Welcome to Corbet's Inlet, North Carolina, where the teenagers act like adults and the adults act like teenagers. It's Griffin Connolly's favorite place in the world. And while she may not be good at making decisions when it comes to her own life, s...
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Griffin was rip-roaring drunk. And it was all Charlie's fault.
Well, Charlie's and her parents' and also maybe Bo's fault, too.
But mostly, Charlie's.
If he hadn't shown up in Corbet's to begin with, Griffin never would've needed to get this wasted at her own birthday party. It didn't matter that Lauren kept pouring her shots. Charlie was the reason Griffin hadn't refused those shots. He'd rather be off with Mary Kyle somewhere on the beach than here. And that was fine. Griffin would rather vie for José Cuervo's affection than for Charlie's.
Attention. Not affection.
Actually, neither of those were good. Shit.
At least Charlie choosing Mary Kyle automatically DQ'ed any excuse he had to needle his way into the Bill Hammond thing. No more holding it over Griffin's head with secret smirks and passive aggressive comments, brotato! He had a girlfriend now.
"Griff, birthday shots!" Lauren said, stumbling over to Griffin's pool chair.
Griffin did not remember how or why or when she'd ended up on this pool chair. The cushions were so soft, though.
"Too much tequila," she muttered. She was pretty sure she'd already had at least three and a half of those since she'd lost in beer pong, but it was hard to keep track with her head spinning. "Not trying to be Mary Kyle tonight. N'every way posssible."
Lauren sat on the edge of her pool chair, nudging Griffin's feet to make room. "Come on, Griff! I'm leaving tomorrow. Drink with me."
"Why d'you keep doing that?" Griffin asked. She could barely keep her eyes open.
Lauren cocked her head and tried to hand her a shot. "Doing what?"
Griffin ignored it. "Constantly talking about leaving Corbet's for good. S'literally all you talk about."
Nonstop, all night, to everyone at the party, actually. And she kept leaving out the part about how she'd be back in a week.
"Duh," Lauren laughed. "I can't wait to get off this fucking island."
Griffin would have rolled her eyes if they were fully open.
"Yeah. I've heard," she said, suddenly irritated. She wasn't sure where all the frustration was coming from, but it was gonna feel good as hell to let Lauren know exactly how she felt about it. "We've been here over two weeks and haven't spent any time together. And now you're just over here, like—" Griffin waved a hand lazily, then dropped it onto the chair with a thud, "—so ready to dip out to California."
Matty and the Raleigh boys suddenly erupted into cheers across the patio. They were all shirtless and playing some weird variation of Flip Cup on the outdoor kitchen counter. Griffin wondered if Matty was losing.
