!” I’m glad to see Theo with some of the jocks. He comes over and gives me a hug like we’re old friends.
“I thought I was hands-off,” I tease.
Salem laughs, but Theo just narrows his eyes. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And there’s nothing wrong with being friendly.” He throws his arms around Salem, who laughs again when he lifts her off her feet.
When Franky comes over, she stops laughing. “Hey,” she murmurs before grabbing a cup and pouring herself a drink.
He only has eyes for me. “I’m glad you came. Hayes was saying you might not.”
I’ll bet he did. “He’s not the boss of me.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Do you want a drink?”
“Some beer, maybe?” That’s as much as I trust myself to drink around a bunch of people I don’t know.
Franky grabs a cup and goes out to the keg.
“See?” Theo grins before taking a swig of his drink. “It’s not as bad as you thought it would be, is it?”
“I only just got here,” I remind him.
“You need to loosen up. Have a little fun.”
“Careful,” Salem warns. “Next thing you know, he’ll tell you all about the great sound system in Franky’s room and how you just have to come up and listen to it.”
“Hey, I only did that the one time with you, and I was a lot younger then.” Theo winks before adding, “She saw through me.”
“I already told her I have taste.” I can tell Salem’s joking with him. I like their friendship, how easy and fun it is. I hope I get to the point where I feel that comfortable around them.
“Here you go.” Franky hands me the cup, now full of beer, and puts an arm around my shoulders like he did in the cafeteria. “You girls go shopping today? I think I drove past when you were coming out of one of the nail places in town.”
“Yeah, it was fun. I’ve never been to that part of town before.” I look at Salem with a grin. “She forced me to have fun.”
Franky smirks. “Yeah, she knows how to have a good time.”
Salem pretends like she’s not listening, waving to a couple of girls who just came in from the kegs.
When the guys start talking about their swim meet tomorrow, I tap her on the shoulder. “Is it okay that I’m talking with Franky?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I don’t know. I just got the feeling you didn’t like it.”
“It doesn’t matter to me.” She looks over my shoulder and grins. “Hey!” she calls out to a few girls I don’t recognize. She won’t look at me for some reason.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure? It seems like your mood bottomed out.”
“Why would it? We’re at a party.” She takes a long gulp from her cup.
“Okay.” She’s lying. Something has definitely changed. “Is it because Franky was paying attention to me? Do you guys not like each other?”
“I don’t care if you talk to Franky or hang out with him or whatever. He’s cool. You’d make a cute couple.” Salem sets her cup on the counter before reaching for a bottle of vodka and filling the cup halfway. She tops it with a splash of juice from another bottle before taking a long drink without even adding ice.
“Because really, he was just being nice. It’s not like I like him or anything.”
“Why do you think I care? No offense, but the whole world isn’t, like, obsessed with the guys you’re talking to.”
“I’m sorry.” I move aside so other people can reach in and grab what they want. What did I do wrong? She’s totally different than she was this afternoon.
“I’ve got to go pee.” The words are barely out of Salem’s mouth before she gets lost in the crowd.
I try to follow her progress, but she disappears into the partially lit rooms beyond the kitchen.
Awesome. Somehow, I pissed her off. And now I’m alone.
“Hey. Here.” Somebody I’ve never met takes my hand, turns it so my palm faces up, and drops a pill on it.
“What is this?” But he walks away without answering. I don’t even know if he heard me. I leave the pill on the counter, and somebody else snatches it up right away. Good for them. Do people seriously just hand drugs out at these parties? And other people take them without knowing what they are? I’ll stick to my beer.
“There you are.” Franky wanders over to me again. “Sorry, gotta play the host. You having fun?”
“Sure.” I take a sip of my beer like that will prove something.
“Cool. Hang around. I wanna talk with you.”
I nod, trying to smile, and he goes off to tap a fresh keg in the backyard. Maybe I could leave without anyone noticing, but Salem brought me here. I don’t trust her to drive us home. And I don’t think she’d be happy if I told her I want to go.
