Dear Love, I Hate You (Easton High)

“Dia’s one of us now, which means she is, too. End of story.”

A beat of silence.

I’m dumbfounded by Xavier’s chivalry.

“Are we fucking playing or not?” Brie snaps, her glossy red lips curling with rage as she reclines against the safety net.

“Vee still doesn’t know the rules,” Theo points out.

“Right.” Axel turns to me. “It’s easy. You suck in air so the card sticks to your lips, then pass to whoever’s sitting next to you by blowing. Sound good, babe?”

“And if we drop the card?” I skirt his flirting.

“Both you and the person next to you drink, then you rip parts of the card so there’s more lip action. Ready?”

There are two things I want to say in that moment.

First thing being that I don’t drink, and I’m not about to start for some moronic drinking game. The second being that I might have a heart attack just thinking of going anywhere near Xavier’s mouth. But I can’t tell them any of that.

So, I just nod.

And hope to God I don’t drop the card.

“I’ll start,” Lacey volunteers—gee, I wonder why. And Axel tosses her the deck of cards. She’s passing the card to Theo a heartbeat later and “accidentally” dropping it once their mouths are touching.

The others laugh as Lacey goes in for the kiss. Theo doesn’t reject nor welcome her lips. Just lets her kiss him for a short moment, then pulls away and throws back his beer, which is exactly what he’s supposed to do in that scenario. Don’t think I miss the disappointment flashing through Lacey’s gaze.

I feel bad for her.

She so desperately wants to rekindle something between them, but Theo only sees her as a pregnancy scare. Theo rips the card a bit, and my anxiety shoots off the charts. If there’s no card left by the time it gets to me and I have to semi-kiss Xavier, I’m dying on the spot.

Theo passes the card to Brie without a hitch, and she turns to Axel to do the same. Except she drops the card at the last second and starts full-on sucking face with him instead.

She’s punishing Xavier.

Not a doubt in my mind. This is her trying to hurt him for defending me. And she’s not shy about it either. She grips Axel’s hair and goes to town. Axel doesn’t even pretend to fight her, kissing her back in an instant. It’s all tongue and teeth, and Brie’s fake moans, and I did not need that visual.

My focus drifts to Xavier.

He doesn’t even bat an eye at his girlfriend cheating on him. He doesn’t look hurt, jealous, or mad. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he seems uninterested. Didn’t Dia say they were back together?

Why doesn’t he care?

Brie throws him a side look to catch his reaction, quickly realizes she missed the mark, and propels Axel off her. Her mouth is swollen, her lipstick smeared. And Axel? He’s in shock.

“Xav, bro, I…” Axel realizes how awkward this is.

“It’s cool, man.” Xavier shrugs. “She’s fair game.”

So… they’re not back together?

Axel doesn’t insist and takes a sip of beer as stated by the rules. Brie follows his lead, tears of rage amassing in her eyes over her failed manipulation. Alex rips the card again, and my stomach drops.

I’m next.

I couldn’t care less about Axel passing me the card. Especially considering what he just did. There’s no way he’ll try anything after eating Brie’s face off in front of her ex. But then why…

Why am I so nervous about passing it to Xavier?