Free Something True by Jessica Roe Page B

and do it right there in our swimwear.”
    That actually sounds like it would be perfect for Silver and Blair, but, “Felicia would kill you.”
    “Yeah. Sometimes I feel like the wedding day stops being about the bride and groom and becomes more about everyone else.” Her face brightens. “Oh hey, maid of honor, right?”
    That's my Blair. Even when asking something as huge as this she still manages to sound cool and casual. I squeal happily, throwing my arms around her shoulders and squeezing the eff out of her even though I'd totally known it was coming – because if she hadn't picked me I would have had to end her. “You know I will! I'm so excited!”
    “Good. Hey, you wanna start heading back? I'm starving.”
    “Me too. I'm so fungry I could eat a horse. If we make our way back down now we could find a diner or something in time for dunch.”
    Her eyes roll skyward for a second. “Lunch dinner?” she guesses after a moment.
    I wrap my arm around her shoulders as we begin the hike back down to where we left the car. “Naw, you know me so well.”

Chapter 10
Walt
     
    “SO WHEN DOES Jem move in?” I ask Reid as we grab a beer in McCaulley's, an old pub style bar we used to hang out a lot in before Jemma came into our lives and we all somehow migrated towards fucking Kandy's . Yeah, that was before Jemma brought around Ibbie and turned my whole damned world upside down.  
    Who am I kidding? I wouldn't change a thing. I'm even admittedly fond of Jem these days, and we definitely had a rocky start.
    “Not 'till January,” he grumbles. “Dahlia's new room mate can't move in 'till then and Jem doesn't wanna leave her in the lurch.”
    “You sure you've thought this through?” I joke, because getting Jemma to move in with him has been the only thing the guy's been able to talk about for goddamned months when she hasn't been around.
    “You know it. When you get a girl like Jemma, you do everything you can to hold onto her. Trust me.” He gets a text on his phone, eyes me for a second, then speedily replies. I'm about to question him when we're interrupted.
    “Hey guys,” Christen greets as he and Fábia join us in the booth. Tonight it's the original gang, just like old times. Not going to admit it to these fuckers, but I kind of miss the others.
    Fábia smirks. She's always smirking about something. “Oh good, the annoying kids aren't hanging around tonight.”
    “Be nice,” Christen chides playfully, because you can never take anything Fábia says seriously. That girl likes to be a bitch just for the sake of being a bitch. “Besides, you like 'em all really.”
    She rolls her eyes at him, but she doesn't deny it. Aside from Blair, who seems to have had a worse upbringing than most of us, Jemma and her friends were never the kind of people we'd thought we'd end up being friends with. They're more the kind of people we'd have sat back and made fun of. Truth is, they've all grown on us.
    “Anyway,” I lift an eyebrow at Fábia. “don't think we don't know what's been going on between you and Dahlia.”
    Christen almost spits out his drink. “You and Dahlia ? I didn't know you swing that way.”  
    She shrugs. “It's the twenty first century, Christen. I can swing whichever damn way I want.”
    The next thirty minutes is filled with Christen trying to persuade her to share the details, and me and Reid laughing our asses off when she reaches forwards and twists his nipples so hard he screeches like a little bitch.
    “HEY YOU!” We all turn in surprise at the sound of the loud, angry voice and I almost fall out of my seat when I see Ibbie storming towards us across the room. She's got just about every male eye in the bar on her, and not just because she looks so out of place here in that little floral dress. No, she's got every male eye on her because she looks fucking glorious when she's all furious and revved up like she is right now. Even I can appreciate that, and all that anger is focused