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My eyes drift around our little area "I’m fine There are no chairs anyway"

"Why were you sitting in the dirt?" Quinton glances at me for first ti hi able to find hi for you," I say with a shrug "And then everyone went crazy when the band started to play"

"So you just sat down?" he asks, gaping atconcert?"

I shrug again "Just another thing to ape atI feel kind of stupid and all the proble shift to the fact that they think I’o to the bathroohter dies down and Quinton wipes a tear from his eye as he beckons to me "Come here," he says

I briefly dither and shuffle over to hi with my head"

He sets his empty beer bottle into the cup holder on the ar the so looking for me?"

I nod "Yeah, you looked sad"

I can feel Tristan’s eyes onat the crowd

Quinton scans ers aroundme down, he sits me on his lap, then he sweeps my hair to the side, and places his lips next to ently of weed "I’m really okay You don’t need to worry about rip

I’et up, or if I want to stay put or run like hell "Yeah, I do," I say, and we trade a look that neither of us really understand All I know is that so inside ood or bad, because it’s unknown and unplanned and surprising and new I’ off a cliff and I have no idea when I’ to hit the bottom Or if I ever will

Chapter 13

Quinton

She’s sitting on my lap and she shouldn’t be For ht next to us But he’s pretty stoned and doesn’t seeirls that wander by with their tops off, s when one of them blows a kiss at hiiveness and understanding What I deserve is to be fucking dead instead of Ryder and Lexi

But Nova said she went looking for h to worry about me When she says it, I’m pretty certain my worthless heart shatters inside my chest, and she steals one of the pieces If it didn’t already belong to soht then and there

She sits onabout arette back and forth She seeo, and it ht up as she talks about lyrics and her favorite bands, always putting an erees with sorins because he has her attention "They’re not better, and their drurabs the handle of the cooler and hauls it over He puts it in front of his chair and uses it for a footrest "What makes you the expert?" he asks Nova

"Because I’s" Nova shoves his feet off the cooler and, bending forward, she lifts the cooler lid Her shorts slip down a little as she digs a beer out of the ice, and I have to fight back a smile because her panties are black and lacy Honestly, I would have pinpointed her as a white-cotton kind of girl, considering how e her outdoor-concert cherry

"Just because you can play the druarette, scattering ashes onto the ground "--doesn’t mean you can decide who plays the drums better and who sucks"

"Yeah, it does" Nova’s getting sassier with the arette, like she’s going to grab it and take a hit

This tiood in the world, despite the fact that I have to be a hypocrite to do it I swat her hand out of the way and shake my head "No way"

"Hey," she protests with a frown "What the hell was that for?"

I shift my arm so my hand falls down into et to see you play?" I dodge around the subject to keep her h

"The dru, and when I nod, she seems reluctant to answer She tips her head back and places theout the beer Her hair falls down her back and softly brushes h my body She lowers the bottle and licks her lips "I don’t know…" She inquiringly looks me in the eye "Do you want to watchmyself that we’re just friends Just friends "That’s why I asked"