Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(55)

“Hey, doll,” Cam smiled at me, like actually smiled instead of his usual grin. It was wide enough that his fangs were on full display and pushing against his lush bottom lip.

“Glad you could make it, babe,” my eyes shot to Nik, his gravelly voice was so quiet I had to strain to hear him with the music. I smiled at them, happy to see them outside of classes.

“LEMON DROP!” Landon shouted loudly, startling me into almost spilling my drink. I turned to face the table, giving all the guys there a wave. Logan looked over and smiled at me as he lined up his shot.

“Who do we have here?” One of the guys playing against the twins asked, eyeing me with a playboy smirk on his face. He was taller than me with ginger features, fiery red hair in messy waves bright against his freckled skin. The twins glared at him while Cam and Nik watched suspiciously.

“Lucie, and this is Sadie,” I gave a small gesture towards my roommate who dragged a stool to the left of Cam.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Lucie.” Freckles came over and took my hand, kissing it lightly. Somehow, he managed to maintain eye contact the entire time. Creepy. “I’m Elijah.” Nodding slightly, I pulled my hand back unsure how to respond. Thankfully, his pong partner saved me.

“I’m Gabriel, I go by Gabe. It’s nice to meet you,” Gabe was polite. A nice contrast to Elijah if I was honest.

“Yeah uh… you too,” was my brilliant response. Smooth, Lucie.

The smile he offered in return was small, his coffee-colored skin dark against the white of his teeth. Black curls were cropped close to his head, and he had what I equated to a swimmer’s body. He seemed to be the exact opposite of Elijah. While Gabe’s skin was as rich as he was nice, Elijah was abrasive in attitude and almost more pale than I was. The only similarity I could find was their outfits, both casual in jeans and plaid button-ups. As the game went on, Gabe and Elijah kept sneaking glances to our corner of the room. At least Gabe was polite enough to include us in the conversation once in a while. I had settled into the stool in front of Nik when Cam’s hand found its way to my left thigh, Nik’s black shirt rubbing against my back. The game between the twins, Gabe, and Elijah passed relatively quickly. The twins lost by one cup.

“Lucie!” Sadie shouted at me, her cheeks were pink, and her eyes held a glassy sheen behind the purple frames. She slipped off the stool and stumbled to stand upright. “Come play a round with me!” Wrapping her hand around my wrist, she yanked me to standing causing Cam’s hand to fall from its spot on my leg. I chuckled at her tipsy antics but obliged her anyways. I suck at this game. With a grimace, I stood at one end of the table as Gabe and Elijah finished setting up the cups. “You two are so going down!” Sadie pointed at them, jumping on the balls of her feet, her scarf bounced in time with her hops. A bunny would have been more intimidating.

“We’ll see. How are you at this game, Lucie?” Elijah smirked at me. After their match with the twins, he was swaying a bit but didn’t seem too drunk. My cheeks burned under his scrutiny.

“I’ve played once,” I responded with a shrug, not willing to give away that during that one game my partner had to do all the work because I kept missing. My guys cheered from the side, making me feel accepted. Normal. Smiling, I grabbed the ball. Sadie went first, the shot bouncing off the rim. The ball fell off the table and rolled behind them. A few deep, steadying breaths later, I made my shot. It bounced off the one I was aiming for but landed in one of the other cups. Cries of encouragement erupted from the guys while Sadie jumped up and down squealing. Even Elijah and Gabe clapped for my accidental score. The soreness in my cheeks was a pleasant reminder of how much I’d been smiling tonight.

“Nice job,” Gabe complimented, taking the cup off the table. “So, what year are you guys?”

“We’re both freshmen, same as Logan and Landon,” Sadie supplied. She crouched low, her hands waving over the cups, trying to distract Elijah who was aiming to take a shot.

“We’re sophomores, the other two in our group, Dante and Hudson, are juniors,” Cam added. He and Nik had been relatively quiet, which was typical for Nik, but not so much for Cam. The wary look on his face led me to believe he was still a little suspicious of Gabe and Elijah.

“Cool, cool. We’re sophomores too!” Elijah added enthusiastically before tossing the ball. It spun around inside the cup, but before it could be counted as a win, I leaned over and blew into the cup. My previous pong partner had used that trick to get the balls back and win our match, so I thought it might be worth it to try. The ball lifted from the cup and rolled over the side of the table. Silence reigned and when I glanced up, I realized all eyes were on me. A furious blush rose in my cheeks and radiated down my neck and chest.

“What?” Insecurity bled into my question. Was I not supposed to do that? Are there rules?

Everyone laughed at that, even Sadie who was using me as a crutch. Afterward, the game passed easily. I wasn’t too bad, but it seemed my only real talent in the game was preventing the guys from getting any cups.

Gabe lined up his final shot and sank it, I didn’t even have time to process what had happened before Sadie thrust the last cup into my hand. Despite losing, we had done surprisingly well, only leaving two cups on the table, which we also had to drink apparently. My chest and stomach felt warm from all the alcohol we had consumed. If I had to take a guess, I’d say I was somewhere between buzzed and tipsy at this point.