“Friends do things for each other. There’s a degree of loyalty with that sort of relationship. With acquaintances, it’s all about give and take. I can’t take much from you,” he tells Lily. “So, we’ll have to be friends instead.”

“How about me?” I question.

He was looking specifically at Lily, and excluding me. Not anymore.

My heart skips a beat in the seconds when he turns those blue eyes back to mine, assessing and probing. “I haven’t quite decided, little ghost.”

He says it like he’s kidding, but those eyes? There’s no humor in them. Just cold, unadulterated focus.

He smiles. Lily laughs.

I take a big sip of my cocktail and look away.

I don’t like this. It’s not right. We’re flirting. I shouldn’t flirt with a guy I met two days ago. I have a boyfriend. I certainly shouldn’t feel my core tighten and heat from a single, intense glance.

I really shouldn’t have come here.

8. Claire

8

CLAIRE

No sooner do I finish my second cocktail than a third comes across the bar. I’m feeling a little too light and amused and unbothered about, well, anything, so I take it, with a chuckle. “I’m going to regret this tomorrow, aren’t I?”

“Hangovers are mostly due to dehydration. The secret is to drink as many glasses of water as alcohol. You need four, so far.”

“I suppose you are a future doctor,” says Lily.

“I mostly know because of being a former teenager, but sure.”

Lily’s about to respond when the guy she’d done her best to escapes calls her surname from the room entrance. He’s surrounded by a bunch of beefy, looming guys like him, some in letter jackets, others in casual shirts. “Yo, Trueman, is that really you?”

“Damn, who knew you hid those tits under your clothes…do you take nudes, too?”

Lily rushes toward them, shouting about privacy and assholes and bullies. I follow after her at first, but Keller holds me back, hand clamped on my wrist. “Leave her to it. She enjoys it.”

I frown at him. “She doesn’t seem to be enjoying herself.”

"Doesn’t she?” he smirks. “It’s basically that pair’s idea of foreplay. If they aren’t fucking yet, they will soon.”

I redirect my gaze toward these two, trying to see Keller’s point of view.

Lily is acting…weird, from what I’ve seen of her so far. She is remarkably chill, fun, easygoing with everyone else, but with that Cross, she’s high-strung, stressed, angry, and…

Oh. She’s blushing. He’s smiling at her.

“Oh,” I say out loud, stunned I didn’t catch that vibe myself.

“Yes. Better leave them to it. Besides, I wanted to talk to you.”

I wet my lips, feeling oh so awkward. “What about?”