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"I know," Kay said She pointed to the others "And you’re Yuri, Steve, and Jauy named Steve asked
"Clearly" Kay breezed over to a small table in the corner, which held several bottles of liquor and so, she poured herself a drink "Why doesn’t so help you loosen up before a show?"
The band lance, then Rob leapt up and put an Adele song on the stereo Instantly, Kay started swaying back and forth to the uys to dance, too For a while, they just grinned at Kay, but then Rob got up and twirled her around The guy named Jae often?"
Eed her to Rosewood Day parties and uys "Not really But I hope you don’t er keeps us locked in here It gets so boring Your friend’s so, huh? Totallyinfectious"
E around the room If Kay were an infection, Eracefully and fluidly that it was hard for Eaze away She’d alanted to be soirl who could charm absolutely anyone, even if she didn’t know them She tried to picture Kay at Rosewood Day She’d probably have everyone in her back pocket, just like Their Ali
"Em!" Kay called from the !"
E Jamie up with her, too Both of the the the words to Adele Kay lifted her cell phone above the group and snapped picture after picture, pausing to type in captions or send a text Kay caught Eroup and winked, and E hit its third refrain, Kay shot E," Emily whispered to her as they passed le echoed in Eh alert For a second she was certain she’d see soh thein the door that led to the stage A blond soreat relief, no one was there
Chapter 10
OH, AMOUR
As the fifties-era bubble-shaped clock in her bedroom clicked from 3:59 to 4:00 PM on Saturday afternoon, Aria rolled over on her bed and leafed through yet another copy of French Vogue, pretending she was in a hotel suite on the Left Bank of Paris instead of in her father’s house in Rosewood She had cotton balls wedged between each bare toe fro to soak in a long, hot bubble bath She had six other activities planned, too, all to fill the weekend hours without Noel
Eyeing her laptop on her desk, she sat up and listened for the sounds in the house Byron and Meredith had taken baby Lola to an infant swim class, and Mike was most likely at one of his friend’s houses Satisfied that no one was around to randoed the laptop to her bed, touched the click wheel to wake up the screen, and typed in the web address for the Tabitha Clark Me face popped up A fe pictures had appeared on the site: one of Tabitha when she was in about seventh or eighth grade, sitting on a beach, the burns apparent on her ars Another was a shot of her a few years later, standing in what looked like a sleek hotel lobby next to a giant potted cactus someone had adorned with two plastic eyes, a nose, and a mouth There were dark circles under her eyes, but her smile looked happy
Aria felt a wave of nausea and looked away You killed her, a voice needled her fro next to the bottle of blue-black Essie nail polish on her bed, buzzed NEW TEXT MESSAGE Aria’s insides twisted When she rose and looked at the screen, the text was from a number with a 917 area code, not A’s usual CALLER UNKNOWN or jumble of letters and numbers She opened it up
Look out your
A shiver snaked up her spine All at once, the house felt too ee bedroom , parted the curtains, and prepared to peek into the front yard
A dark-haired figure stood on the lawn, a cell phone in his hand Aria blinked hard, taking in the familiar rumpled jacket, pointed chin, and pink lips Surely it was a cruel trick of the light But then, the figure looked up, noticed Aria’s face at the , and grinned broadly He held a poster board over his head Printed on it, in sloppy red letters, was I MISSED YOU, ARIA!
"Holy shit," Aria whispered
It was Ezra Fitz
"Brie, arugula, and sun-dried tomato for you" Ezra pulled a wax paper–wrapped sandwich out of a picnic basket "And"--he paused bashfully--"McDonald’s chicken nuggets for uess"
Heat rose to Aria’s cheeks She’d once happened upon Ezra eating chicken nuggets in his office at Rosewood Day, but she wondered if he meant the statement in more ways than one
Ezra removed the rest of the basket’s contents one by one: a container of ripe, juicy green grapes, a bag of salt-and-vinegar chips--Aria’s favorite--and a bottle of cha on the large boulder they were sitting on and craned his neck up at the bright blue sky poking through the trees "I was hoping we could eat during sunset, but I guess I’m a little off"