Before I can react, two hands are wiping away tears I hadn’t realized were falling. Jake placing his hands on either side of my face, looking into my eyes. He must see so much sadness, and hurt, and anger, and regret, and all I see in his, are comfort and understanding. He nods his head once and uses his hand to pull my head to his lips, he gives me one short, sweet kiss to my temple, and it’s everything I need to make the world keep spinning around me.

Chatter goes on around us and I realize I’ve totally spaced out.

“I can’t wait to hit the bars around UNC,” one of the boys says. I don’t know which one.

“Huh?” I look up. “Who’s going to UNC?”

Cam laughs, “We all are. Why? Are you?”

“Yeah, I am,” I say wide-eyed. “What? All of you are?”

Cam eyes Jake for a second then back to me, “Yeah, your boy Jake there’s got a full ride, athletic scholarship,” he smiles like a proud dad, “he’ll probably be starting pitcher as a freshman.”

I whip my head to Jake and see him nodding shyly. “No shit?”

“Shit,” he deadpans.

“And what about the rest of you?” I eye Lucy in particular, because I think were probably heading towards the same thing.

“Partial academic scholarship, majoring in either creative writing or journalism, haven’t decided yet,” she shrugs.

“No effing way!” I say, my voice laced with disbelief. “Me too. Like, exactly. Partial scholarship and all.”

“No shit?” she says.

“Shit,” I return.

“Jake and I are the only ones lucky enough to get scholarships,” she states. “Cam and Dylan will be sharing a dorm, Heidi and Logan will be majoring in The Greek system.” She laughs and the rest join her. I see her glance at Jake and feel his body move behind me.

“What about you?” I ask him.

He shrugs, “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”

***

The rest of the night is completed by beer drinking and shit talking. I’m feeling slightly buzzed, okay, maybe a little beyond it, but I seem to be smiling and having a good time. The ache in my heart from earlier tonight is a fraction less painful.

Lucy starts shuffling through her bag to get her e-reader.

“Seriously, Luce?” Heidi says.

“No, let her read,” Cam says with an evil smirk. His eyes are hazy, he’s definitely drunk.

“Shut up…” Lucy mumbles under hear breath.

“What… what’s going on?” Logan looks up from his phone.

Cam starts laughing, “Oh, I love it when she reads.” He turns to Lucy who’s face is starting to contort and turn to a bright shade of red, “She reads these smutty books, like full on dirty shit, full of sex and like… bdsm shit.”

“Oh my god, Cameron. Shut the hell up!” She reaches her hand to cover his mouth but he’s too quick and jumps off the truck bed and starts walking around.

He continues, “Sometimes when we’re in bed she’ll be reading and she’ll make these little moaning sounds…” he’s trying not to laugh and were all cackling with him.

Lucy jumps off the truck, takes her heels off, and starts stalking him like he’s her pray. “I swear to god, Cameron Aladdin Gordon! You better shut your mouth or I won’t put out for the next year!”

“ALADDIN!!” we all yell and erupt in fits of laughter.

For some reason Cam thinks it’s a good idea to keep talking… “She reads these books right…” he keeps walking backwards around us while she follows, occasionally reaching her hand out to cover his mouth, but he keeps slapping her hands away. She’s fuming, but behind that, a smile is trying not to slip. She doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I’m not joking boys, they’re like, full on pornographic. Talking about silky shafts and veiny dicks and shit,” Logan is now on the ground holding his side from the pain of laughing too hard.

“Sometimes she’ll be reading, then all of sudden she’ll put her book down and look at me like she wants to eat me, literally eat me!” he yells, laughing harder, still swatting away her hands that are trying to shut him up, “I mean, I don’t mind it, not at all. It’s hot as fuck. And she wants to try everything she reads in these books. Like… everything. She learns everything from these books… so I don’t give a shit when, or how much she reads, I get the rewards.”

My face is buried in Jake’s neck to stop the hyena laugh bubbling up my throat. Logan’s still rolling around on the ground. Heidi is wiping tears from her eyes. Even Dylan has his head thrown back, his body convulsing with silent laughter. Jake’s deep rumble chuckles are so close to my ear, I can feel his breath.

Cam continues, running faster away from her, “The other week she even let me do her in the a-"

Lucy squeals.

We burst out laughing even harder. Her face is red now and she’s given up trying to catch him, she stands defeated. He strolls over to her and she slaps him hard across the face. We all quieten, but the giggles are still there. We stare at them… waiting… then Cam says, “Yeah, baby! You know I like it rough!” and throws her over his shoulder and heads into the bushes with her screaming, upside down, punching his back.

***

30 minutes later they’re back and changed out of their prom clothes. It’s obvious what just happened.