15. The One

When Maverick came looking for me, I wasn't going to be found in the same spot, like the introvert I truly was. I went inside for more soda, and to maybe not appear like a total loser by talking to some people. Maverick finding me laughing it up with his friends was a much better image than me waiting for him like a loner.

There was only one orange soda left in the box and I gladly snatched it up. That time, I drank straight from the can. I wasn't going back to the garage for ice and a contact high.

"Cake hater!" I turned, finding Emily (no under eye mole). She had a napkin of cookies in her hands. They looked homemade and delicious. My stomach growled.

"Hey. Where'd you get those?"

She pointed to the counter behind her. "Blue tin are the special cookies. Red tin is normal." She paused, tapping her chin. "Or is blue is normal and red is special?" Her dark eyes bounced between the tins. She giggled. "Shit. This is like Alice in Wonderland."

Oh, that girl was gone. "Which tin have you been eating from?"

Her eyes narrowed at me. I thought she was going to be offended. Instead, she doubled over with laughter. "Which tin have you been eating from?" She said, imitating what I guessed she thought I sounded like. "That was funny. Oh my God!"

I nodded and backed away. Not that she noticed as she stopped some girl to tell her the joke. I wandered aimlessly around the party, trying to feel like I belonged even though I felt in my bones that I didn't. I blamed my lack of party experience on Gray, but I was more than happy being home in my bed.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It wasn't a message, just a reminder that my phone had five percent left. How could I forget to charge it before leaving the house? Before my phone screen faded to black, I caught a glimpse of my wallpaper, a picture from Halloween. It was one Corey took of me giving a skeleton a kiss on the cheek. It'd been two weeks and that night still lived rent free in my head.

When the screen shut off, my reflection smiled up at me. I touched my face like I thought the smile was some trick of the light. It wasn't. That night was amazing. Thinking about it made the packed room a little less suffocating.

Hugging the wall, I sipped my soda as I watched my peers enjoy themselves. It reminded me of that first party I'd gone to last month. The gross beer. Falling through the floor of a tree house. Corey catching me before I broke my neck.

"Hey."

I startled at Maverick suddenly standing in front of me. My heart jumped like I'd been caught doing something wrong.

Maverick didn't notice as his arms easily slipping around my waist, pulling me from the wall. The thrumming in my chest calmed when he smiled down at me. I was there with Maverick. Why was I even thinking about my brother's friend?

I sat my soda can on a nearby table and wrapped my arms around his neck. We fell into a natural rhythm, swaying back and forth to some mumble rapper. It was silly. The lone couple slow dancing in the middle of a mob of people grinding on each other.

"I've been thinking," he said, a lazy smile on his face.

"About?"

"Challenging your brother to a duel."

I snorted. "What?"

"Nah, I'm serious," He insisted. "I'll slap him with a glove, assert my dominance."

"I would pay to see that."

His dimple was back. "Call him. Let's set it up."

I laughed again. "My phone's dead." Also, I wasn't bringing Gray into this. There was a sixty percent chance he'd actually drive up here to drag me out of this party.

"I have a charger in my room." He laughed at whatever face I made. "Not like that. I'm serious. No funny business."

He took my hand in his and led me through the crowd to his room at the end of the hall. The first thing I noticed were the trophies and medals. He had a shelf full of them. He'd been swimming since he was little, according to the pictures of him in swim gear spanning from when he was about four until now.

"I'm was an adorable toddler, I know."

When I looked over at him, I wasn't expecting to see him laid across his bed. He might've been an adorable toddler, but was a sexy seventeen-year-old. He held his iPhone charger out to me. It slipped my mind that different phones required different chargers.

"Got anything for a Samsung?"

His eyes nearly popped out of his head, lips turning up as he laughed. "A what? Is that why you haven't given me your number? You didn't want me to see your green bubbles?"

"You iPhone users are so weird," I said, rolling my eyes. "And green is a pretty color."

He chuckled, coming to stand in front of me. "For money."

"Which is what I save with my lowly android."

"You mean your dead android? You won't find anyone walking around here with a charger for that."

I looked up at him. His tongue swiped across his lips. I knew I was staring. I couldn't help. They were thick and perfect and soft. "Does this mean you take back your question from earlier?"

A slow smile crept across his face. He didn't bother asking a second time as he leaned forward. His phone chose that exact moment to ring. He fished it from his pocket, shutting it off. Something small fell to the floor when he pulled out his phone, hitting my shoe. At first, I thought it was a condom, but it was so much worse.

He swiped the small bag of pills from the floor, stuffing them back in his pocket.

"What was that?" But I already knew the answer. The guy with the braids. Maverick left with him. No explanation. "That guy you left with. Is that what you were doing? Buying drugs?"

"Don't worry about it." He leaned forward, I leaned back. His voice came out agitated. "What's your problem?"

I looked at him. Really looked at him. No longer interested in his lips or his dimple. "Are you high right now?"

He let out a laugh. "Come on. We were having fun a minute ago." His mouth found my collar bone. I'd never felt more disgusted. I slipped from where he practically had me pinned against the wall.

"Well, now I'm not." With that, I left his room.

I pushed through the crowd a little more aggressively than I intended. But I needed to get out of there. Things were going so well. Weed and alcohol was one thing. Pills, though? I already knew how that story would play out. When it came between me and the drugs. The drugs would win. Every time.

Once I got to my car, I reached for the keys. Only they weren't in my pockets. No. No. No. I didn't want to go back in there to look for them. I didn't want to see Maverick and his deceptively handsome face. If he hadn't distracted me with his lips, maybe I would've realized how sketchy that guy he left with was. Maybe I wouldn't have convinced myself that he was the one. Maybe finding out he was just like father wouldn't have been such a punch to the gut.

I pulled at the door handle out of pure frustration--at myself, at Maverick. I kicked the tire when the door wouldn't budge. After a few calming breaths, I went through a side gate to Maverick's backyard. The wicker love seat we shared was currently occupied by a couple going at it like animals.

"Did you see any keys on this couch?" I tried. The girl flipped me off, not even taking her mouth off the guy she was on top of. Nice.

I looked under the couch, in the grass surrounding it. Apparently, my presence was enough to irritate the horny couple. They got up and left. Unfortunately, the keys weren't there. I just wanted to leave. My phone was completely dead and I doubted that anyone with their phones glued to their hands would part with it, if only for a second.

I used the side door to get into the garage, covering my nose as I searched the floor for my keys. When I didn't find them there, I went back to the kitchen, on my hands and knees, to check under counters and tables. I didn't care how sticky and gross the floor was. Nothing.

I rejoined the crowd I was so desperate to get out of earlier, checking the floor for my keys and trying not to get trampled. When I came up empty, I checked my pockets again, hoping I just overlooked them earlier because I was in such a rush. Still not there.

There was one place I hadn't checked. Maverick's room. What if he was still in there? I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to listen to him try to convince me that the pills weren't a problem. How he only took them occasionally and wasn't addicted. Whatever BS he fed himself to justify it.

Then, on a shelf under their over-sized flat screen, I saw it. A landline. I would never make fun of my grandma for still using one ever again. I took the wireless phone into the bathroom for privacy.

There was a dial tone and it mocked me as I slowly realized that I didn't know a single number by heart. I stared down at the phone in horror. I couldn't be stranded at this party. Why didn't I bother to commit a single number to memory? Not even my moms.

I collapsed against the bathroom door, banging my head against it. Hot tears pooled in my eyes. I pulled my phone from my pocket, hoping there was enough battery life to get a phone number. No matter how many times I pushed the power button, the screen remained dark.

Someone tried to open the bathroom door, then knocked when they couldn't get in. I ignored them. As I stared down at the black screen of my phone, the most random of thoughts popped into my head. I wished Corey was there. The same way he was at school after the Justin Yoon thing. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than for Corey Michaels to show up in his dad's Cordell & Cordell Landscaping truck and save me from that bathroom. That party.

The truck.

I'd seen that truck a million times. Memorized the green logo and its thick letters. There was a phone number right below the word landscaping. Frantically, I dialed the number and hoped someone would pick up. It seemed to ring forever before someone answered.

"Cordell and Cordell landscaping. How I can I help you?"

I recognized the gruff voice of Corey's dad, CJ, from the few holidays when our families merged. It sounded like he'd just woken up, and I wondered how late it was. "Hi, Mr. Michaels. It's Harlow. Can I talk to Corey?"

"What?" He sounded incredulous. "This is a work number, not a damn party line." The line clicked.

I stared at the phone in disbelief. Another wave of tears filled my eyes, but I wouldn't let them fall. I wasn't giving up yet. I redialed the number. It rang and rang and rang until it went to voicemail. I hung up and tried it again. And again. And again. And again. Until...

"Who is this?"

At the sound of Corey's voice, I couldn't hold back the tears anymore.

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