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Wes nods. “Truer words have never been spoken.”
“Those are fighting words, Wes.” She turns to me. “You’ve heard Chase’s stuff?”
“Vaguely.” I hear a lot about Chase’s taste in music. But not the music so much. “I’m not super familiar with the genre.”
“Play her something.” Juliette pulls out her cell.
“Sorry, driver picks,” Dean calls.
She shakes her head. “That’s injustice.”
“My car, my rules,” he says.
“I thought it was driver picks?” she asks.
Chloe laughs. “She has a point.”
“There’s a reason people wish their exes would die in car crashes,” Juliette says.
“Yeah, toxic masculinity.” Griffin shakes his head.
She interrupts. “I’m the one that taught you—”
“You should be proud you taught me well,” he says.
She shakes her head no way then offers me her cell. “Put on the playlist called Fuck Jackson.”
“Damn, Jules, could you be more childish?” Griffin teases.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. Could you be more annoying?”
“I could try.” He leans in to whisper something in her ear.
She laughs.
His eyes fix on mine. He studies my reaction, looking for something. “You gonna put the music on, Quinn?”
“I thought you hated it?” I ask.
He nods. “I hate this shit more than these fucking singers hate their exes.”
“You certainly whine more than any of them do,” Juliette says.
He chuckles. “Why’d I invite you anyway?”
“Masochism.” Juliette brushes a dark strand behind her ear. Her long, wavy hair is in a messy ponytail. Stray strands fall in front of her face, framing her eyes in coffee brown.
She’s pretty. Really pretty.
In a laid back way.
Like she doesn’t really care if she’s pretty or not.
She probably doesn’t.
Which is so unfair.
But then…
Well, I like doing my hair and makeup. I like curating my wardrobe. I like cultivating my sexy librarian look.
A few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to think of myself as sexy.
But now…
Wes has done so much.
He really has.
I really like him.
So fucking much.
Ahem.
“You can think about Wes’s dick after you start the music,” Griffin says.
“Oh my God, Griff.” Juliette shakes her head. “I’m sorry. He’s an idiot.”
Griffin shakes his head. “We all know what she’s thinking.”
“You don’t have to say it,” she says.
“No, I do.” He leans in to whisper.
She laughs.
He scoots a little closer.
Neither of them realizes it, but it’s obvious.
Or maybe I’m reading into stuff too much. Going on Wes’s word. He thinks Griffin and Juliette are madly in love. But he doesn’t know.
It’s better to take people at their word.
If they say there’s nothing there…
Well, it’s really none of my business.
Even if other people’s problems are so much easier than mine.
Ahem.
“Pretty please.” I offer Chloe my best smile. I don’t really know her, but she seems sweet. Well, helpful.
She nods and passes me the aux cable.
“What happened to driver picks?” Dean teases.
She flips him off.
He grabs her hand, brings it to his mouth, sucks on her fingertip.
She giggles as he sucks on her digit. “Hands on the wheel.”
“You’re better than the wheel,” he says.
“And if we die in a car crash?” she asks.
“Then we’ll die together.” He tries to make it teasing, but there’s something in his voice. He means it.
Griffin shakes his head. “You’ll make this guy proud.” He motions to the stereo. A peppy guitar riff fades into energetic vocals.
Sure enough, the singer is cursing his ex’s name.
I don’t have any exes of note, certainly none I hate, but I get the impulse to scream about lost love.
The thought of this being the end…
I can’t go there.
“Fuck, I must like you a lot.” Griffin shakes his head. “This is such awful shit.”
“Jesus, Griff.” Wes shakes his head. “Tact.”
“You hate it too,” Griffin says.
Wes motions kinda. “I’m coming around.”
“Since when?” Griffin asked.
“Since I learned to expand my horizons beyond my narrow point of view,” Wes says.
“There’s no fucking way you’ve done that.” Griffin laughs.
“Which of us is bitching about music we didn’t like in high school?” Wes asks.
“I suggested it,” Griffin says.
“Fuck, you both realize I have to deal with shit at the shop all the time?” Dean shakes his head. “You seem nice, Juliette, but I can’t take this shit lying down.”
She laughs. “I’m always up for a challenge.”
“I have a suggestion,” Dean says. “A way to decide what we play after this.”
He’s acting all tough, but he is letting her finish the playlist.
It’s sweet.
He’s kinda like Wes. Playing the shit starter when he’s really—
Well, I don’t know, but Chloe seems like the kind of woman who doesn’t put up with that.
“Oh God.” Chloe shakes her head. “Don’t say it.”
“Ten fingers,” Dean says.
Chloe bursts into laughter.
Juliette too.
Then Griffin.
And Wes.
I do too.
Dean really is ridiculous.
“Who wins?” I ask. “Who gets to pick the music?”
“Last one standing, of course,” Dean says.
“You do realize I’m a virgin,” I say.
“Yeah, but if you want to go on about those details, I’m all ears,” Dean says.
“I will kill you,” Wes says.
“Not if I kill him first,” Chloe says.
