Tristan winks. “Glad I could help.”
I glare at him, my heart still hammering. He is going to be insufferable about this. Meanwhile, Ethan and Mia glance at each other, wide-eyed. Mia nods determinedly. “Yeah, OK, we’ll try again.”
I focus on the tasks at hand. The scene carries over to another one, the rehearsal moving along as planned. Our music director joins us. The rest of the rehearsal will be dedicated to the vocals, so I head to the back of the auditorium where Tristan is talking to Toby. The tail end of their conversation is Toby giving his home address.
That’s not a good sign.
CHAPTER 6
TRISTAN
“Bad decisions,” I repeat.
“Yes. That’s the Halloween party theme,” Toby confirms. “Something that represents your bad decisions. Clever, right?”
“He can’t admit to ever being wrong, so he doesn’t get it,” Ligaya says. “Besides, we can’t change the guest list now.”
“It is my house,” Toby declares.
“But I’m making all the food,” Ligaya states. She clasps her hands in front of her in a pose of fake contrition. “So sorry, Tristan, but we didn’t account for extra invites. Maybe next year.” She says it in the same tone as someone sayingmaybe when pigs fly.
“Don’t listen to her. We always make too much food. It’ll be fun. Costumes, drinks. And maybe more bad decisions, if we’re lucky,” he insinuates with wiggling brows.
“The last time we were at the same party, Ligaya was making a very convincing impersonation of a drunk sailor,” I say, recalling the summer party that launched our senior year prank war.
To be fair, my first trick was not ill-intentioned. She was into some guy whose name I can’t remember but who I knew was an asshole. He would have broken her heart. I impersonated him in a letter so she could see what a fuckboy he was.
Before I could explain myself, Ligaya had already snuck a nasty spider in my locker. OK, it was fake, but my scream wasn’t.
My point is, Ligaya is the one who turned the innocent prank into a vendetta.
In hindsight, I can see why I started it.Shehad moved on whileIwas stuck in a cycle of grief and resentment. And as weird as it sounds, obsessing over how to get back at Ligaya is what pulled me from that cycle. Honestly, it was fun at first.
Until it wasn’t.
“You have the memory of a maggot. Maybe get a doctor to check on that,” she retorts.
“My memory is impeccable, but thanks for always looking out for me,” I deadpan. “I’d love to attend your party, Toby. Just so happens there’s no hockey game that night.”
Although I already have a Halloween event to attend next Saturday, this one is more interesting. It has a theme, after all. And a woman I’d like to kiss again.
The dream of Ligaya rubbing her breasts against my chest and moaning into my mouth woke me to a raging hard-on this morning.
“Perfect!” Toby exclaims. “Since you’re already here, you should have dinner with us. Ligaya and I always grab the two-for-one special at Moretti’s on Thursday nights.”
Ligaya’s eyes flick to Toby, back to me, and then back to her friend in an eyeball tennis match as she decides who to blame for my presence at dinner.
“Or not,” she says. “It only works with an even number of people, after all.”
“I’d love to.” I address Toby.
“We’ll meet you there,” Toby announces. “Her car’s in the shop, so we carpooled today.”
Ligaya rolls her eyes in exasperation, although there’s a twinkle in them, too. “Fine. Let’s go before we miss our reservation.”
***
Moretti’s is packed, the smell of garlic and fresh bread hitting me as soon as I walk in. My eyes immediately land on Ligaya. She’s removed her sweater and is in a fitted black shirt, her dark hair spilling over one shoulder.
