Jo
JAWS DROP FASTER than I can take the next breath. Criticizing eyes, whispering mouths and subtle shoves overwhelm me and I discreetly shrink closer to Flynn's body.
"Relax," he says in my ear. His thumb leaves lilting strokes at the back of my palm. "You're freaking out."
"They're so cute," Amanda gushes, unaware of the rigidity of the atmosphere. But maybe that's just me overreacting. Maybe I'm imagining some piercing glares on my forehead and maybe I'm imagining some unfriendly smiles directed to me.
"Something wrong?" Flynn asks calmly with a raised brow. "Did anyone see a ghost?"
Slowly, they robotically move their heads to another direction and go on with their chatter like this never happened. Cass walks over to us with a bottle of Schnapps in her hand while Khalid trudges behind her.
"I knew we should have placed a bet." Khalid complains as soon as he gets to us. "But no. Everyone thinks Khalid is an extortionist."
Some tension leaves my bones as soon as he says that and I grin. "You wanted to place a bet?"
"Yes," Cass beams. "Mel said it would never work, Austin sighed as usual, I was skeptical but Amanda and Khalid were a hundred percent sure it would happen."
"So, how'd it happen?"
"Yo, Cauley. Over here."
These two statements are made at the same time. The first one is made by Cass who seems intrigued at this new development and the second one is made by Carter Reed, who is standing with a group of football boys as usual next to a beer pong stand. He waves at me. Jamal, Tony and Ed Sheeran are shooting me sly grins as well and I roll my eyes at their antics. When I look around, I discover that there are more faces are recognize. Flynn did say everyone would be here after all so I'm not too surprised when I see Craig shooting me an icy glare that could probably send me six feet under. He's not alone. Semia is standing suspiciously close to him and it becomes a contest of who glares the most.
Flynn turns to me and I wave him off. "You should go see your friends. I'll be fine here."
He hesitates but Khalid interjects before he can say anything to object. "Go on now. She'll be fine with us. Besides," he says, wrapping an arm around my neck. "We have a lot to discuss."
Cass nods and shoos him away while Amanda offers to get me a drink. I politely tell her I'll start off with water and she goes off running to the coolers and kegs that stand right next to the loud speakers.
I wrap my arms around myself as they stare at me expectantly. I'm suddenly conflicted about what version of the story I should tell them. But when I glance over at Flynn and watch him talk animatedly with the boys, I sigh audibly and meet Cass's curious gaze.
"Well?"
I try not to roll my eyes as I narrate the whole story to them but I do that in a less self-absorbing way like Flynn described. Amanda joins us a few seconds later and a couple of girls I have never seen in my life, surprisingly, call my name and wave at me with smiles on their faces while I speak.
"Wow." Amanda says starstruck. I can't tell if she's really buying it or if it's the alcohol running through her veins but with the smug look on Khalid's face and the amazed look on Cass's, I'm confident they bought it.
I bring the red plastic cup to my mouth and take a sip of water like I'm drinking red wine. "And here we are."
"Wow." Cass repeats. "Now I feel even more sad and lonely."
"It's okay baby girl," Khalid grins, slinging his arm over her shoulder. "The single ones are always the best ones."
Amanda cheers alongside with them, irrespective of the fact that she has a long distance boyfriend but of course, none of us point that out. I grin easily now, calmness washing over me and it's all banter and fun until I spot Daniel Corrigan strutting over to us. Of course, he's dressed like an academic even on the beach. Cream colored sweater, coffee brown pants and a pair of loafers. I don't think I've ever seen him in anything casual.
I can't panic. I shouldn't panic because that would raise a lot of questions so I lean back on my heels and act like I don't see him heading our way.
"Hi, Jo," he says as soon as he bursts our circle and he politely nods at the rest of them. He looks at me with those piercing blue eyes of his that still mange to make me weak in the knees for some reason.
"Can we talk?"
I shrug. "Yeah, sure."
"Careful now," Amanda slurs as Khalid drags them both away. "She's taken."
He smiles but it's not the usual mega-watt smile I'm accustomed to. "I see that."
When they both leave us, it's just me and him and I take a deep breath and look around for Flynn. When I see him standing at a safe distance from Semia while conversing with her with Craig nowhere in sight, I take that as a good sign and turn back to him. But Daniel follows my line of sight and interprets that as something else.
"You're scared you'll need his permission to talk to other guys?" He asks curiously and I frown.
"What?"
"You had to look for him before you decided to talk to me," he says calmly. "Seems like you were trying to avoid trouble."
Well, that's a first.
I smack my lips together. "That's not what it looked like and frankly, I think it's too early for you to make assumptions about our relationship."
"Right," he smiles his typical Daniel Corrigan smile. "I'm sorry about that. It's just, the last time I asked you about this, you said you weren't a thing. So it's a bit of a shocker to see your face all over his Instagram."
I fold my arms across my chest and shrug. "It wasn't a thing then."
"I guess not," he says. He shoves his hands into his pockets and gives me a look. "I'm sorry about the other day again."
A girl walks past us and waves at me like I've known her forever. I wave her back and turn back to him.
"All is forgiven."
"So," he continues, taking a sip of whatever is in his cup. "I still haven't seen your writing. Have you ever thought of submitting an article to the news department? We'd be happy to see your work."
I blush and unfold my arms. If only he knew. "Actually, I'veâ"
A warm hand slings over my shoulder before I can get any more words out. Flynn is by my side with two cold cans in his hands and hands one over to me.
"Thanks," I say softly. "I could really use a cold drink right now."
He looks over at Daniel's frown and nods at him. "Thanks for keeping my girl company, Dan."
Daniel looks like he's trying not to scoff so he does that half-scoff, half-laugh thing that makes Flynn's mouth curl in a half smile.
Flynn turns his head to me and his mouth grazes my ear. "You okay?" He asks in the softest whisper and I nod, my breath catching a little bit.
"Are you having fun?" He asks, a little bit louder than before and I shrug even though I'm aware of some of the stares directed to us now.
"I don't know. I guess."
His eyes look a little bit glassy so I ask. "Are you having fun?"
"Not if you're not having fun."
I grin a little. "Do I need to have fun for you to have fun?"
"I don't know," he smiles genuinely and his dimples sink into his cheeks. "Maybe. I think that's how it works."
I look away from him and realize that the space Daniel occupied is now empty. I turn back to Flynn with a frown.
"You did this on purpose."
"Sure I did," he says. "If your conversation had lasted one minute longer, he'd have asked you out. On a friendly date or something and youâ" he pokes my forehead with his finger. I glare at him. "You'd giggle and say yes."
"I don't giggle."
"The point is, you'd come off as too easy. Like I said, he will chase you. Besides, we've pissed enough people off already. I think Johnston is planning to murder one of us before the night ends."
I roll my eyes and like he feels us talking about him, he narrows his eyes at us from where he's standing with Semia again. I narrow my eyes back at him. "At least, he gets the message. I hope he can leave my life alone now." I raise the can to my mouth and drink a large amount in one gulp.
"Hey, lovebirds!" Amanda yells and gestures for us to come over with her palm. She's sitting in a circle next to the fire with a beer bottle in her hands. Everyone in the small circle is holding one of two things. A bottle or a red solo cup. Mel is holding two of them. "Come over. We're about to play a game."
"Do you want to play a game? Or do you want me to take us back home?"
Not wanting to sound like a killjoy, I say, "I'll stay but I'll just watch. You play. Craig is in that circle. I don't want to be a victim of his mind games."
He holds out a hand and I interlace my fingers with his before walking towards the pit with him. Someone screams 'Marco' from the ocean and when I look towards the ocean, I see Khalid and Cass plus a couple of other people goofing around in the water.
Amanda scoots over and I sit down on the log first while Flynn sits right next to me. I hate this spot because Craig's obnoxious face is directly in my view but I'm able to ignore it when I see other familiar faces around.
"Truth or Dare," a blonde dude announces. He's sitting right next to Daniel. I don't look at him. "You guys in?"
"She's not playing," Flynn says and wraps his arm around my waist.
"Why not?" Semia coyly asks and I look at her. Her red hair is up in a knot today leaving her entire neck exposed. There's a hickey sitting right next to her earlobe which tells me the hair knot was purposeful. "It's just a stupid game. Don't be a drag."
"I don't want to play," I say firmly, locking eyes with her. "Simple."
"Then go home." An annoyed girl snaps and I turn to her and lift my brows. She's dark haired and she's glaring at the hand Flynn has around my waist.
"I think you should go home if you really have a problem with me."
"Do you really have to be a bitch, Stella?" Amanda asks and the girl gets to her feet and storms off in a rage.
"Good. And there's nothing wrong in someone not wanting to play. Now we can get the fucking game started." The guy from earlier raps and he grabs an empty bottle.
I turn to Flynn and whisper in his ear. "Did you ever sleep with that girl and didn't call her back?"
He traces slow circles on my arm and sighs. "I don't know. I'm sorry. We can leave now if you want to."
"No. I'm not leaving just because someone told me to." I say and shrug. "I'm guessing she's the one who's been sexting you."
A chuckle slips out of his mouth and I roll my lips together to hide my smile when Amanda smirks at us. The bottle spins and it lands on McChrist, a random boy from Math class. He chooses dare and he's dared to lick the sole of a foot of the girl he finds the most attractive here.
He walks over to Amanda and she shrieks loudly when he grabs her leg. I laugh loudly as well as every other person in the circle and she clutches my arm as he raises her feet and I almost wince at the sand clustered to it. I don't know how he's going to do it but he shoots us a shit-eating grin and does it anyway.
"Oh my god," a girl grimaces as soon as he's done and he hurries over to the keg and drowns his mouth in alcohol to wash it off.
Amanda swears under her breath, laughing as she does so and he runs back to spin the bottle. It lands on Semia. She grins and I can already see the adrenaline flowing through her veins. And of course, she chooses dare.
"I dare you to kiss three people sitting next to you."
She almost groans. "That's too easy."
Still, she turns to her left and meet Craig's awaiting arms. Dramatically, he grabs her so she's sitting astride him and right there and then, he smashes his mouth on hers and it becomes a full make out session. I knew their proximity earlier was suspicious and now I'm seeing why.
It's a little funny because all the while he's groping and devouring her mouth, his eyes are on Flynn and I and I don't know what he's trying to pull but it's frankly the most disturbing thing I've seen all year.
I turn to Flynn who looks away from them and tips his can of soda into his mouth. I know he has feelings for Semia so it must be hard watching them engage in such a crude gesture.
"Do you want my drink?" I ask silently and his lips lift at the corners.
"Don't do that. It looks like you're pitying me. I'm not sad or anything."
"You're not?"
"No," he shrugs. "It's a game. A little annoying but a game all the same."
With time, the shenanigan is over. I'm surprised she still has enough air to breathe after that kiss but that's probably why she leaves a chaste kiss on the girl and the boy sitting next to Craig.
"Well, I'm glad that's over," Amanda sarcastically says and Semia spins the bottle. I watch it spin and spin until it lands right next to the boy sitting next to Flynn. I inwardly grin because she doesn't look too happy about her outcome. The boy picks dare and her grin is evil when she dares him.
The boy leaves and we sit and wait for him to return and in less than a few seconds later, he runs up to us butt naked and runs around the circle three times. I laugh and bury my face into Flynn's chest while the others laugh at him and I feel the rumble from his chest with each laughter that leaves his mouth. The boy runs away after that and he dives into the ocean while we hear Cass shrieking, "Go away."
A cheer erupts from a distance I look up to see Carter giving high fives to everyone in his beer pong team. He's up against a boy standing with his own team and when I look closely, I realize that the reason why I think they're familiar is because they're members of the swim team. It's like a competition. Instead of beer pong between a group of teenage boys, it's like a competitive race between the swim team and the football team. They're the two most popular sports played in school anyway so it's only natural for one to feel superior to the other.
It's Flynn's turn to spin the bottle and when he does, it lands on a girl next to Daniel. She picks truth and Flynn thinks of what to ask. Eventually, he asks her if she's had a threesome before and she blushes furiously before nodding yes. After three rounds, the bottle lands in Craig's hands and this time, he does what Semia couldn't. It spins and lands straight at me and I narrow my eyes at him.
"Truth or Dare, Jo."
"I'm not in the game."
He frowns, ready for a challenge. "It landed on you so you have to pick."
"He's right." Semia says.
I bite down hard on my lip and Flynn leans forward and deliberately moves the neck of the bottle so it faces him squarely. "She's not playing, Johnston. Let that sink. Ask me instead."
Craig grinds his teeth and smirks after. "Fine. Truth or Dare, Cauley?"
"Dare."
I'm not the only one who knows there's bad blood between these two so I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing the thick rope of tension between them.
"You have to kiss Josephine."
McChrist raises his brows to his hairline. "Who dares a guy to kiss his girlfriend?"
"Some people don't like PDA." A random girl shrugs and Craig shakes his head.
"A guy who doesn't believe they're actually going out." He says in response to McChrist's question.
"Besides, it shouldn't be a problem if they're really dating," Craig says, shooting me a smirk. He knows I hate being the center of attention in matters like this. He knows I'd rather be a chicken than kiss a boy in public. He knows all of this, which is why he's grinning like a cat. But since we've gotten here, I've been the main topic so this shouldn't be a problem. "Frankly, I don't believe any of this. You're trying to make me jealous, Jo. It's fun."
I clench my jaw and my body goes stiff.
"Oh, you used to go out?" Semia asks him and he nods with a smirk on his face.
"Oh yeah."
Flynn drops his can of soda to the ground and the circle falls silent. "Are you done?"
"Just getting started."
My heart ricochets when Flynn angles his body to face me. He tucks my hair behind my ear and whispers, "It's one of two things. I kiss you now if you want me to or I get up and take you home. Choose one."
He's looking at me now, not caring that people are gawking at us and he's giving me a choice, irrespective of the fact that he was dared to do this.
So I decide to do what Josephine Pryce wouldn't do on a normal day. It's a fake kiss after all. I drag my gaze from his eyes to his lips and back to his eyes.
My nerves are alive and my heart is racing because I can feel Daniel's piercing gaze at the back of my head. Flynn takes that as a sign and locks eyes with me for exactly three seconds and it becomes intense all of a sudden. The hairs on my skin raise and a flutter runs across my chest. I'm still trying to figure out why I suddenly want to back out, when he cups the back of my neck and softly presses his lips to mine.