Holly snorted. ‘Come on, let’s go find out.’

They didn’t have to go far because the moment they stepped onto the porch, it was clear Beau and Jersey – now in tears – were fighting. What could’ve possibly gone down in the thirty seconds it had taken them to join the two outside? Holly had never met anyone who could pinball between emotions so quickly.

Less than a minute later, Beau, his face turning a crazy shade of crimson as Jersey shook her head emphatically and tried pulling away from him, shoved his girlfriend hard enough that she stumbled, barely catching herself on a tree before she tumbled to the ground. Calling her worthless and pathetic, he stormed over to his souped-up four-wheel-drive, hopped in, and then peeled away from the curb in a spray of rock and gravel, flipping them off as he squealed down the road.

‘Mature,’ Holly muttered. She draped an arm around her friend’s shoulder, squeezing her slightly as she guided her toward her car. ‘Are you okay?’

Jersey nodded slowly, trembling as she watched Beau’s Jeep disappear.

‘Come on. Let’s go eat.’

Jersey sniffled and pulled a crumpled tissue from the pocket of her short shorts, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose. ‘Shotgun,’ she announced, dropping the tissue to the ground, causing Holly to cringe.

‘You’re kidding, right?’ Sophie snapped. ‘We waited freaking forever for your live soft porn show to end. You think you deserve shotgun after that? I hardly think so. Besides, I already called it.’

She didn’t, but Holly didn’t contradict her. Not just because she was starving and didn’t care who sat up front since she was in the driver’s seat, but because for as long as they’d been driving, the unspoken seating arrangement had been Holly and Sophie up front, passengers in the back. Because she had surpassed hungry and dipped into hangry, she said, ‘I don’t care who sits where, but anyone not in my vehicle when I turn the key in the ignition gets left behind.’

When she moved around to the driver’s side and opened the door, the others scrambled in. And to Sophie’s supreme satisfaction, judging by the look on her face, Jersey buckled herself into the backseat behind Holly, muttering under her breath about Sophie’s spoiled selfishness.

The drive was short, only fifteen minutes, but the grumbling from Jersey made it feel three times longer, made even worse when they spent another twenty minutes searching for a parking spot that didn’t require walking two miles to the restaurant.

Ten minutes later, the four of them were settled at a table in the back of the crowded Italian restaurant that was a favorite of the university crowd. To Holly’s relief, their talk centered around an upcoming concert until their food arrived, but five bites in, Leigh Ann asked Jersey if she was ready to talk about whatever it was that had set Beau off.

Their friend swallowed the bite in her mouth and washed it down with a drink of unsweetened tea. Blushing, she glanced all around her, then leaned in closer. What came out of her mouth was not at all what Holly expected, and her reaction showed it.