“Wyatt Love? Yeah, I heard about it.”
“Right. So, everyone who’s anyone goes to that party. Go to it.”
“I was already planning to. Morgan’s going. She really wanted me to go.”
“Great!” Milo leaned back, as if the problem was solved.
“…I don’t get it.”
“It’s a party. A big one. Taylor will be there. If she refuses to talk to you, she can’t ignore you there. Just… be tasteful. Joel will be there too. Get it?” he asked, an expectant look on his face.
“So… you can’t tell me everything?” I asked exasperatedly. “I’d really like you to.”
Milo smiled. “Whenever I’ve told someone everything, it fires back in my face. So no, I’m shutting up if that’s cool.”
As weird as it was, in the moment it seemed Milo was… understandable. Cool, even. I feel like I could have been him if shings swung another way or something. “Okay, I understand.”
“Can I ask for some info though? In exchange for my info,” Milo piped up, eyeing the washroom again.
“Weird way to phrase it,” I replied slowly. “What’s up?”
“Lexi. She’s real cute, isn’t she?”
“Um, yeah…” I replied uneasily.
“You two have been making real good friends since you got into our group, huh?” he pressed on.
I shrugged meekly. “I guess you could say that.”
“Did she give you one of those, ‘if you weren’t dating my friend’ speeches?” he asked.
“Does she give those to every guy friend she has?” I asked worriedly.
“Nah, not all,” Milo replied coolly. “Some. Some, for sure.”
“I would never do anything against Morgan’s wishes,” I added quickly.
“Relax, relax, I know,” Milo soothed me.
“Okay,” I exhaled. “You don’t miss much, do you?”
“I miss nothing,” he replied. “Nothing but net.”
“It was nearly ‘nothing but gutter’ in the last game,” I replied.
Milo smiled at me. “I’m gonna murder you next game,” he replied.
“Bring it on.”
***
The first time entering the Love house — yes, people insisted on calling it that — was like getting hit with a wall of sound. Apparently Wyatt and his older brothers were famous for throwing parties, so even though I didn’t know the guy, Morgan was going to be there and insisted I would be there too. From the noise, half of the school was there with us, notably the popular half.
Thanks to the other parties she dragged me to, I was finally getting used to a few familiar faces, and they got used to me too. After Morgan and I parted to mingle, I found my closest male friend, apart from I guess Doug, I had made through Morgan. “Hey, Thomas.”
“Yo, Quinn, what’s happening?” he asked, giving me a fist bump. “You just get here?”
I looked back to the living room. We were in the kitchen, but it was kind of an open concept type of house, so it was easy to see a lot of the house from any one point. “With Morgan, yeah,” I replied, gesturing to her in the living room, chatting it up with some hunky guy.
“Man, if I saw my girl talking to Arin that close, I’d fucking punch his lights out,” Thomas observed, looking at her.
“Do I look like I can punch anyone out, d-dude?” I asked, stuttering my way through ‘dude.’ I hadn’t fully worked out the nicknames and terms of endearment or whatever people used with each other.
The guys with us gave a polite half-chuckle at my comment. “Maybe not, but hey, I dig the jacket. Way cooler than a fuckin’ tux.”
I wore a suit jacket to the last party Morgan dragged me to, and because she found it cute that I chose it, she didn’t correct me. I was the main attraction of the whole party, in a ‘zoo animal’ sort of way. “I told you, former nerd. I don’t know what to wear to parties.”
“Well, you’re getting better at it,” he replied.
“Speaking of, who the hell is Wyatt? I’ve never actually met him,” I continued.
“Wyatt? Tall guy, baby face. Ginger as fuck.” Thomas whirled his head around, looking for him. “He’s probably in his room with some girl. The dude doesn’t stop flirting. It’s why he even has these parties.”
“So he lives up to his name, huh?” I asked. When Thomas just gave me a blank expression, I pressed on. “You know… Love… Wyatt Love…”
“Yeah, welcome to grade six, dude. That’s a good joke,” Thomas replied condescendingly. “None of us ever even thought of that before.”
“Whatever, man,” I shrugged it off.
“Anyway, if you want a beer… yo Mitchell, where’s the supply?”
A douchey-looking guy with dark hair replied. “Keg’s already floated, but Calvin’s gone off to get some more. I think there’s a cooler on the deck, but you’ve gotta get it yourself. First two are free, then you gotta pay. That’s usually Love policy.”
“Wait, Mitchell?” I repeated, knowing that name.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Were you the guy that dated Crystal this year?”
He laughed to the group. “Yeah, fuck was that ever a mistake.” He turned his attention to me. “You hang out with her a lot, right? You’re fucking brave, man. She’s so-”
“You shouldn’t have sent her underage nudes around the school.”
He stopped in mid-sentence. “Is that why you came here, to start shit?” he asked with some heat. “Time and place, man. Butt out.”
“Yeah, time and place, Quinn. Not at a party,” Thomas added. “No need to white knight for her.”
“She was really upset by that. I hope you haven’t done that with anyone else,” I continued.
“Wasn’t this like five or six months ago?” one of the guys chirped.
“Who even is this guy?” Mitchell asked Thomas.
“Quinn, not cool. Just… lay off the offense, we’re here to have a good time. We got some dirt on your girlfriend too, but that’s in the past. I think you’ve been hanging around the girls too much if you get what I’m saying,” Thomas replied.
“I just wanted to say that. It felt important to say,” I half-mumbled. I did feel cringey, but at the same time… I wanted to say it.
Clearly none of the guys were as affected by my words as the girls usually were. They just stood around, taking sips of their beers, clearly not impressed with me. “Maybe you should go say hi to some other guys or something,” one of the guys suggested.
I sighed through my nose. “I just wanted to say that, that’s all.”
“We get it, dude. You said what you wanted to say. Now why don’t you fuck off? Go get a beer, loosen up.” another guy piped up.
I stood dumbly for a second or two. “See you later, Thomas,” I finally sighed as I walked past them. I had no regrets saying what I said, and maybe it wasn’t right to bring up an old wound like that, but what was I going to do? Not defend my friend? I had to say something.
Despite not planning on drinking, I wandered out onto the deck anyway. It was a quieter part of the party, and of course, sitting on the cooler was, who else, Taylor Wise.
I looked at the ground as soon as I saw her, but it was clear she already saw me, and for whatever reason, wasn’t at all pretending to look anywhere but at me since I arrived. Joel was nowhere in sight, so at least I knew she wasn’t… planning anything? Would she do that?
“Hey,” I awkwardly began.
She gave me a polite smile but didn’t respond in any way beyond that.
“It’s nice to talk to you again,” I continued. She still didn’t reply, so I pressed on. “Right, yeah, sorry. I heard you were thinking of cutting me off even before it hit the fan, huh?”