Spending time with Wren was better than anything Olivia could ever have imagined. Wren was the love of her life; he was patient, kind. But Justin called her uptight and frigid, just like Marcie had. Never in front of Wren, of course, but enough times to make her think that there was something wrong with her. She didn’t want the best thing in her life to end, so she never told Wren about Justin’s comments. And then Wade would laugh in that grating voice of his, getting on her nerves. They were as bad as each other. But she would not be the girlfriend who came between best friends. She simply took Justin’s behavior as a trade-off for being with Wren. It had been months since they had started dating and she had thought that tonight, she might take him home from the party and give to him something she’d wanted to give him for a while. Wren was the guy with whom she wanted to lose her virginity. She could sneak him in the back door. She had no idea how her dad might react – she’d never tried it before – but she was nearly eighteen.

Wren had invited her to the soccer end-of-season party. She’d heard the parties were held in a field on the outskirts of town. Some people brought their own booze, but there was a keg and most people got rip-roaring drunk. Olivia was not one of them since she had to drive, but she knew Wren would most likely be coming with Justin and Wade and hopefully leaving with her. Tonight was the night.

She parked her car in the corner of the field and went to find Wren. She was wearing a short skirt and a singlet top, the heat still warming the air despite the late hour. She had thought about putting her hair up, but Wren liked it down. She was perspiring slightly on her neck under her thick tresses.

She could hear the music from where she was parked and as she got closer, she could feel the bass in her chest. Laughter carried across the open field, tire marks crisscrossed the dirt lot, straggling weeds fought for survival and the dust floated round her ankles churned-up from the cars.

Olivia wasn’t too fussed about these kinds of parties, finding them merely an excuse for people to behave badly. She wasn’t a prude and she didn’t hate parties or anything, but she rarely drank and especially not while driving, so there wasn’t much for her here. Except Wren. She tried to find him, but when she couldn’t she went and sat on a log on the outskirts of the party. The music still rang in her ears and if she had to talk to someone, she’d still have to yell. She’d just sit it out until Wren found her, which she was confident he would do soon.