The Bright Effect Read online

  Half-laughing, I concede, “Your plan sounds better.”

  “Of course it does.” Audra smiles. “Just think, I might even let you have a go at one of my Twizzlers.”

  “Or maybe I’ll treat you to the superior candy. Red Vines.”

  “In your dreams, Sugartits.”

  Laughing, I look over my shoulder to where Daphne is now full on making out with Spencer. That was fast. “As tempting as that sounds, we can’t go just yet. Daphne is… in the middle of something. Or I guess I should say that her tongue is in the middle of something.”

  “Keep tellin’ yourself that there has to be somethin’ great about him if she likes him this much.”

  “Yeah, his pretty face.”

  “C’mon now, she is not that shallow.”

  “You do realize who we’re talking about?” I ask on a laugh. “But you’re probably right. Daphne is a lot of things but dumb isn’t one of them, so maybe there’s more to Spencer than what I’m seeing.”

  “Couldn’t hurt to keep an open mind,” Audra says, bobbing her head to the side. “And, speakin’ of an open mind… Looky looky who just walked in.”

  From her teasing tone, I know it’s going to be Sebastian Holbrook before I even turn my head. Still, I’m somehow surprised when my gaze skips across the dark room and crashes directly into his. Surprised and maybe a little terrified. It’s a crazy feeling. All night I’ve been expecting to see him—waiting for it even—yet now that he’s actually here, I have no idea what to do with myself or how to act.

  “Wave him over here so that he can check you out in that hot-as-hell skirt. Maybe he’ll be so blinded by the shape of your butt that he won’t even notice you’ve paired a perfectly good outfit with those ridiculous leggings,” Audra says.

  My fizzy nerves snap. “What? I’m not going to wave at him or show him my skirt. He’ll think I’m a lunatic.”

  Not having it, she grabs my hand and flaps it for me.

  “Audra!”

  She laughs as I flash an awkward smile at Sebastian then drop my face in embarrassment.

  “It worked,” she rasps in my ear. “He’s definitely checkin’ you out.”

  “You’re imagining things.”

  “I’m not,” she insists. “And, let me tell you, the boy’s game is on fleek tonight. How have I not noticed those arm muscles before? Or that sexy mouth?”

  “Audra.”

  “It’s true. And, holy hell, I think… Yes!”

  “What is it?”

  “He’s headin’ over here,” she whispers fervently.

  “No.” There’s a quaver in my voice.

  “He is!”

  “He can’t be.”

  “Obviously he can because it’s happenin’ right now, Amelia.”

  This time I take a peek from under my hair. Sure enough, Sebastian’s eyes are on me and he’s threading his way through the living room, squeezing past the drunken couples gyrating on the makeshift dance floor and stepping over a minefield of discarded red plastic cups. I’m not sure whether I want to throw up or cheer.

  “Good luck,” Audra coos as she dislodges herself from the wall.

  I grab for her arm, desperate and suddenly way too hot. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “To—um—see about the ladies’ room,” she says with a wry smile.

  “You can’t just leave me here!”

  “Amelia, it’s for your own good. I’ll catch up to you later, okay?”

  What can I say to that? It’s not like I can keep my friend hostage because I’m afraid of what stupid thing I’ll do without a chaperone present. “Fine,” I mumble, reluctantly releasing the death grip I have on her forearm.

  “You’ll be all right,” she assures me. “Just remember to breathe.”

  And then she’s gone and I am left alone and exposed. Forget about breathing; it’s like I can’t even swallow. I’ve never felt so hot or inadequate in my life and… well, it sucks more than a little.

  And why is he even coming over here? Doesn’t Sebastian have better things to do than watch me embarrass myself again? Or maybe that’s exactly what he’s after. Maybe he’s developed a fondness for seeing me squirm.

  Under the blue-green glow of the Christmas lights, Sebastian’s features are blurry—almost like I’m looking at him through shallow water—but the closer he gets, the more solid he becomes. I start to make out the shine of his grey eyes, buffered beneath a fringe of black lashes, the shape of his jaw, and, of course, the downward curve of his lips.

  When he’s less than an arm’s length from me, I straighten my spine and push my hair away from my eyes. Battle stations at the ready.

  “Hey,” he says casually, like we do this all of the time.

  “Hey,” I choke out. It’s not much but considering it feels like my mouth fills with glue whenever I’m around him, it’ll have to do.

  “You came.”

  Aiming for cool and collected, I shrug one shoulder. “I told you I was going to be here, didn’t I?”

  Sebastian runs a hand through his messy hair as he warily surveys the party. “And are you having fun yet?”

  “Totally. Best night ever.” I lift my cup in a mock toast and make myself take a sip of the lukewarm liquid.

  He watches me and his cheek muscle twitches like he’s trying hard not to smile. “Yeah, I can tell. You look completely at ease.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “It’s in the way you’re standing kind of like this,” he teases, scrunching his shoulders up to his ears. “And how you seem to love that drink.” He winces in what I assume is supposed to be an imitation of me. “You look pleased as a pig in shit, Amelia.”

  I’m not prepared for his dry sense of humor and I can’t help but break into embarrassed laughter. “Ugh! You know, I was going to try really hard to be mad at you tonight after the way you made fun of me this afternoon.”

  “And how’s that working out for you?”

  “Not so well. And just so we’re clear—this,” I point to my cup, “tastes like lemon-flavored cough syrup.”

  “Sounds delicious.” He claps his hands with faux excitement. “Can you please point me in the direction of the cough syrup bar?”

  Despite all of my earlier tension, I laugh some more. “I think it’s over there by Weedy Wallows,” I say, gesturing toward the couch where a few of my classmates are now crowded around a guy who seems to be showing off the contents of a small plastic bag.

  “Nice.” Sebastian takes a step closer so that his mouth is only a couple of inches from my ear. “So, what else have I missed? Keg stands? Body shots? Has Monica Yancey started one of her strip teases yet?”

  “What?” I sputter.

  He pulls back to meet my eyes and I feel a tingle slide down the length of my spine. “If I remember correctly, it happens at every one of these things. By the fourth drink, she’s taking off her shirt and flashing everyone.”

  “If you remember correctly?”

  For a second, he just looks at me. Then he tilts his chin away. “I don’t have a lot of time for this kind of thing anymore. I’ve got Carter to think about.”

  Right.

  “So, where—” The moment the words slip out of my mouth I immediately wish I could press the rewind button. Sebastian has made it perfectly clear that his home life is none of my business, hasn’t he?

  “What?”

  I shake my head. “Nevermind.”

  “Were you wondering where he is? Because he’s staying with my aunt and uncle this weekend.”

  I want to ask him more about his aunt and uncle, but Byron Scott, inexplicably dressed in nothing but a pair of plaid boxer shorts and a black pirate hat, runs into the living room and starts yelling, “Beer pong tournament in the barn! Five minutes!”

  “A beer pong tournament?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “Honestly, I’d rather not,” I say just as someone jostles me from behind, pushing me into Sebastian.

  “Sorry
!” I try stepping back but my way is blocked by the wave of people trying to move past me to get to the back door.

  “Christ. It might be better to just go with it,” he says, looking over the top of my head. One of his hands is still cupped around my waist, steadying me and that small bit of contact sends a warm current whisking through my body.

  “Okay.” I duck closer to him as we move through a tiny galley kitchen and out the back door into the hot and sticky night. Sebastian’s body is strong and solid beside me and for a couple of seconds, I don’t even mind that we’re practically being trampled so that a stampede of buffoons can get a front row look at a beer pong tournament.

  “Amelia!” my sister shouts, grabbing onto my arm and trying to hoist herself onto my back like when we were kids and took turns giving each other piggyback rides around the backyard.

  “Well, hello to you.”

  “Did someone say beer pong?” she squawks directly into my ear. And man, does she smell like she’s been dunked into a swimming pool of hunch punch. Even in the open air, the stench is so strong and sickeningly sweet it makes my stomach do a somersault.

  “Daphne, you’re pulling on my hair,” I say, carefully extricating her from my back and dropping her onto the damp grass.

  She doesn’t seem to mind. Not missing a beat, she skips around to my side and pops her arm over my shoulder. “You know Bash Holbrook?”

  “Um, yeah…?” I glance at him.

  “Don’t look,” Daphne warns, her eyes huge.

  Sebastian, who can hear her also, shoots me a confused look.

  “But—”

  Daphne puts her hand over my mouth and says dramatically, “Shhhh! He. Is. Right. Next. To. You.”

  I feign surprise. “Oh my God, really?”

  “Mm-hmm!” She squeals and nods enthusiastically, not catching on.

  “Heads up, you know, since he’s right next to me, he can actually hear you,” I whisper back at her in a mocking way.

  Her mouth forms an o-shape. “He can hear me?”

  Good gravy, how much has she had to drink?

  “Yes, Daphne. There are these things called sound waves,” I say the words deliberately like I’m talking to a four-year-old and, let’s face it, a four-year-old probably has more common sense than an intoxicated Daphne.

  But she isn’t listening to me anymore. She’s sidled up to Sebastian and is smiling at him like he’s the best thing she’s ever seen. It’s completely mortifying.

  “Just so you know,” she says, flirtily batting her eyelashes at him. “I’m totally down with Amelia taking a walk on the wild side, if you know what I mean. My sister is in desperate need of living it up and I think you—” she pokes him in the chest with her finger, “—might be just the guy for the job.”

  Then she winks at him before disappearing into a wooden barn with the rest of the herd. Like, she actually winks and it’s so awful I think that I might die of embarrassment. It’s at times like these that I wish I was a turtle so I could hide inside a protective shell.

  I cover my face with my hands. “I am so sorry.”

  Sebastian ignores my apology. “Is she always like that?”

  I sigh. “Embarrassing and over exuberant to the extreme?”

  Amused, he nods.

  “Yep. That’s Daphne for you. You could say that she lacks a filter.”

  “Yeah, I’m picking up on that.”

  We enter the barn and find an open spot not far from the door. It smells familiar and comforting, like sawdust and hay in here, and I start to relax again.

  “In the past,” I tell him, “I’ve tried to act like I don’t know my sister, but the matching face makes that a little difficult.”

  He laughs then gestures to the center of the barn where a long folding table has been placed between two empty horse stalls. “So do you play?”

  “Play what? Beer pong? Um, no.”

  “It’s a sport with a lot of nuance.”

  I take in the set-up. A crooked chalk line has been sketched across the table, dividing it into two equal sides. On either end, ten red plastic cups have been hastily arranged to create a triangle like in bowling. “I can see that.”

  Sebastian bends closer and explains, “Each side tries to land a ping pong ball into one of the opposing team’s cups.”

  “And if they get it?” I ask, suddenly becoming aware of how little space there is between us. I can feel the heat from his body burning through my shirt and the press of his arm against mine.

  “Then whoever’s playing has to drink the beer in the cup.” He slowly turns his head toward me and I feel that little electric charge again. Almost like a hiccup in my pulse. “Just think of it as the redneck version of table tennis.”

  Unnerved by my reaction, I make myself blink and look away. “Got it.”

  Across the barn I easily spot Audra chatting up a tall guy in a yellow polo shirt but I have to stand on my toes to find Daphne. She’s on the second level of the barn, leaning against Spencer’s back and looking at her phone while he huddles with his friends around an upended barrel. It looks like… well, I can’t be positive from way down here, but it looks like he’s trading a plastic bag filled with tiny capsules.

  Spencer says something to one of the guys he’s with, laughs, then picks a pill from the bag and pops it onto his tongue.

  What in the actual hell?

  No. Just no.

  This can’t be what I think it is because Daphne wouldn’t be mixed up with someone who’s taking drugs.

  Would she?

  My stomach twists angrily.

  “Amelia—you good?” It’s Sebastian and his eyes are narrowed in seriousness.

  Willing myself not to jump to anymore conclusions or full-on freak out until I’ve had a chance to talk to my sister about this, I take a shaky breath and say, “Yeah, I thought I saw something, but… it’s nothing.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure,” I say, wanting to drop this thread.

  In front of us, the beer pong game is in full swing. This round Byron is teamed up with Cole Greene and they’re losing terribly to Leo Herman, who I know vaguely from my math class last year, and Seth Cavanaugh.

  “Your friend,” I comment. “He’s pretty good.”

  “Don’t tell him that.”

  “Why not?”

  Sebastian gives me a sideways look. “Seth doesn’t need an ego boost.”

  I laugh and this is when I notice that several girls are staring at me. Or more accurately, they’re staring at Sebastian and, by extension, me. The glare that one red-haired girl is giving us is so intense that I wonder if I should hold up a hand and tell her, Don’t worry—it’s not what you think.

  “Especially,” he continues, not noticing the girls at all, “not coming from you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He turns his head so that he’s looking at me. “It means that girls like you are the whole package.”

  “The whole package?”

  He shrugs. “You know what I’m saying. Beautiful, smart, and popular. And Seth is but a mere mortal. You’d eviscerate him.”

  Smart I’m used to, but beautiful is a new one. “I think,” I say slowly, “you’re confusing me with someone else.”

  “Nah, I don’t think so. Aren’t I speaking with the student body treasurer and a past winner of the best attendance award?”

  I make a face. “How could you possibly remember that? I won that award in the seventh grade.”

  He shakes his head, evading the question. “Face it, Amelia—you’re perfect and everyone in Green Cove knows it.”

  “I’m not perfect.”

  “Really?” The corners of his mouth tip up. “Could have fooled me.”

  Embarrassed by the direction of this conversation, I look back to the game just in time to see the ping pong ball leave Leo’s fingers and sail into the last cup. A deafening cheer rises up as Byron tips his head back, chugs the beer, and throws the empty
cup onto the dirt floor of the barn.

  “Who’s next?” Leo shouts as he beats on his chest with a closed fist. Lord, he’s acting like such a jock. Looking at his body language and the cocky grin plastered on his face, you’d think he just won the World Series, not a game of beer pong in a barn.

  This whole thing is stupid.

  Of course, the moment I think this, guess who stands up and volunteers to play next?

  “Me! Me!” Daphne is literally jumping up and down and waving her hands in the air.

  “One thing I will give your sister,” Sebastian says dryly, “is that she’s a happy drunk.”

  “She’s happy in all things,” I say, watching Daphne, who’s clearly trying to get Spencer to play on her team. She giggles and grazes her lips over his cheek, but he shrugs her off and turns back to his friends.

  God, this guy…

  When it becomes clear that he’s not going to give in, Daphne pouts her lips in disappointment and I have the real urge to walk over there and tell Spencer McGovern exactly what I think of him. But before my brain can get my feet moving, Seth Cavanaugh steps in.

  “I’ll play with you,” he offers, tossing the white ping pong ball back and forth between his hands.

  My sister smiles hopefully and slings herself under one of the balcony rails to the ground level. “You will?”

  “Of course.”

  For his part, Leo looks annoyed by the loss of his teammate, but not nearly as annoyed as Spencer, who seems to have suddenly realized that his girlfriend is not an accessory attached securely to his belt loop.

  The first couple minutes of the game pass without much drama, but then Daphne lands a ball into a cup and in her excitement, throws her arms around Seth’s neck.

  And, like he’s been waiting for this chance, Spencer explodes from his stool and bellows, “What the hell, Daphne?”

  Then it’s like everything is happening at once. A bunch of guys are squaring off, about to get in a fight or at least pretending to, and in the background, girls are hysterically shrieking their heads off.

  Through the chaotic haze of it all, I see my sister grappling with Spencer and I can tell that she’s simultaneously crying and apologizing. He leans close and says something to her before shoving her toward one of the horse stalls and storming off through the open barn door.