Logan Kade (Fallen Crest #5.5)(31)

A group of students were standing on the front steps of Jeremy’s building. I recognized a few of them from around the science building, but I faltered. Did I really want to do this? Go up there and be social? But no. This was why I came to this party, I reminded myself. It couldn’t only be Claire and Jason. It was the same reason I was getting a job—which I still needed to do. But until then… I looked up to an opened window on the third floor. Music and laughter drifted down.

Okay, Honors Study Group party, here I come.

Jeremy didn’t answer when I knocked on the door. A girl was there instead. Her cheeks were red, along with her neck, and her eyes glazed over. She held a huge glass in her hand, filled to the rim with red liquid, and she almost fell over from the force of opening the door. “Whoa.” She skidded a little. Keeping a firm grip on the doorknob, she nudged some of her hair from her face with her arm and squinted at me. “Do I know you?”

“Uh—”

She pointed at me. “You’re Claire’s friend.”

I frowned. Claire was here?

“Hold up.” She turned around and hollered, “Claire! Your high school bestie is here.”

I didn’t hear a response, but when I stepped inside, the girl shut the door behind me and took off. She held her glass high above her head and weaved through the crowd standing in the living room.

“Taylor?”

Claire’s head appeared, popping up from the kitchen. She wedged her way past a guy and two of his buddies, circling the table covered in fruit trays, cheese trays, platters of meat, and bowls of crackers. There was popcorn too, next to little clear plastic plates and a bowl filled with toothpicks. A pile of napkins sat next to the plates, but no silverware.

“What are you doing here?” Claire had a similar glass of red liquid, and I leaned forward, taking a sniff.

I didn’t have to get too close. “Is that Merlot?”

She nodded. Her cheeks were flushed like the other girl’s. “You want a glass? One of the chemistry guys brought an entire case from his family’s winery. It’s potent stuff, but it’s so good.”

I was a beer girl, and from what I remembered, Claire had been a shot girl in high school. I shook my head. She didn’t seem to care though, a goofy grin on her face. She linked our elbows and moved us around to a hallway, where we could spy on the kitchen, but the people packed in there couldn’t see us.

She leaned close and whispered loudly in my ear. “You remember Ben, right?”

There were three guys and a girl in the kitchen now. “Malia?” Then I remembered the guys, too. It was the same group from the food court. Ben was the leader, and the guy Claire was crushing on. “I remember.”

A good whiff of Merlot mixed with something citrusy overwhelmed me as she sidled in close, her body almost pressing me into the wall. Her arm clamped around mine.

“So Ben’s the one who was invited to this party,” she said. “He’s friends with the guy who lives here, who runs the Honors Study Group, but I can give you the four-one-one on that guy another day. Ben wasn’t supposed to bring all of us because we’re not in the group. He’s allowed one date, and he asked me to go, but then Malia found out and threw a fit, so now all of us crashed the party.” She glanced around. “I think a lot of people crashed the party, but back to Ben. He made a move earlier,” she squealed.

“Really?”

Her eyes lit up with excitement, and her head bobbed up and down. “Can you believe it? I’ve been hoping for so long, and I didn’t know when it would happen, or even if it would happen, but it did.” She bounced up and down with her toes still on the floor. “I’ve liked him for so long, Taylor.”

“How long?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Since last year, since…” Someone turned off the lights inside her. The sparkle vanished, replaced by a dull, blank stare, and her hand lost its grip on mine. “Since a month after you came back.”

Eight months then. I felt a pang in my chest. “So, a long time, huh?” I squeezed her hand. “That’s great, Claire.”

“Oh, Taylor.”

I winced. Her pity slapped me in the face. “No, stop. I wasn’t really present even though I was here after it happened. I’m good. I mean it. I just wish I thought to ask you earlier than now.”

“You had other things going on.” Her fingers interlaced with mine. “And I’ve been a little absent this last week. I’m sorry.”

I waved off her apology. “Don’t worry. You and Jason checked in on me so much after I came back. I think I took you both for granted.” I moved to face her and squeezed both her hands. “I’m happy you have a guy to crush on, and I’m happy he kissed you tonight. I really am.”

Her eyes closed. A tear trekked down her cheek. This was how we used to share our secrets. If we were bursting with news, we’d link our hands together. The last time we stood like this was when my mom was buried. I cried that night, and Claire held my hands. Jason stood behind me, pressing his forehead into my back.

“Taylor—” she started.

I rocked my head back and forth. It was my turn to be there for her. “Nope. No apologies. I want to hear all about Ben.”

“I will tell you all about him, but not tonight.” Her hands grasped my arms, and she laughed, pretending to shake me. “What are you doing here?”