Free True by Erin McCarthy Page A

partners. It seemed like a bigger deal to me than that, and it made me feel . . . lonely. Not to mention, I wasn’t sure how I felt about him walking around with pills in his pocket that I’m guessing he did not have a prescription for. “Do you know where Tyler got the Vicodin from?”
    “He steals it from his mom,” Jessica said without hesitation. “But not because he wants to pop it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him actually use. But his mom is a serious drug abuser and she’s OD’d like four times. He takes it to keep her from taking too many at once.” She leaned around me to look in the mirror, fluffing her hair and adjusting her ears. “I also think he wants to make sure his younger brothers don’t get into it.”
    “Oh.” That was awful. That was downright messed up. “How old are his brothers?”
    “I don’t know. It’s not like I’ve ever met them. I’ve just gathered this information from what he and Nathan have said to each other.”
    For some reason I enjoyed knowing that Tyler didn’t share his personal life with Jessica, which was really petty. “So no Sebastian tonight?” I asked, feeling more sympathetic toward her.
    “No. He went home for the weekend apparently, which is a drag. But don’t worry about me if you want to leave with Tyler. I can get a ride back or hang with Kylie.”
    I studied her face, but she was just making duck faces at herself in the mirror. Someone pounded on the locked door. “So you really wouldn’t care if I hooked up with Tyler?” Even though I didn’t intend to, or more accurately, not that he intended to, I just was amazed that she wouldn’t care. I kept seeking clarification or looking for the moment when jealousy would rear.
    “Of course not, for like the nine millionth time. Why would I care? I think it would be so good for you.” She turned and shook my shoulders. “Just do it. You’ll feel so much happier!”
    I made a face.
    The pounding came again.
    “We’re coming! Shut the fuck up!” Jessica yelled in the direction of the door. “Do you need to pee?” she asked me.
    “No.”
    “Are you wearing Tyler’s jacket? It’s ruining the look of your outfit.”
    “Yeah, but it’s warm,” I said as I followed her out of the bathroom.
    She glared at the girls who were waiting outside the door and they made pouty faces back. “Bitches,” Jessica muttered.
    I figured they just wanted to use the bathroom, given that what was in that keg was basically wheat-colored water, but I wasn’t going to argue with her. Having Sebastian missing seemed to have given her a bit of an attitude, which I could understand. You pictured the night going a certain way and when it didn’t, it was hard to recover your enthusiasm. I wasn’t sure how I had pictured the night, but I had never been enthused about the party to begin with, so I was struggling with my emotions, my feelings of jealousy and hopelessness that even if Tyler was interested in me, it was for one thing only. And even that was most likely out of curiosity or a sense of challenge.
    Tyler was standing at the back door, arms crossed over his chest, clearly waiting for us. “Are you okay?” he asked me.
    “She went to the bathroom, not strolling through the ghetto naked,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. “God, you’re being weird, Ty. But she’s all yours now for the rest of the night. I’m going to find Robin.”
    She retreated back into the kitchen, pushing past two guys chest bumping. It left Tyler and me alone in a small alcove that served as a mudroom, gym shoes all over the floor and winter coats and North Face all-weather jackets hanging on a series of hooks, giving the small space a crowded intimacy.
    “Is it true?” Tyler asked, with a wicked smile that did warm things to parts of my body I had been attempting to pretend didn’t exist. “Are you all mine now for the rest of the night?”
    “In what way?” Because I needed specifics.
    “In every way.”
    The words