“Raine! Open this door right now!” Olivia’s voice shouts through the wood.
I’m too scared to get up. When she gets mad—which is very rare—she’s terrifying. The angriest that I’ve ever seen her was in eighth grade after she witnessed a boy bullying Luke. She went up to him and said,“I don’t know how to say this nicely, so I won’t,”and then punched the kid in the throat.
“Don’t make me break the door down! You know I will give it my best efforts!”
I take a deep breath and sniff my armpits for good measure. She’s probably seen me in worse shape, however I’m still embarrassed. Before I can reach the door, I hear the sound of a key being inserted into the door, the doorknob twists, and I’m blinded by the sun. I want to hiss like they do in vampire movies and pull the covers over my head, but the sight of Luke’s large form coming toward me has me halting in place.
Really? She had to bring him? Fully dressed in his police uniform, might I add.
Olivia must read my expression, because she says, “What? I didn’t want to go to jail for breaking and entering, so I called in backup.”
Her face softens once she takes me in, and then her green eyes scan the hotel room. I peer up at Luke, who is doing the same, and I cannot contain my embarrassment. I place my hands over my face, not wanting to see their pity.
“Come here,” she says softly, and I peek through my fingers to see Olivia extending her arms open for a hug. I oblige and walk into her embrace, glad that she has stopped yelling at me. However, when she pulls back, she scrunches her nose and adds, “I love you. But you smell.”
I know I do, but I still give her an unamused expression.
I look at Luke, who has a hand running through his dark hair, leaving it a mess. He reaches over and takes one of those bags that hotels leave for ice and begins picking up my pile of wrappers off the floor. My friends are always there, ready to pick me back up when I’m a complete mess—literally.
“I know. I’m gross.” My voice sounds foreign, like grief transformed me into someone else. Maybe it has. I certainly don’t feel the same.
“Did we know she was this messy?” Luke asks, looking over at Olivia.
“Unfortunately, yes,” she replies with a smirk.
“You both know I’m standing right here, right?”
“You know, if she would have just answered our calls—” she adds, but I interrupt her with a loud groan, earning a chuckle from them both.
“I know I suck right now. But I won’t apologize. I can clean up my own trash,” I proclaim and reach for the—now full—bag in Luke’s hands. He moves the bag away from my grasp and ties a knot before tossing it toward the door. Behind me, Olivia is grabbing my suitcase and packing everything she can find. “What are you doing?”
“You’re leaving this disgusting hotel room. Then, when we get back to my place—which you will be staying at, by the way, and how dare you not even think to ask me if you could—you’ll be taking a nice hot shower because, girl, you smell like you’ve been laying in onion juice and look like one of those goblins fromHarry Potter.”
I shake my head in protest, but the look I receive from her quickly shuts me up. She makes a face at Luke, and before I have time to react, he picks me up and slings me over his shoulder. I’d hit him in protest, but he could throw me in jail for assaulting a police officer—not that he would do that, but he could if he wanted to.
“She wasn’t kidding about that shower.”
“Shut up. I don't stink that bad! Wait. Are you serious?” I shout as Luke places me into the backseat of his police cruiser.
There are a few people walking down the sidewalk, who turn their attention our way, and my embarrassment grows. A frown spreads across my face when the door is locked and won’t open. There are also bars that prevent me from climbing into the front seat and escaping. Luke’s lips pull at the corner in a smirk that I’d love to smack off his face.
“She’s rubbed off on you! You know that, right?!” I shout, but he ignores me and returns to the hotel room.
A few minutes pass, and I watch as my friends take the trash to the dumpster, check me out of the hotel, and drag mybelongings behind them and place them into the trunk. Olivia giggles as she slides into the front passenger seat. She looks back at me and snaps a photo with her phone. I make a mental note to steal her phone later and delete it.
“I never thought I’d see the day that you’d be sitting in the back of a police car. I take that back. We pulled a close one that time we stole Ms. Johnson’s lawn gnomes.”
“You. You stole them. And you were planning to blackmail me if I didn’t help you,” I add, biting my lip to hide my smile. I’m supposed to be angry with her right now.
“Wait a minute. That was you two?” Luke snaps as he shuffles into his seat.
“They were creepy. We did the citizens of Covewood justice.” Olivia shrugs her shoulders while snapping her seatbelt into place.
“But you placed them all throughout the school. One in particular in my locker, which scared the crap out of me!”
Olivia’s shoulder’s bounce as she laughs hysterically. Luke looks back at me as if I betrayed him and points a finger at me, adding, “You earned your place back there for causing me nightmares after that.” His words only feed into Olivia’s laughter.
“Olivia was the one who suggested we pull a senior prank and that we mess with you in the process. You should have never shared your locker combination with her.”
