“Um, pick another one, Quinn,” Milo mumbled.
“Why? You asked me t-”
“Because that’s Mitchell.” Milo gestured towards Crystal. “Remember the nudes thing?”
“Oh. Oh my god, I’m sorry,” I blabbered.
“Don’t be,” Crystal waved me off, shooting a look towards Milo. “I’m not a baby. It was my dumbass mistake.”
“If your ‘dumbass mistake’ was trusting a boy, why are we trying to find more if they’re all going to act like that?” I asked.
“A-fucking-men,” Lexi agreed.
“Yeah, agree with him, you slut. You still wanna get dicked down before the end of the party,” Crystal argued.
“I know, it sucks.” Lexi pouted. “Why can’t women have dicks? That would make everything so much easier.”
“Some do,” Milo pointed out.
“Oh, shut up,” Lexi dismissed Milo.
“Thomas?” Crystal asked.
Lexi snorted. “Fuckin’ Thomas? I’d rather fuck Quinn.”
“You wish,” I mumbled annoyedly.
The gang looked at me, surprised that I of all people came back with that. “Hey, look at that. Welcome to the group, Quinn,” Crystal replied, slapping me on the leg. Lexi didn’t say anything, but just stared at me, less than amused.
No one said anything for a bit, until Lexi stood up. “Fuck it. I’m going for a swim. Let’s go, Crystal.” Crystal, all too eager, let Lexi pull her up, and the two were off, clearly leaving their dream of getting Lexi’s booty call behind.
“Looks like we’re in the same boat, Quinn,” Milo dryly noted.
I nodded for a bit, before realizing I didn’t get it. “Wait, how so?”
“We both can’t go swimming without taking our shirts off.”
I stared at him. “Why can’t you…?”
He rolled his eyes and gestured towards his chest. “Because I still have boobs, genius.”
“Oh,” I awkwardly replied. “S-sorry.”
Neither of us said anything for a bit. We just took in the sounds of the party with me occasionally waving to Morgan and Milo occasionally taking sips out of his lemonade can. Eventually, he cut the silence. “Can I make things more tense between us?”
I looked at him weirdly. “Oh, please do,” I sarcastically replied.
“Why haven’t you cut Taylor off yet?”
The question caught me by surprise. I felt like sinking into my chair. “Is this really the best place to have a conversation like this?”
“Yes,” he flatly said. “It’s better to have a talk about this in public than in a private place. Less people are listening.”
Popular people had the weirdest logic on the planet. Public stuff was more private. Pick your theater seats based on sound. That said, I was willing to play his game. I sighed and let my tongue roll around in my mouth, thinking about my answer.
“It’s complicated,” I began. “You may have noticed I’m bad at… asserting myself. Even when I want something. Especially when you know as well as I do that Taylor has a habit of not taking no for an answer, and espe — wait, how much do you know?”
“Everything,” he cooly replied.
I stared at him in exasperation for a bit. “Okay,” I weakly conceded. “So yeah, especially when she doesn’t take no for an answer, and especially especially when Morgan is completely okay with it.”
Milo took another sip of his lemonade and looked me dead in the face. “And how okay is Joel with it?”
I frowned and looked away, but kept up my sense of humor. “Joel is right over there, go ahead and ask him, have a ball.”
“I see him. Right there, near the barbecue, his girlfriend latching on to him like he supplies her oxygen,” Milo replied.
“The same girlfriend that orchestrated this, and lied to me and him about it,” I argued. “Milo, I’m a third party to this. You know what I think? I think you’re only going after me because you know you can’t do a thing to convince Taylor to change or even make her feel bad about this, so you’re just guilt-tripping me instead. If you know everything, you know how complicated it is, and you know how I didn’t ask for, or cause, any of this.”
“It doesn’t make your compliance any less bad,” Milo argued back.
“Yeah, well… what can I even do at this point? I’m as bad at changing Taylor’s mind as you are. If she pressures me, and I can’t do anything to stop it…”
“Pressures?” Milo repeated.
“Poor choice of words. She isn’t forcing me against my will, but-”
“Then you have willpower. If you have any say at all, use it. Make it all stop. It’s that easy, Quinn.”
“It’s not that easy and you know that,” I replied, finding my power voice.
It came out a bit louder than I wanted, so to prevent further eyes on us, Milo shrugged and went back to his drink. I followed suit, awkwardly looking at ‘that thing over there.’
Eventually he spoke again. “I’m not getting anywhere by pussyfooting around, so listen good. You put your foot down, or Joel finds out.”
“And how’s he going to find out?”
“I’ll tell him.” Milo’s tone was even.
Adrenaline rushed through me. Fear adrenaline, like he already told him. “And who will that help?”
“It’s the right thing,” he simply replied.
“I don’t think it is,” I said flatly.
“I don’t care,” he replied.
I sighed. “How long do I have?”
“Just go and tell hi-”
“Yeah, Milo, if that’s your plan, you’re not taking into account that I maybe got fucking comfortable talking to people like a month ago. Give me a damn deadline that’s not ten seconds.”
“Alright, alright, jeez,” he replied. “Twenty-four hours.”
“So this is the way it is?” I asked.
“It’s the way it has to be,” Milo reasoned.
***
God answers all prayers, and on this blessed day he gave unto Lexi some blond boy. I watched the two of them disappear up the stairs and gestured towards her. “She was looking for some guy to have sex with all night,” I whispered to Morgan.
Morgan didn’t bother to whisper back. “Welcome to Lexi,” she replied, taking a sip from her Palm Bay afterwards. “If it has to do with sex, she’s interested, either to get some or to hear all about it.”
The sun was setting, so those of us who were left moved inside. It wasn’t as crowded as the pool party was, but there were still a good twenty-to-thirty people there, and a few of them had broken off to do stuff in other rooms. Three guesses what.
I watched Morgan take another sip. “I thought you said you didn’t drink that often,” I observed.
She donned a completely serious face. “Is it making you uncomfortable?”
“Oh, no, god no, sorry,” I apologized. “I was just noticing. If you’re more comfy with it now, go ahead. It doesn’t bother me at all. I’m… yeah. I’m sorry.”
Morgan’s serious look melted into a smirk as she watched me turn pink and blabber. “C’mere,” she purred, bringing me into a kiss that, given we were surrounded by people, lasted way longer than I thought it would.
A lot of the guys in the crowd started whooping and hollering to embarrass us, which caused my eyes to open mid-kiss. I saw Morgan was flipping them off, not missing a beat as she kissed me. As soon as the kiss was over, she diverted her attention to the crowd. “Jealous?” she taunted.
I could only chuckle nervously, looking around. This was still new territory, even if I didn’t talk to anyone I didn’t already know at this party. I looked around to see Taylor and Joel walking off towards another room, and shivered as I thought of Milo’s words.