ticked off his list on his fingers and was now staring down at his pinky as if it were going to give him the answer. In the other hand he clutched the neck of a half-empty bottle of Budweiserâfrom what Megan could tell, his fifth or sixth. Darnell was a handsome guy who, according to his varsity jacket, was captain ofthe football team. At the beginning of the night, he had shown himself to be a smart, friendly, funny guy. Now that he was officially drunk, he was still friendly and funny, but the smart thing was out the window.
âHistory,â Megan said. âYou forgot history.â
âRight!â Darnell said, his big brown eyes lighting up as he looked at her. âNow, what kinda history you got in Texas?â
Megan leaned back on the hood of Darnellâs old-school Corvette and sighed. âOh, I donât know, weâve got Coronado, the Alamo. . . . We declared independence once,â she said, glancing at him.
Darnell stared at her for a second, his eyes scrunched in confused surprise, as if her sound track had switched over to SAP. âYeah, well, we got the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, the Boston . . . the Boston . . .â
âRed Sox!â someone shouted, prompting a round of cheers in the darkness.
âYes! Thank you!â Darnell said, raising his bottle. âThe Boston Red Sox . . .â
âYou mentioned them already,â Megan said with a yawn.
âOh, sorry,â Darnell said slurrily. âAm I boring you?â
âNo.â Megan shook her head. He was actually quite entertaining. It was just that it was past midnight and the night was getting old.
âYeah . . . well, Iâm boring myself,â Darnell said, lying back next to her.
Together they stared up at the sky as yet another plane whooshed by. Everyone else cheered, but Megan squeezed hereyes closed and covered her ears against the noise.
âHey. You guys having fun?â
Megan opened her eyes to find Evan hovering over her. Sweet relief! She hadnât seen him since Hailey had dragged him off two hours ago. Now they could finally get out of here.
âYou ready to go?â Megan asked, sliding down off the hood of the car. She glanced at Hailey, noticed a throbbing hickey right near her collarbone, and glanced away. Her heart burned with jealousy. She didnât even want to imagine where else Evanâs lips had been. But now, of course, she couldnât help it.
âAlready?â Hailey asked, reaching for Evanâs hand with both of hers. âIâve barely even talked to anybody.â
Yeah? And whose fault is that? Megan thought.
Evan shot Megan a pleading look and Meganâs spirits dropped. Suddenly she felt even more exhausted than she had a second ago.
âYou know what? Thatâs fine,â Megan said, grabbing Darnellâs hand and pulling him into a seated position. His eyes rolled forward and he attempted to focus. âIâll just have Darnell here drive me home. Youâre okay to drive, right, Darnell?â she asked, slapping him on the back so hard he slid off the car.
He stumbled a second when his feet hit the ground, but he fished his keys out of the pocket of his varsity jacket. âToad-al-ly,â he said. âJus . . . tell me where ya live.â
He aimed the keys for the lock in the door and hit the window.
Megan raised her eyebrows at Evan. Evan looked back,amused and clearly somewhat impressed. Megan could barely believe it herself. She was actually standing up to him. Who would have thought it was possible?
They both knew she wasnât stupid enough to get into the car with Darnell. It was a bluff. The question was, what would Evan do?
He turned to Hailey. âMaybe we should go.â
Meganâs heart fluttered like a victory flag in the wind.
Haileyâs face fell, but she recovered quickly. âFine. Iâll go get my bag. You
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