Fakers (Licking Thicket 1)

“I think I feel this stuff burning a hole in my stomach,” I said under my breath.

“That’s what you get for being Mr. Perfect,” Mal whispered back.

“Okay, moving on. Never have I ever… cheated on one of Mrs. Brachtl’s open-book philosophy tests!”

Alana barely had the words out of her mouth before she’d raised her glass, and since literally anyone who’d ever been in poor old Mrs. B’s class had almost been compelled to cheat in order to pass, we all followed suit, laughing as we did.

Ava slid me her glass as soon as I’d slammed mine down, and I noticed Mal and Diesel shrug at each other and smile as they took shots too, like they were partners in crime.

I downed Ava’s shot and accidentally-on-purpose stumbled into Mal as I did it.

“Whoa, my bad,” I said, yanking him toward me several inches as I set him back on his feet and put a hand on his back to anchor him. “Sorry, Mal.”

“Were you drinking before you left the house?” he demanded under his breath.

“Only the Fuzzy Thickets from earlier.” But Mal smelled like sandalwood shampoo and fabric softener, and I thought maybe I could get drunk on that.

“Okay, next round. Never have I ever… kissed someone on school grounds!”

I hesitated and Ava did too. We’d never been that kind of couple, but there’d been one time—

Len grinned and pointed accusingly from across the table. “Bleachers count as school grounds, Brooks. Remember the time Coach Cosway caught you two making out under there when you were supposed to be in physics? Legendary. Drink up, buddy! You too, Ava.”

Ava and I exchanged a smile that was more like a grimace. I didn’t remember that experience as legendary at all. More like awkward and fumbling and embarrassing for both of us. But I drank obediently and slid Ava’s shot over to Mal, who took it with way more force than necessary after downing his own.

“Your arm is still on my back,” he hissed under his breath.

Shit. I moved it away.

“Never have I ever… skipped class to make out.” Alana laughed good-naturedly. “Guess we know who’ll be drinking this round already, huh?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I sighed and took my shot and Ava’s.

“Is this whole thing going to be about sex?” Mal whispered, clearly annoyed. “’Cause if so, you’re gonna be under the table in ten minutes.”

“How the hell should I know?” I demanded. “I didn’t make the quiz.”

“You’ve apparently done every other damn thing, though.” He grabbed another shot from the table and downed it without waiting for a question.

“No, I really didn’t. It wasn’t—”

“Okay, next one! Never have I ever… gotten in trouble for riding a tractor while intoxicated.”

Paul shot me a questioning look.

I laughed and shook my head. “Fuck, no. I didn’t grow up on a farm, remember. And not everyone who has access to a tractor does stupid—”

The table exploded into laughter as Ethan and Mal both took shots.

Mal’s cheeks burned. “It’s a long story, and I’m not drunk enough to tell it,” he muttered loud enough for the table to hear.

“Ava, girl, you brought back a good one!” Nora yelled. “Mal, you’re alright.”

Mal smiled back, and it made my stomach flip. Or maybe it was the moonshine.

“Okay! Never have I ever…” Alana drummed her fingers against the table dramatically. “Lost my virginity to someone at this table!”

Oh, damn.

More than half the people around me drank. Ava pressed her lips together and didn’t meet my eyes. Mal kept his gaze on the table. It suddenly occurred to me that even though he was doing his best to be a part of the group, it was clear Mal felt like an outsider similar to the way I had back in high school. Fitting in took time, and as long as he was just visiting, he’d never feel completely accepted. And neither would I.

“Okay!” I said loudly, stepping back. “This has been so fun, Alana, but I’m gonna go grab another round at the bar and then mingle for a minute. Kinda my job.” I shrugged and gestured toward my Head Licker shirt. “You guys have a good night, alright?”

I wove my way through the packed room toward the bar, stumbling a little thanks to the moonshine.

It wasn’t that I was precious about sex. Like, at all. I didn’t even care about all the people at the table knowing what I’d done or hadn’t done, since that was the way things went when you grew up in the Thicket. The problem was, they all had these cute, happy memories of those times and I… didn’t. It was a painful reminder that I’d always felt like an outsider, even when the rest of the world thought I’d fit in just fine.

“Hey,” a voice at my shoulder said a few minutes after I’d slid into the crowd at the bar. “You okay?”