Suddenly not hungry for dessert, I excused myself, and pushed back from the table to head upstairs and clear my head. I noticed Sienna’s hand squeezing Nolan’s under the table as I walked away, and immediately knew I’d made a mistake. “I’m such an ass**le,” I thought. But I had been so angry for so long, for once I just wanted to give into it. Turns out it wasn’t worth it.

I hung out in my room for about 20 minutes, just lying flat on my back and staring up at my ceiling. I was startled when my dark room lit up from the hallway light as someone cracked it open. My heart jumped a little, thinking it might be Nolan, but then settled when I realized it was Sarah.

“Hey,” I said, laying back down and folding my hands under my head. The bed flopped heavily as she lay down next to me.

“Hey,” she said, mimicking me. We both sat there in comfortable silence for a while. I was growing to really like Sarah. She was real, always gave it to people straight, and I admired that. Of course, that meant sometimes I had to take what she was dishing.

“So…that was a prick move down there,” she said, turning her head to prop it up on her hand and look at me.

Sighing, I put my hands on my face to try to rub away the memory of an hour ago. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. My brother is a real ass**le,” I said, turning to her and wincing.

“Hmmmmm, yeah…he is,” she said, then sat up, and looked down at me. “But I was talking about you.”

The look she was giving me could have burned a hole through my eyes. I just stared right back into, owning it. She was right, and I knew throwing my vow to never cheat on Nolan in her face was the shittiest thing to say the moment the words came out. Not wanting to get into it with Sarah, and partly wanting to take my punishment, I just shrugged a bit, and lay flat on my back again, throwing my arm over my eyes. “Yeah, it was a prick move,” I said.

We were quiet after that again until we heard the others start to stir downstairs. The sounds of chairs scuffing the floor and dishes clanking had us both sitting up. I was dreading going back down there to face everyone after the shit I’d said. And I was pretty sure after the stunt I’d pulled, Nolan’s parents were starting to question us, too.

“Get your shit together, Reed. We’re going out tonight,” she said as she flung the door open, leaving me there without an opportunity to say no.

By the time I got downstairs, Nolan’s parents had left, and I didn’t see her either. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, but it was instantly replaced with self-pity. I saw Sarah standing in the kitchen swinging her keys around one finger. “Sar, look…if nobody else wants to go, maybe we just call it a night,” I started, but she just held up a hand in my face.

“Oh, everyone’s going. Everyone,” she said, turning me around to see Nolan standing at the doorway with Becky, Trig and Sean, her face at peace for the first time this evening.

We split into two cars, I took my Jeep with Trig, Becky and Sean, and Sarah drove Sienna and Nolan. We headed out to the Old Wheelhouse on the outskirts of town. It was an old-fashioned country bar, the kind where bands played honky-tonk, and the ranch hands came to spend their paychecks on beer. It also happened to have karaoke and pool, which is where I was sure Nolan would spend most of her night.

The girls got there before we did, and I as I pulled in to park, I watched them walk up to the front doors. Nolan was lagging behind—her hair slung over one shoulder. I wanted to reach out and touch it, kiss her neck. But instead, I just sat there in the Jeep, resting my chin on the steering wheel, and panting after her like a dog.

When we walked in, Sarah had found herself a spot on the dance floor already, working the crowd into some line dance and getting the attention of a few of the locals. I slid up to the bar next to Trig and Sean, and nudged Sean a little with my elbow. “Where are the girls?” I asked.

“They’re in there watching Nolan sweep the floor with some guy at the tables,” he chuckled. It was her favorite thing to do, hustle some poor sap into some stupid bet. She’d gotten us free drinks when we went out more than once. I loved watching her do it, but I never wanted to play against her. I was shit at pool. Trig seemed intrigued at our conversation and slid from his stool to go check out the match himself.

“Hmmm, maybe I’ll take her on,” Trig said, wiggling his eyebrows a little like he had a shot in hell. Sean and I just laughed. I nodded at the bartender, who slid over a beer before reaching out to shake my hand. I was a bonafide local celebrity in Coolidge, but the people here were more down-to-earth. It was comforting. Like home.