AllFreeNovel
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The whole crowd is doing it, connecting us all in the moment for this shared experience. The look on Tatum’s face is priceless when she beams at a couple next to us bouncing in time with the beat. Her hands shoot into the air and some of her drink sloshes over.
“I’m having so much fun, Coop.”
“Good.”
When the song ends, she leans into me with a weary gasp. “Okay. Enough dancing for a bit. Need water.”
“Come on.” Chuckling, I slip my hand into hers and lead her through the crowd.
She holds on tight. Resisting her while we danced was too much. We’re playing with fire doing this lesson while Jackson is here. But if he comes at me, I’ll just say I didn’t want to lose her in the crowd. The cove is packed for the party.
We stop at a cooler filled with water bottles. I grab two and give one to her.
“Thanks.” She cracks the cap and takes a deep pull, throat working.
I freeze with my bottle halfway to my lips, captivated by the sight.
“Hey!” A girl’s voice behind us startles me out of my trance and I slosh some of the water on my shirt.
“Simone!” Tatum’s eyes go wide and a hint of regret creeps into her voice. “Hey. You’re here.”
Her friend moves a thick braid of shiny black hair over her bare shoulders and cants her hip to the side.
Simone lifts her eyebrows, peering between the two of us. “Coop.”
I offer a nod in greeting. She turns back to Tatum.
“I didn’t know you’d be here. When I talked about the party earlier this week you didn’t say anything.”
“Oh, yeah.” Tatum shrugs. The movement is stiff, but she plows on. “It was last minute. Jackson already left by the time I decided to go. Cooper gave me a ride. Otherwise I totally would’ve texted you.”
Her brush off appeases her friend. The pair of them couldn’t look any more different—Tatum’s hair down and Simone’s braided in an intricate style, Tatum’s face free of makeup while Simone has a smokey cat eye thing going on, and Tatum’s overall dress compared to Simone’s off-the-shoulder crop top and mini skirt. Yet they’ve always been close friends. Simone hooks her arm through Tatum’s and grins, shaking her cup.
“I’m just glad you’re here, girl. I’ve been trying to get you out to a party for years.”
“I know.” Tatum offers a pretty smile. “No point dwelling, though. I’m here now.”
“Here’s to new leaves and living it up.” Simone taps her plastic cup against Tatum’s water bottle.
“I’ll drink to that,” I chime in.
“Did your housing assignment come this week?” Simone asks.
“This morning finally!” Tatum grins and the brightness of it hits me square in the chest. “Huntington Hall, what about you?”
“Yes! Me too. Hopefully we’ll be on the same floor, but at least we’ll be neighbors.”
They perform a complicated fist bump-handshake combo that they probably learned from TikTok. I squint in confusion.
“Why don’t you request each other for roommates? Then you don’t get stuck with someone you don’t mesh with.”
Tatum shakes her head. “We both agreed. We want to do it up right when we go to college. We’ll have plenty of time to spend together.”
“Plus, we’d probably drive each other crazy if we roomed together,” Simone adds. “Happened to my sister when she was at college. She and one of her best friends got a room together and ended up breaking up as friends by the end of the first semester.”
“Harsh,” I say.
“Girls have a totally different social structure,” Tatum says. “Let me guess, you’d have to really hate your roommate to stop being his friend.”
