“Earth to Ari!”
My head snaps up, and I’m met with four sets of narrowed eyes.
“Sorry.” My face heats, but it’s dark, so I don’t think they see it. “Are we ready or… ?”
“Yeah, sister.” Mason rolls his eyes. “We’re ready.”
The boys hop in the back to make the short drive around campus and Cam and I slide into the main cab. If my attention wasn’t half somewhere else, I would have realized I was the first to climb in, forcing me into the middle seat.
I can’t help but think about the last time I road in his truck. It was during spring break, Senior year.
“You didn’t have to come get me. I told Mason I had a ride.”
Chase scoffs, flipping a U-turn and heads for home. “If you think I would let that asshole bring you home, you’re mistaken.”
“He wasn’t an asshole when you invited him to your New Year’s party,” I remind him as he rolls to a stop at the light.
“He became an asshole when he tried to kiss you at said party.” He shoots me a quick glare. “I told him to stay away from you. Looks like I’m going to have to remind him of that on Monday.”
“Okay, Mason.” I roll my eyes, taken aback when his head snaps in my direction.
“I’m not your brother.” His gaze narrows. “And I didn’t tell him that for Mason’s benefit.”
I do my best to nod, attempting to breathe as air evades my lungs, the alcohol adding to the flush of my skin.
The light turns green, and Chase faces forward, so I do the same, but my eyes, they refuse to stick to the road ahead.
I stare at his profile, at the way he pinches his lips together when he’s annoyed or angry. At the rapid rise and fall of his chest as he works through whatever is running through his mind.
Is it me?
Am I on his mind?
My stomach flip-flops at the possibility.
“I can feel your eyes on me, Arianna.”
My giggle is low and slightly slurred. “I would have sworn I was being as stealthy as ever.”
His chuckle is as quiet as his next words, “Maybe, but I always know when you’re watching.”
“How?” I don’t mean to whisper.
Chase’s hand tightens on the wheel, a small frown building along his face. “I don’t know.”
He’s parked in front of my house moments later, and when he turns to look at me, I hold my breath.
He has something to say, I know it.
His lips part, and then Mason is there, tearing my door open with a drunken grin.
“Hi, sister.”
I hold in my sigh. “Hi, brother.”
I sat awake that night, for hours, wondering what that moment meant, if anything at all. Hope bloomed within me then, but it was obliterated the next day when I learned his then girlfriend became his ex-earlier that night, and that ‘asshole’ he had referred to my date as was the asshole behind his breakup.
He was frustrated and angry and I read into it when I shouldn’t have. It was such a rookie move to think he wanted what I had wanted for quite some time.
Wait.
Wanted?
My chest stirs, and I have to focus on keeping my breathing steady.
It seems Chase has to, as well. His body is stiff beside me, his shoulder rubbing against mine with his every calculated inhale.
He’s anxious or nervous or something. Or maybe he’s annoyed I ended up in the middle.
Thankfully, we’re turning onto the boys’ street a moment later.
“What the hell?” Cam sits forward. “I thought the party was down the street tonight?”
“It was supposed to be.” Chase kills the engine. “Let’s see what’s up.”
We roll the windows down as Brady and Mason hop over the side.
“Let me ask the door boy what’s going on.” Mason taps the frame and makes his way toward the house.
Cam decides to hop out and join them on the curb, leaving Chase and I in the truck.
My pulse jumps at the silence, knowing neither of us can sit here long without speaking. What sucks is it will be nothing but wasted, random, meaningless words to erase the discomfort. Before, that would have been ok, normal even, to talk about the game or make a comment about the swag in Mason’s walk. Now it’s just… sad. And that’s pitiful.
“BJ, what up, man? Why’s everyone here?” Mason shouts from grass rather than walking all the way up to the door.
“The Blevens’ house is under investigation for pulling some prank on the sorority behind them. Can’t party for thirty days.”