"Happy!" I insisted.
And she laughed, making it clear she wasn't exactly sober either. "I'm tingly."
"Oh, I'd tingle - "
"Get lost, you fucking ice bitch," someone said, the voice coming from right by my empty shoulder.
"Hey!" I turned, having every intention of shoving the prick to the ground. "That's Ice Princess to you! Girl works too, but if you think you can call her a bitch and get away -"
"Rain!" Aspen gasped, jerking me away. "Don't!"
"No one talks about my bestie that way!" I insisted, still trying to look around and figure out who'd said that. "She's mine!"
"Rain!" Aspen hissed, a warning in the tone this time. "Stop!"
So I stopped. I was supposed to be protecting her, not annoying her. "Sorry," I mumbled, giving her my full attention again. "I just don't like them saying that shit. I don't even know why they do it!"
"Because I don't have Summer magic," she explained, sounding like she was talking to a child. "It's ok. Not a big deal. I kinda like being different."
"Do you?" I asked. "BecauseIlike being different. Well, kinda the same here. I mean, everyone has magic. I finally have magic, and it's cool magic, but not as cool as yours."
"And that," she told me, "is why you're so amazing." Then she raised her voice. "We need drinks! Who's filling?"
"Over here!" Ah, now that was Keir's voice. It made me giggle.
"He's going to kiss me," I whispered to Aspen.
"Yeah, at midnight," she agreed. "No one's going to kiss me."
"I could."
"You most definitely cannot," she laughed. "Suitemates, remember?"
"Fucking rules," I grumbled. "And I'm even being good. But I would, you know. Then it wouldn't be weird."
She stopped. In the process, she also stopped me, and since I hadn't really been aware I was moving, that made the world spin a bit. Thankfully, when I tilted, Aspen quickly grabbed my shoulders, simultaneously keeping me from falling and moving to the spot where I could still focus.
"You don't want to kiss Keir?" she asked.
"He's cute," I told her. "Too cute. Sweet and cute. It's just..."
"What?" she pressed. "Rain, you don't have to kiss him."
"But you!" I huffed, making her quickly glance around us.
"I like him," she assured me. "I like that you like him. I don't want to date him myself, so kiss him."
"Yeah?"
The look she gave me was scathing enough it made it through my blurry vision. "We're not doing this again, Rain."
"I don't know how to be like fae!" I insisted. "I keep waiting for the catch with all of this. You, the guys, Keir, Jack, magic, shadows, and all of it!"
"But don't you see? That's the catch," she assured me. "You get magic and have to take the crow with it. You hang out with me, and have to put up with my brother."
"And Keir?" I asked. "Because hot guys are assholes, but he's hot and sweet, and that doesn't make any sense."
"And fae," she countered. "So he's not sweet. He's just honest. There's a difference. You just happen to likehisbrand of honesty."
