Daydream (Maple Hills, #3)(93)

“He’s in the den,” I say, nodding toward the adjoining room. “He’s also an undercover Santa.”

“Uh, not if I have anything to do with it,” she says as she walks off.

I explain the drinks situation and try to reassure the rest of them that they’ll have a good, safe time. Emilia, Poppy, and Cami thank me and follow Aurora to the den, leaving me alone with Halle.

“You look beautiful,” I tell her. “The most beautiful swan I’ve ever seen.”

She pins me with a look as she shuffles her wings. “Oh, so I’m a swan now? I wanted to be a donkey, but I wasn’t allowed. Apparently, a donkey wouldn’t make you fall to your knees and be overcome with desire. Because that’s something that’s important.”

“Aurora says weird stuff sometimes.”

“Oh, it wasn’t Aurora. It was Jaiden. He called Emilia while I was there and wanted to know what my outfit was.”

Her eyes flutter closed as I run my finger beneath where her cheekbones are shimmering under the lights and tuck her hair behind her ear. Something I do because I like to hear the way she tries to steady her breathing when I touch her unexpectedly. “We should really have a rule about listening to JJ about anything.”

She looks down at her dress then back up at me innocently. “I guess you’re right. It definitely didn’t make you fall to your knees.”

“I’ve wanted to get on my knees for you from the second you walked in, but it wasn’t because of your dress. It’s because of how much I like making you come.”

Her cheeks turn red immediately, and I feel a kind of smug satisfaction from getting a reaction out of her. “It amazes me how you can go from sweetly reassuring our friends that their drinks will stay safe to this in under five minutes.”

I pick up the punch bowl and ladle from the counter and start walking toward the den with her. “You’d be amazed what I can achieve in under five minutes.”



* * *



THE HOUSE PARTY HAS OVERSPILLED into the garden, and it feels like every person at UCMH is in our house right now.

I took a seat on the couch in the den and put the punch bowl on the table beside me earlier, and it’s where I’ve stayed. I’ve noticed that now Halle is with me, people don’t talk to me as much because they all want to talk to her.

I love it.

If anyone tries to include me by asking me a question, I defer to my little social butterfly and I’m back in the safety zone again. The only bad part is when she gets up to use the bathroom and I have an unestablished amount of time to fend for myself. She goes with her friends, and they take a fucking lifetime.

Mattie drops into the seat beside me. “Did you know about this?”

“Define this.”

Mattie gestures to Robbie on the other side of the room talking to a more animated than normal Bobby. “There’s no game!”

“So?”

Robbie follows Bobby across to where we’re sitting, rolling his eyes dramatically. “He’s not joking,” Bobby says as he throws himself onto the couch, making it shake.

“I feel like I’m missing an important part of what’s happening,” I say, looking between my feuding friends.

“There’s no game,” Robbie and Bobby say at the same time.

I try hard to understand what’s happening with the various grievances I’m made aware of on a day-to-day basis. Nate played mediator and now it falls to me, but this one has me totally lost. “So?”

“If there’s no game, what’s the point? Why are we all even here?” Mattie groans.

The circle grows as Russ and Aurora appear and Halle returns from the bathroom with Cami. “What’s happening?”

“It’s my new low-key vibe,” Robbie explains, without really explaining. “The days of drunk Jenga are behind me. Plus, we all know how that ended last time.”

“Uh, how did it end last time?” Cami asks, filling her cup from the punch bowl beside me.

“Russ and Aurora fucked, and Henry ran down Maple Avenue naked,” Mattie says. “Two beautiful things that wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t stay true to yourself, Rob. Nate and Stassie, you and Lols… it happened at your parties. Where there were games! Hen and Halle, too! You’re the invisible string, brother. Why are you holding out on the rest of us?”

“Does he always talk like this?” Cami asks, looking at Mattie with a disgusted, but kind of amused, expression. “Like if he just keeps going people will believe what he says? Because I’m almost one hundred percent confident that’s not what invisible string theory is about. Me and Halle listen to the song about it every single work shift.”

“Yes,” multiple people say at once.

“When he’s really drunk he likes to reimagine things to suit whatever he’s trying to do,” Robbie adds. “You don’t need a drinking game to have a good time, Mattie.”

“Wait, we didn’t meet at a party,” I argue, glancing at Halle, who looks like she’s questioning why she ever wanted friends. “We met in a bookstore.”

“That you were at with Aurora, who you wouldn’t know if Muffin hadn’t slutted himself out after—drumroll please—a game at Robbie’s farewell and fuck-off party,” Bobby says. “I’m seeing the vision. Robbie, you need to come up with something quickly. The expansion of our friend group relies upon it.”