I escaped through the door and back to the party, slipping into the anonymity of the crowd. Once away from Jared, I could finally breathe again, but the urge to flee was still strong. I found Alexis and gave her Kyle’s key and told her to say goodbye to him for me. Now all I had to do was find my friends and get the hell out of his house.

Julie was flirting with a guy with a fauxhawk, but I grabbed her arm. “We need to leave. Now.”

“What?” Julie looked back at the guy and pouted. “Right now?”

“Yes. Trust me on this.” As I spoke, Jared appeared at the edge of the room, his head swinging around like he was looking for me. “Oh, god.”

She craned her neck to follow my gaze. “What’s going on, Maddie?”

“I’ll explain when we’re in the car. Now can we please go?”

She nodded, and we made our way out the front door, where we found Carla arguing with Daryl. I knew he’d track her down. Unbelievable.

“I told you, I was just about to leave!” she said to him.

“We’re going now.” I didn’t wait to see if they followed me. I started down the hill toward where my Honda was parked, anxious to get away from the house, away from Jared, and away from the most embarrassing moment of my life.

I could never go to a Villain Complex show ever again, that was for sure.

CHAPTER THREE

Despite a restless night of sleep, I somehow managed to forget about the disaster with Jared and focus on my music history final for two hours. With that done, my junior year at UCLA was over, and I was ready for an entire summer interning with the LA Philharmonic. I’d beat out hundreds of other people to get it, and even though I’d probably spend my entire summer doing boring stuff like filing and pouring coffee, I couldn’t wait.

Last night was in the past, nothing but an embarrassing memory. I’d put it behind me, and with any luck, Jared had gotten so drunk after I’d left he’d forgotten the moment had ever happened. I was over it. Really.

Except when I walked out of class, Jared was there, leaning against the wall in a black leather jacket. He stood up straight when he saw me and I skidded to a halt, breath catching in my throat. Someone crashed into me from behind, and I stumbled forward and dropped my bag. Because I couldn’t have just one embarrassing moment in front of Jared, no, not me.

“Hey, Maddie.” He picked up my bag while I moved out of the way of the students streaming into the hallway.