Another hour passed. This one with me sitting alone playing with my still full beer bottle and the same playlist sounding on repeat from someone’s bluetooth speaker. I was utterly bored and found myself stifling yet another yawn before turning and looking for Stacy.
She was still leaning against the same tree, but now Ted, Mitch, and Connor were standing between her tree and Evan’s which was sort of making her a part of their crowd. Currently she was laughing at something one of them had said and I finally saw Evan acknowledge that she was there. His eyes landed on her and smiled before scanning the crowd. I wasn’t sure what or who he was looking for until his eyes landed on me.
Then something weird happened… He smiled and winked. At me. Then held up his beer and took a sip while still staring at me. It was really weird and had an uncomfortable feeling starting to bloom in my stomach. I nodded back to him and then frowned, turning away.
A few minutes later, a shadow fell across me. Evan, with his arm around Stacy’s shoulders, stood between me and the fire, casting shadows on his face. Stacy was beaming. Her brown eyes glowing and twinkling as they stared up into his face.
“What’s wrong Cross?” He asked me, motioning to my beer bottle. “Aren’t you thirsty?”
I smiled as bitchy as I could manage. “I know that people normally have to get wasted to be in your presence, but until this moment I had been blissfully far away from you so I didn’t need it.” I lifted the now warm bottle to my lips. “Unfortunately for me, you didn’t stay there.” I downed the entire contents in one long gulp. Then I wiped my lips. “Mmm,” I told him. “That’s better.”
We had drawn a crowd, a few of which started laughing when I was finished, which didn’t really make Evan laugh away my words. Instead he glared at me, his blue eyes narrowing and his nostrils flaring. Stacy’s jaw had dropped during my speech and she was now pleading with her eyes for me to apologize.
Penny and her new boy toy were closing in on us and I almost panicked. The alcohol, which wasn’t much, but just enough to loosen my inhibitions made me smile. “Too much?” I asked the crowd.
There was more laughter and the guy standing with Penny crossed his arms over his chest. When I met his eyes he raised his eyebrows, a smile playing over his lips. Music was still playing in the background and it helped to make the situation even more awkward.
“Everyone knows that you’re just a frigid bitch,” Evan told me, smiling triumphantly when there were snickers and gasps behind him. He pulled Stacy closer, “you just can’t stand the fact that I don’t want you, is that it? That when school ends this year, no one will remember you.”
My body froze. My mind went blank. Did he really just insinuate that I wished he was interested in me? Stacy was chewing on her lip, torn between wanting to jump to my defense and looking cool in front of Evan. I glared at them both.
“I wouldn’t want you to want me if you were the only guy in our entire school,” I told him, my voice betraying me by quivering slightly. “You are not worth my time.”
He laughed. Literally threw his stupid blonde head back and laughed. “I’m not worth your time? How about, no one wants you here. Last time I checked, you weren’t even invited.”
I hugged my arms around my chest, refusing to let the tears that were threatening, fall down my cheeks. With another look of triumph, he turned and pulled Stacy in for a kiss. She melted against him, grabbing handfuls of his shirt while behind them whistles and catcalls echoed in the woods. When he finally pulled away from her, he smiled at me before turning away taking her with him.
It was the ultimate humiliation and my eyes stung. I watched Stacy walk away, knowing that I wasn’t going to be riding home with her and then I stood up to walk through the woods toward the road. I was just about through the clearing with the trees promising to swallow me up and protect me from the staring eyes behind me when Evan called out to me once again.
“Hey Cross,” he yelled.
I froze again, refusing to turn around, but unable to make my feet keep moving. My hands were bunched into fists at my side and I wished that I could punch him in his face, but I knew that I couldn’t.
Instead he laughed when I didn’t turn to face him. “See you at school Monday.”
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