I snickered like I hadn’t done the same thing twenty minutes ago.
We were all gonna be drunk off our asses. Thank God everybody lived within walking distance.
The event ran from two p.m. til sunset, so I had a good four hours left to spend some more of Rico’s hard-earned money.
Soul’s parents had a tent set up, selling barbecue. His parents could throw down, which made him not being able to boil water even funnier.
Rico was with my mom behind the stage until this band went off.
And Christian…was somewhere. The last time I saw him he was walking around with a to-go tray full of hush puppies and fried chicken.
We were all scattered around, doing our own thing, but I felt at ease knowing we were all in one place and going home together tonight.
That was all that mattered.
Two hours later,my bucket of rum punch had been replaced with a cup of watermelon slices covered in lime juice.
I might have been on my way to drunk, but I’d be hydrated getting there. I’d already walked to Rico’s Jeep three times to drop off shopping bags. I was on my fourth and final trip, wading through people line dancing and congregating on the stairs leading back up to the parking lot.
But my steps faltered when I got to the top and saw the woman Rico was talking to.
Lyric Dawson.
His high school sweetheart.
My heart sank right to my ass. Immediately, the bag I was holding on the crook of my arm felt too heavy and the fruit in my cup was unappetizing.
What were they talking about and why was she looking at him like that?
They were a few feet away from me, unaware of my staring and still engrossed in a conversation that had her looking at him with gotdamn hearts in her eyes.
They weren’t touching. Rico had his arms folded across his chest. And his biceps looked edible while doing it. But still…
What did they have to talk about for so long?
Two more songs played before she rocked back on her heels, moving away from him.
When she walked away, I walked up to Rico, prepared to ask.
The sensations tugging at my heart were uninvited and asking for a swift eviction.
Rico’s face lit up when he saw me and he grabbed the bag I was carrying before I could part my lips.
“Hey, baby.”
Jealousy was a raggedy bitch, and she had her clutches in me right now because I couldn’t even acknowledge how happy he looked to see me, or how he instantly moved into my space. He hadn’t done that with Lyric.
“Was that Lyric?”
Rico slanted his head to look at me. He squinted against the sun beating down on my back and shining directly in his face.
“Yeah, that was Lyric. What’s up?”
“Have y’all dated recently? Why was she looking at you like that?”
He stepped closer, his hand shielding his eyes as he looked down at me. “Like what?”
“She looked at you like a woman in love.”
