A Whole New Crowd(56)

He frowned, but his eyes darkened to an amber color. “You and me?”
I nodded. “We were going to be *s, right?”
He laughed, raking a hand through his hair. “We aren’t being *s anymore?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. “Maybe we could try. We can be true to our * insides.”
“You’re such a bitch,” he teased.
I teased back, “And you’re such a dick.”
He nodded. “You’ll never change, will you?”
“I’m all about being selfish. It’s only what I want. Everything’s about me.”
He tried to keep a straight face but failed. A grin slipped out. “We’ll never have a future like that.”
“I know.” A laugh was moving up my throat. I kept my lips pressed tight and tried to swallow it. When the other corner of his mouth curved up, my laughter almost boiled over. I sputtered, keeping it in. “You’re such an *.”
He ran a hand over his face. The smile was forced away and a blank expression looked back at me. His eyes sparked in amusement. “Don’t try to change me.”
I barked out a laugh, but silenced it. “Don’t try to change me.”
“Still an *. I stand by that.”
“I do too.” My head lifted up and down in a nod.
“Good.” He snorted from a choked laugh, but widened his eyes and put the blank wall in place. “So we’re on the same page again?”
“I think so.”
He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me against him. His tone softened. “If we’re still going to do the * thing, are you up for Crystal Bay?”
“What’s that?” His hand dangled off the side of my shoulder and I reached up, lacing our fingers together. I leaned into him. In that moment, I didn’t feel so alone.
Squeezing my hand back, he answered, “It’s a cliff over the river. There’s a cave and a waterfall there. A lot of us like to go and jump from the top. It’s pretty nice, actually.” He hesitated. “A bunch of us are going.”
Of course. I should’ve known. “Mandy?”
He nodded. “She’ll be there.”
When he grew guarded, I asked, “Were you with them last night?”
“I stopped by. They were having a movie night. I just went to see if you were there.”
There it was. That same shiver wrapped all the way around me. I was beginning to forget what it felt like to not have this feeling around him. I was too far gone. At this point, I only hoped that I wouldn’t be crushed at the end of it. Whenever that would happen. My throat swelled.
“You’ll still come?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good.” He squeezed my hand once more. “But I have to warn you, there’s a lot of others coming too.”
“Oh god.”
He laughed.
“Not the student council, yearbook committee, and cheerleaders?”
“Don’t forget the basketball team and football team.”
“Why not invite the entire school?”
His chest was shaking from repressed laughter. “It pretty much is.” Then he hugged me. Both of his arms folded over me and I was moved so I was sitting on his lap.
I turned so I was facing him. My legs wrapped around his waist and my arms wound around his neck. Closing my eyes, my head tucked into the crook of his neck and shoulder. This wasn’t a sexual hug. This was one of comfort and security. No matter our joking conversation before, I was realizing that he was mine. I didn’t know the definition or terms of how he was mine, but he was.
He hugged me back and we sat there for a while longer. I didn’t want to leave, but when we did, it was later, much later. Tray asked me to pack a bag, just in case we went somewhere else after the bay. When we got there, I was glad I had. He hadn’t been lying. There were twenty cars parked on the road. I glanced at him when he parked. “Something tells me this might be an all-day event.”
He nodded, getting out of the car. As I did, he said over the top of the car, “They talked about grilling at my house tonight.”
I should’ve known. They didn’t party last night so, of course, they would tonight. I shook my head as we started down a trail to the beach. “Is there a requirement that there has to be one party every weekend?”
Tray laughed, leading the way. “At least one. Most want two, though.”
I shook my head, but then we got to the bottom and I saw the cliff part. I stopped, speechless for a moment. Crystal Bay was a cliff that jutted out into the river. Large boulders and rocks sat around the opening of it and waves crashed onto them. I had known the river was big, but I hadn’t realized how big until I saw the power of those waves. They slammed onto the rocks before retreating back into the water, only to come back with renewed strength.