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It’ll be at Hannah’s house, and I’m the one who made the guest list, so I’ll know people there.
Most importantly, I’m not that awestruck young girl anymore. Landon can no longer surprise me, and I won’t follow him into any dark corners.
So honestly, what’s the worst that can happen?
Maybe I’ll even have a good time.
Chapter Ten
Parker
“Need help with that?”
Hannah looks up and offers a smile as I approach the drink table where she’s setting up for the party. “I’ve got it. We do still need one for the pool area, though. There’s a smaller tub in the kitchen. If you want to, fill it about ¾ of the way full with ice. There’s an open bag in the freezer.”
“On it,” I say, turning and heading for the kitchen.
Once I have a tub full of ice, I come back out to the main party room. Hannah has finished filling her tub, so I use the leftovers to fill mine. There are mini bottles of vodka and gin, and a couple of small bottles of water for anyone who wants one of those instead. Canned non-alcoholic beverages are plunged into a separate tub of ice, and Hannah made party punch distributed in two separate glass dispensers, one marked “designated driver friendly” that has colorful, melted sherbet mounds floating around on top.
My mouth waters just looking at it. I should probably be a proper unpaid worker and abstain, but… to hell with it. I’m unpaid. I’m getting some of that punch.
Hannah comes back and catches me dipping into the goods. I flash her a guilty smile, then take a greedy sip of her amazing punch. “I couldn’t resist.”
Hannah chuckles. “You don’t need to. I have enough to make a second batch in case this one runs out. Drink to your heart’s content.”
“In that case, can the second batch be just for me?” I ask, flashing her my best puppy dog eyes.
“Nice try.” She glances at my tub. “I’ll grab you a few mini waters to put in there, too.”
“Don’t we have an entire tub of full-sized waters?”
“Yes, but there may be some people who don’t particularly want to drink, but they get dragged to the alcohol bins by friends or boys that do. I’m including a water option in the same container so she can easily grab this without drawing attention to it if she’s feeling a bit pressured and doesn’t want to go to a different bin.”
I blink at her.
“It’s not for you. But I’ve seen the guest list, and I know who will be here, so…”
Brittany.
It clicks. If she thought Landon would make fun of her for avoiding the drink bin in favor of a non-alcoholic option, she would absolutely grab a drink she didn’t want and finish the whole thing.
I sigh. “She makes me so sad.”
Hannah nods. “She needs a friend. I can’t take her in, conflict of interest,” she says, gesturing to me, “but for tonight, this will work.”
I pull out my phone to check the time and see the party technically started three minutes ago. Anae assured me anyone cool would die before showing up exactly on time. She said we should expect people to start showing up 15 to 20 minutes after.
Hannah comes back with an armful of mini water bottles, but unfortunately, she’s not alone.
Anae walks over in her insanely high heels and party dress, her blonde hair so perfect, I bet she had it done at a salon after school. As if she’s the true lady of the house, she looks over the work we did while she was upstairs primping. “You’re putting out bourbon, right? Chloe said Arden likes bourbon.”
“Yes, we’re putting out bourbon,” Hannah assures her.
“He likes it neat. Don’t put it in that ice.”
She sighs faintly. “I know how to serve alcohol, Anae.”
Hannah doesn’t even drink, but she is the consummate hostess; of course she knows how to serve alcohol.
