BooksBarbecue
Back When We Were Friends
Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. 31
  6. 14
  7. 31
  8. 14
  9. 31
  10. 14
  11. 31
  12. 14
  13. 31
  14. 15
  15. 31
  16. 16
  17. 32
  18. 16
  19. 32
  20. 17
  21. 32
  22. 17
  23. 32
  24. 17
  25. 32
  26. 17
  27. 32
  28. 18
  29. 32
  30. 18
  31. 32
  32. 18
  33. 32
  34. 18
  35. 32
  36. 18
  37. 32
  38. 18
  39. 32
  40. 18
  41. 32
  42. 18
  43. 32
  44. 18
  45. 32
  46. 32
  47. 33
  48. 33
  49. 33
  50. Acknowledgments
  51. Discussion Questions
  52. Booklist

We laughed quietly, before I turned off the living-room light, hearing her roll onto her side under our guest duvet. I clicked the bathroom light on, brushed my teeth, coated mint around my mouth. I wet my hands and quickly washed my vulva, enjoying the feeling of cold water on my skin, of imagining Ben waiting for me in our dark bedroom. I looked at my wide eyes in the mirror, my hair disheveled, all my skin showing in my halter top. I was wrecked but I’d never looked better. The way I held myself... I smiled and went to find my boyfriend.

“You’re so gorgeous,” he whispered in my ear, undoing my straps. His words stronger than the white powder coursing through me.

“Shh. Jessica might hear us.”

Every touch of his fingers. Every compliment on his lips. Every look from his eyes. The urgency. The desire. I leaned backward, exposing my body to him, letting him take me, high on how he was seeing me, how I was seeing myself. Forgetting the tension of the previous night. I’d been at a party, and the hottest guy there had wanted me. Me. I was the one gasping into the bare shoulders of a man, not the one sleeping alone in the next room. I had been chosen. Me.

17

february 2003

“I’m going to be sick,” I told Jade as we got off at the bus stop and walked to the gig.

Jade squeezed my hand. “You won’t be sick. And, even if you are, you’ve basically not eaten all day, so the sick will be nice and see-through.”

I sighed. “You’re right, you’re right.”

“It’s going to be great.” Sally looked up from her phone where she’d been texting this guy, Ryan, she’d met online. “We will laugh at all your jokes and make you look awesome, and it’s going to be amazing. Here...” She handed over a small bottle of vodka. “Have some of this.”

“Thank you.” I pushed the bottle to my lips and wiped my mouth. “Is vodka not a carb?”

“What? Why would it be?”

“Because, you know? It comes from potatoes?”

“IT DOES?” Sally grabbed the bottle off me and frantically scanned the label while Jade and I laughed.

We turned the corner, the club coming into sight, and I tripped slightly on my super baggy jeans. This was it. My first ever date with Liam Gillingham. I took the bottle from Sally and swigged again before we bumped into Mike outside.