AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, no. Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
Callie casts a longing look around the room but doesn’t move.
“Go ahead,” I tell her. “I’ll stay here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m good. If you come back, bring me a water or soda.”
She gives me two thumbs up and turns on her heel, disappearing into the crowd. Azalea sits up and yawns loudly before collapsing again. She falls toward me this time, landing with her head wedged awkwardly against my armpit. I shift to unpin my arm from beneath her and let it fall over her shoulders. “You’re not going to puke, are you?”
“No.”
I make note of the closest exit, just in case. “I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”
She lets out a long, loud sigh. “I needed to get out. I was sad.”
I dip my head in toward hers, concerned. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Audrey’s sister had her baby,” she says, nestling a little further into me. I can’t help tugging her closer, letting my hand slide down her arm. “And I was looking at all the pictures that Audrey sent me, at all their family together, all those people…” Azalea sniffs. I feel it, a scrunch of her nose against my chest, more than I hear it over the din in the room. “This is so dumb. I’m jealous of a baby who deserves all the love he’s getting. But it’s the same thing that made me want to look for my mother in the first place—the hope that I might have more family out there. Doesn’t seem like I do, though, or, at the very least, they don’t seem to care to find me. So it’s just my dad and me, which is fine, but what if something happened to him? I’d be all alone without anyone left to love me.”
The longer her slightly slurred ramble goes on, the tighter I hold her and the more my chest constricts. I’ve never heard her so vulnerable, and I hate that she’s drunk and that we’re having this conversation on a frat house sofa, surrounded by too-loud pop music and people grinding to it.
I duck my head to speak directly into her ear, making sure she can hear me. “That’s not true. You have Callie, and you have me.”
I suppress the shudder that threatens to roll through my body when Azalea presses her face into my neck, lips brushing the shell of my ear. “But you’re going to leave me, too,” she murmurs, the words going straight to my heart and cracking it in half. “Soon.”
And then I feel her tears, warm against my skin.
Chapter Seven
Azalea
Ipressmyfaceagainst Maverick’s shoulder and squeeze my eyes tightly closed, trying to will the tears away. They appeared out of nowhere, too quick and plentiful to blink back, and started overflowing.
Now I can’t make them stop.
My eyelids are heavy, and I think I could easily cry myself to sleep on him if he’d let me. He won’t, though; already he’s pushing on my shoulders, trying to get me to sit up so he can meet my eyes.
I finally comply, using what little energy I have left in me to lift myself off Maverick and allow him to see my tear-stained face. I swipe under my eyes, and through my alcohol-addled haze I somehow manage to register that my hand comes away with a smudge of mascara on it.
“Azalea.” Maverick bends his head, forcing me to meet his concerned gaze. “I’m not leaving you.”
“You are,” I say, sniffing. “This summer.”
“That doesn’t mean I’mleavingyou,” he insists. “We’ll talk all the time, and I’ll be home during—”
“Mav.” I cut him off, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Stop.”
“But—”
“No!” It comes out a bit more forcefully than I mean it to, and I regret that when I see him flinch. “No, Maverick. Not tonight. I can’t—” There’s a tightness in my chest, a turning in my tummy. The tears come faster, and I’m gulping down air. “I can’t—I don’t want to think about it.”
Whatever I’m experiencing right now feels a bit like a panic attack, but not exactly. It’s just pure overwhelm—I started off the night feeling sorry for myself because I don’t have a family like Audrey’s, and now I’m thinking about what would happen if my dad died and what would happen to my dad ifIdied and my best friend going away and—
“Zale. Baby.” Maverick’s steady voice cuts through my racing thoughts. “Take a deep breath. It’s okay. Come on.” He slips his arms over my shoulders and hauls me to my feet, keeping me tucked close to his body. “I’m taking you home.”
Through the haze, I remember my other best friend. I look around for her, but it’s useless in the throng of people. “Callie—”
