He nods. “Well, I think I’m a little drunk and I did some blow before I left that’s kicking in, so I’m going to wait to pass judgment for now.” He makes the hand gesture at the bartender to get the check. “Let’s go see your girl.”

Well, that could have gone worse.

Chapter Eighteen

“Why do you keep checking your phone?” Harper asks as she leans closer to stare down at my phone. She’s double fisting a Bud Light and what I believe to be a very strong vodka soda and I can already see the signs that she’s getting drunker. “Are you texting someone? A guy?” Her eyes widen before she takes a long sip of her beer. “Oh my God, are you seeing someone? You’re just never on your phone this much. That guy over there keeps looking at you,” she says all in one breath.

“Take a breath,” I tell her with a laugh. Harper and I are by ourselves, having gone to get drinks at the bar but I still haven’t broached the subject about James and now she may be a little too intoxicated to have this conversation. “And I’m not interested in whoever’s looking at me.” I scan quickly through the crowd before turning back to Harper.

“Gab, focus. Do you have a secret boyfriend? All those times you’re going to hang out with James,” she says using air quotes the best she can while holding a drink in each hand, “you’re really going to meet up with a guy, am I right?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’m with James,” I tell her and I wish telling her the truth was that easy. I half expect her to press it more when our two friends come over. Luna and Aubrey live in the room across from Harper and me and after a semester of being introverts, we all decided to be friends. Luna’s wild curly hair has gotten significantly bigger due to the temperature of the club and now she has it up in a ponytail that she’s fluffing as she walks over.

“The guys here are so lame.” She pouts. “Are cheesy pick-up lines back in? Some guy literally just asked me if I fell from heaven; what is this, 1990?”

“You weren’t even alive in 1990,” Aubrey replies, and I laugh at their constant back and forth. They’ve been best friends for years, moving here from their hometown in Texas after they made a pact when they were young teenagers to go to the same college one day. “It is fucking hot in here though. Should we go somewhere else?”

“It’s ten degrees outside and we are in a crowded bar, anywhere fun is going to be just as hot. And the chances that all of our fakes will work a second time isn’t high as the night goes on.”