Free Tasting, Finding, Keeping: The Story of Never by C.M. Stunich Page A

the only person I have to convince of that is me. Ty doesn't answer, and I don't leave a message because I don't know what to say to him. Suddenly, the loneliness of the car becomes stifling, and I have to climb out and walk back to the front yard where Lacey is lying on her back and looking up at the stars. She's holding hands with that girl, and they're both grinning like fools. “Let's go,” I say to her, wondering when I stopped enjoying being alone.
    “You take the car, Never,” she says, eyes dewy and wide. “This is Trini's sorority house. She lives here.”
    “I'm an Alpha Omega,” Trini says as the two girls turn towards one another and start to giggle. Lacey brushes Trini's dark hair away from her heart shaped face and they begin to kiss. I stare down at them for awhile, hoping they'll stop soon, but they don't. In fact, the longer I wait, the more intimate they get. Finally, I'm forced to retreat back to the little, green car by myself. It's a Fiesta, a gift from Lacey's dad. Wish I had a dad. Wish mine hadn't been murdered right in front of me. Wish I had someone to tell this secret to.
    I realize that I'm having a small anxiety attack and climb into the back seat for awhile to rest. As soon as my head hits the upholstery, I start to cry. Hours later, I fall asleep and spend the rest of my night in the back of Lacey's Ford, dreaming of one thing and one thing only.
    Ty McCabe.

13
    It's been almost three weeks since I last saw Ty, and I miss him so much it hurts when I move, like my muscles are sore from wishing too much. Why, I don't have any fucking clue. When I tell this to Lacey, she just smiles and gets all quiet. She's been acting strange ever since she met that girl, Trini. They hang out every available second of the day and even have these obnoxious sleepovers that make me want to grab my blankets and go curl up in the hallway. At least they don't have sex with me in the room. At least there's that.
    “If you miss him so much, then call him,” she tells me with a roll of her eyes, like this is a duh moment that I am just not getting. “I bet he'd be thrilled to hear from you.” Lacey grabs her hair and twists it into a bun on the back of her head. As she does this, she watches me tack pictures to my wall. There are hundreds of them, and I'm determined to hang them all up. I've been working on this for days, plastering the wall next to my bed and planning to continue until I get to the closet. Lacey hasn't asked about them, but I saw her looking when she thought I was sleeping last night, using her phone as a flashlight.
    “These are my sisters,” I tell Lacey who raises her pale eyebrows. I've never told her about them. Not once. She only knows a little about my mom because she found my belly dancing costumes stuffed in the back of the closet. To assuage her curiosity, I had to tell her something. “Beth is the oldest.” I pause and am royally pissed at myself for having to calculate my sister's age in my head. This is just something I should know without thinking. “I guess now she'd be about twenty-three.” I point to a picture of a pretty girl with copper hair and a smile that could disarm even the toughest heart. Beth. God, it's hard to miss someone so much and hate them at the same time. It's a disconcerting feeling. “I'm next in the lineup.” I move my finger across the wall like a pointer until I find a picture of me at sixteen. Lacey stands up and squeals.
    “You were so cute!” she says as picks at the edge of the photo with her nails. They're painted bright yellow this week and while I find them obnoxious, I keep catching Trini sucking on them and telling Lacey how sexy they are. They're so goofy together that I have a sneaking suspicion that they think they're in love. I can't judge if they are or not; I'm not qualified, but if it's true, then I hope I never fall into it because when they're together, they act like idiots.
    “Then there's Jade who's … ” I count in my