Our Love Story

Chapter Twenty-Three

The sun beamed down on us as we stood out on the patio. Darren hummed while he flipped the burgers on the grill, moving his body along to the beat of the music that was playing from the stereo.

Ava and I sat together on the outdoor loveseat with drinks in our hands. She reached over and grabbed some chips from the bag on the table, stuffing them in her mouth as Lauren, one of Everett's friends from California and who just happened to be his ex-girlfriend, came over and sat on the other loveseat across from us.

"Hey, you two!" Lauren greeted us. "Are you two having a good time?"

Ava nodded. "Of course! The four of us definitely needed this little getaway." She glanced at me. "Thanks for letting us join you guys here."

"Don't mention it, I always wanted to meet Everett's hometown friends." She smiled. "I'm going to see if the food is done."

I watched her get up and walk away. "She's really nice," I said. "I wonder what made her go out with Everett."

Ava laughed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, throughout our childhood, he's been nothing but an annoying ass," I told her.

She put down her drink and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "Aww, come on, don't say that," she cooed, leaning on me and I stiffened to prevent my drink from spilling. "Even so, you're in love with him now."

My eyes slid over to the man himself as he stood near the grill with arms crossed and laughing at something Darren said, my gaze staring at his muscular arms a little bit too long before finally looking away. "Yeah, I am," I muttered. "Too much for my own good."

"I never thought I'd see the day where you can say that without cringing," Ava said and I laughed.

"Ava, Nova!" Lauren called out, motioning for us to go over to the rest of them. "We're taking some shots, come on!"

We got up and made our way over, Lauren handing us our little plastic shot cups already filled with tequila. "To the four of us from California finally being reunited with Everett," she said, raising her shot gloss with one hand and laying a hand on Everett's arm with the other. "It's been nice seeing a good friend again!"

My gaze stayed glued to her hand on Everett, which she kept there for a little longer than I would have liked as we all took the shot.

"Do you guys have any stories of Everett's time in California?" Luka asked.

"Preferably some embarrassing ones," Ava chimed.

"Oh, hell yeah, we do," Casey, another one from the California group, a guy with longish blond hair, said. "One night, we went out drinking and we all decided to see who could drink the most before throwing up."

Everett buried his face into the palm of his hand. "Not this one," he said, eyebrows pinched together as he relived the memory of that night.

Lauren cackled. "I remember that night!" she exclaimed. "All of you guys drank way too much, especially Everett since he can drink a lot before he passes out."

Casey nodded. "So, later that night, we pretty much were making fools of ourselves in the club, stumbling around and dancing drunkenly," he continued. "Everett couldn't take it anymore and he walked outside and ended up just passing out on the sidewalk."

"I still have the pictures!" Lauren said, pulling her phone out and scrolling through her gallery before turning the phone around to show us a picture of Everett laying face down on the sidewalk, looking almost lifeless.

I burst out laughing. "That's amazing! You have to send that to me!"

Everett's eyes turned into slits as he stared at me. "And just what do you plan to do with that picture?"