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Lock. Right. Everyone called him that. To me, it was too small of a name for someone like him. In my mind, he was Lachlan, which reminded me of a treacherous pass over rough, deadly terrain.
“Oh, the Lachlan Pass? I traversed it back in ’02. Half my crew died, but I conquered the Lachlan. Hoo-ah.”
Yes. Lachlan suited the overgrown asshole much better.
“That’s the Lock I’m talking about. The one who never addresses me, rarely looks at me, and can’t even remember my name. That Lock.”
Helen’s eyes flared. “Whoa, dude. I never noticed, but now that you say it, you’re right. Lock really doesn’t like you. What’d you do to him?”
I shot her the middle finger. “Eat a dick, Helen. You watch me like a hawk around your friends. You know I’ve been nothing but a lady.”
Something in her softened. Before we spent our sophomore year sharing a dorm, she’d had a lot of reasons to hate me, but I thought I’d more than proved I deserved the benefit of the doubt. Guessed not.
She started to reach out to me, but let her hand drop midway. That was well and good. We both would have been embarrassed if she got mushy with me.
She shuffled her Vans against the patio stone. “I don’t watch you so much like a hawk anymore.”
“Thanks, buddy.” I stamped out the tail end of my joint. Any calming effects from the THC in my bloodstream were being overpowered by the foul mood Lachlan Kelly had put me in. “Thanks for trusting me around your precious friends. Maybe you should start watchingtheminstead. I’m going to go find a quiet corner to practice my incantations.”
If Icouldsummon a demon, it would be to curse Lachlan with the inability to look away from me. If he did, he’d feel like a million beetles were walking all over him, their little, sticky, clawed tarsi pricking his skin with each step they took.
I went inside the house, tacitly avoiding the kitchen where the alcohol was—where Lachlan probably was. The trouble was, I desperately needed something to drink to bring me back into party mode.
I saw a guy. Cute, but as Helen called guys like him, Medium. Everything about him was right in the middle. A perfect target.
I bumped into him, grabbing his shoulders to brace myself. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
His smile was extra wide and white, standing out on his otherwise forgettable face. “No worries. Are you steady now?”
I held on to him, giving his shoulders a squeeze. He was dressed nicely. I thought I recognized his untucked button-down as Eton—the brand my mom bought my dad when she was trying to “hip him up.” Could one really be hip if they paid two-hundred-dollars for a dress shirt, though? Not that my dad had any hope.
“I’m steady, thanks to you.” I bit my bottom lip. “I’m Elena.”
“Trevor. Excellent to meet you, even if by accident.” He crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his upper body toward me. “What year are you?”
I fluttered my eyelashes in a way that came so naturally to me, I barely thought about it. “Junior. You?”
“Senior.” His navy-blue eyes raked over my short dress and long legs. “How have I never seen you before?”
“I don’t know.” I wrapped the ends of my blonde waves around a couple fingers. “I haven’t seen you either. I guess we’ve both been wasting time.”
He brought his drink up to his mouth then stopped. “Something's not right here. A beautiful girl, but her hands are empty. Can I get you a drink, Elena?”
I gasped, like his offer was completely unexpected and not the reason I’d stumbled into him in the first place.
“Would you? That would be amazing.” I pointed to the ground in front of me. “I’ll save your spot.”
He beelined it to the kitchen with my drink order. Through the open entryway, I spotted Lachlan, Helen, and Theo laughing. Helen and Theo would welcome me into their group if I wanted to join them, but why would I? I wasn’t a girl who stayed at the edge of the crowd. The center was my happy place. So, Lachlan could go die with whatever bug had crawled up his ass. I wasn’t going to keep putting myself in a position to be ignored.
Three drinks later, Trevor had coaxed me into playing Truth or Dare with a big group that had taken over the living room. Most of the dares had involved taking articles of clothing off. Nobody had even attempted to tell the truth.
A girl across from me, Trevor’s medium counterpart, had been eyeing me since we sat down together. During her dare, she’d taken off her shorts and wiggled her thong-split ass in Trevor’s direction. He’d been so busy staring at my tits, he hadn’t noticed. Medium Girl had, though. And when it was her turn to pick someone to go next, she looked straight at me.
“Truth or dare?” she asked.
“Hmmm…” I tapped my chin, which was just a little numb from all the vodka and weed I’d consumed. “I think I’ll go with truth to mix things up a little.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I wondered if I was supposed to be intimidated. I’d eaten jealous little chickadees like her for breakfast. I didnotgetintimidated.
