Love Songs & Other Lies(37)

I put my hands on her shoulders, steadying her. “Whoa, there. Where’s Anders?” I’m looking across the crowded room and scanning faces. Every square inch of the house is covered—in people, bottles, cans, or cups.

“Dunno.” She shrugs. “He begged me to come to this. Now I’m here and he gets mad and walks off.” It annoys me a little that she seems annoyed to be here; I’m letting the conversation end, because Cort plus Anders plus alcohol usually equals tears and screaming in the end. And I don’t plan on playing referee tonight.

“Let’s get you another drink,” I say, throwing my arms around her again. “I’ve missed you.”

“You! You need a drink!” Cort waves her arms in the air, and then gives a questioning look at Cam. He’s taking full advantage of our new pro-touching-in-public agreement, with one hand on my waist and the other on my shoulder. “Well, hellooo!” Cort says, as if he just joined us and hasn’t been plastered behind me since we got here. “You must be Cam.” She’s giving me a not-at-all-sneaky sideways glance. Nice, Cort.

Cam sticks his hand out to her. “And you must be the infamous Cort.” He shakes her hand while his other still rests on my waist.

“Ohhh, infamous. I like it.” Score one for Cam. “You’re going to take care of our girl, right?” Cort looks like she’s challenging Cam to a staring contest.

“Yeah, I’ll take care of her.”

I look up at him over my shoulder.

He winks at me. “Or whatever.”

Cort’s hands go to her hips and her eyes narrow. “What was that?” Cam probably thought she was too drunk to catch his little move, but he doesn’t know Cort. At this point, she’s acting a lot more drunk than she actually is. “What was that wink about?” She’s looking between me and Cam like she’s trying to make a choice. Probably determining the weakest link.

“There was no wink.” Cam removes his hands from me and shoves them in his pockets. Smooth.

“You winked,” Cort says.

Cam keeps his voice serious. “It was a blink.”

“‘Whatever’?” Cort throws up air quotes in front of her. “I know a wink when I see one.”

“Shots!” I push Cam in the direction of the kitchen and pull my wobbly best friend into a sideways hug as he walks off. Cort is giggling, her flushed cheeks heating even more.

“Have I mentioned how cute he is, Vee?” She gives him a long, exaggeratedly appraising look as he walks away, and I smack her. “And I think he’s kind-of sort-of in love with you.”

“He’s not in love with me. Not kind of or sort of. We’re friends. Don’t be stupid.” I don’t like lying to my best friend, but Cort can’t keep a secret from Anders. And Anders tells Logan when he has an itch. So telling Cort about me and Cam isn’t an option right now. I just need a few weeks before I start beating the proverbial drums of change, that’s all. And he’s not in love with me, so I’m not even lying. I’m just not elaborating.

“Friends. Right.” Cort waves her hands in surrender. “I’ll drop it, because I know you’re weird about this stuff. But you’re not just friends. And yes, he totally is in love with you. Kind of and sort of.” She jabs my shoulder with her finger. “I know these things.”

“You know nothing,” I say. She’s known him for exactly two minutes.

“I. Know. Everything.” Her words are slow and dramatic.

“You’re staying at Cam’s with me, right?” Cam’s parents are out of town and he invited the three of us to stay at his apartment, since it’s walking distance from the party. It’s half the reason I agreed to come.

She nods. “And you’re staying at my house, right?” She gives me an exaggerated wink. “Did you catch my blink just then?” She sticks her tongue out and I try to grab it like we did when we were little kids. When Cam comes back into the living room I’m grabbing at Cort’s lip.

Cam wedges himself between the two of us. “You good?”

I eye the three shot glasses in his hand. “Are you? I thought you weren’t drinking.”

“I’m not, but I found this idiot in the kitchen.” He nods behind him at Anders, whose vintage Ramones shirt is soaked in red liquid. I cringe thinking about what—or more likely, who—ruined one of his prized possessions. I have twenty bucks on the crazy-eyed blonde standing across from me.

Cort grabs one of the tiny plastic cups from Cam’s fingers. “I’ll take that,” she says. I do the same, and Cort plucks the last cup from Cam’s hand and dangles it in front of me. “This one, too. You need to catch up.”

I take the second cup, holding one in each hand, looking at them like they’re filled with worms. They smell disgusting.

Cam is behind me, his warm chest against my back. He whispers in my ear. “You good?” I flinch, but fight the urge to pull away. No more hiding. I let myself relax against him. His lips are almost touching my ear when he whispers, “Whatever?”

I nudge my shoulder into his side and my hand rests on his hard stomach. “Whatever.” My plastic glass clinks against Cort’s and the liquid slides down into my already warm, buzzing belly. I’m not sure if the heat is from the alcohol, or Cam’s hands.