"Who's trying to get ahold of you so bad?" Ryan asked, balancing several baguettes in one arm and holding a jar of caviar in the other.
"Jim," Mara explained. They hadn't talked about Jim or Camille since their almost-kiss the week before, but they also hadn't come close to anything like that again, so Mara was ready to chalk it up to the cabernet (and the margaritas, ahem). "I just kind of need a break from us for a while. I really can't deal with him right now."
"Mmm," Ryan grunted.
"But it's not, like, permanent or anything," she added hastily, for no good reason.
Mara looked sidelong at Ryan while she pretended to pick out tortilla chips, and she couldn't help but notice that maybe, just maybe, he looked a little down when she'd said it wasn't "permanent."
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eliza always gets what she wants, even if she doesn't want it anymore
"I thought I said close friends only," Ryan groused as he surveyed the fully packed living room, dining room, ballroom, game room, pool area, patio, and sundeck. Everyone under the age of twenty-one in the Hamptons was present and accounted for, including several rock star offspring and the cast of various MTV reality shows.
Sugar and Poppy had done what they did best--spread the news--and keeping things "small" was in no way part of their agenda. They had even hired a publicist, who had secured a party permit and made sure there was valet parking for guests.
"Great idea, bro!" Sugar hooted at Ryan as she was carried, sphinx-like, by an army of admirers toward the back cabana.
Ryan shook his head. Oh, well, might as well enjoy it. He turned up the stereo so that the rafters shook to the beat of the Hamptons' perennial "It's All About the Benjamins."
Already all the bedrooms were occupied, and the smell of pot was strong in the air. A clique of British teens was huddled around
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the glass dining room table, and a fedora-wearing dealer (a Bennington alum on his summer vacation) was making the rounds.
Ryan found Mara standing to the side, sipping a glass of white wine.
"You having fun?"
"Who are all these people?" she asked in astonishment.
"Beats me. They must all be my sisters' friends." Ryan laughed. "C'mon, I see my boys down by the patio."
Eliza kept an eye out for Jeremy. He was supposed to be here by now. He had promised he would be there by eleven, after he got off his second job as a waiter at TGI Friday's in Hauppauge. She fluffed her hair in the mirror and made herself another vodka tonic. Things were going so well between them, every time he left her side, she missed him instantly. She didn't know she could feel this way about anyone.
She spotted Kit in the crowd and raised her glass hello. He and Taylor had broken up the week before, and Eliza had been trying to cheer him up. As much as she was friends with Taylor, she had always thought Kit deserved better. A lot of her old friends were at the party, but every time one of them waved her over, she just shook her head and smiled.
"Where do you think you're going?" a voice called as she stepped out to check the driveway for Jeremy's pickup again.
She spotted Charlie Borshok leaning on a pillar, completely wasted.
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"Nowhere."
Charlie took a few steps over and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, Liza, you smell so good. I missed you, baby."
"That's really nice, Charlie," she said, twisting her body away.
It was what she had wanted to hear all summer. That he wanted her back. That they were the golden couple again. That she was still the same girl who had snagged the richest boy in New York. But now she was looking for Jeremy.
A half hour later, Jeremy's pickup truck pulled into the driveway. He was still wearing his uniform T-shirt and apron. Eliza ran out and leapt into his embrace.
"Hey, baby." He grinned at her.
"I MISSED YOU!"