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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Lauren was still smirking
Evan and Drew were still talking about the first game.
And Griffin was still seething.
She sat and watched them all play more hands without her, refusing to speak but also refusing to let anyone see how furious she actually was. Lauren kept pretending to brush off all the praise she was getting from the boys (but clearly loving every second of it), and that was fine. Objectively, Lauren had played a good hand. Griffin couldn't be mad about that.
What Griffin could be mad about was a little more abstract. She'd known Lauren half her life, and every single thing about that first game had been intentional. The message was clear.
So Griffin sat. And she watched. And she took mental notes.
Evan and Drew were pretty average. Evan was more reckless than Drew, and Drew was too quick to fold before the flop cards. Matty was pretty hands-off with his chips. Griffin figured he just liked being involved.
Mary Kyle was weirdly smart with betting. Like, weirdly smart. She'd already won close to eight bucks off calling Evan's bluffs alone, and she never showed her cards when she lost. The only person who really kept up with her was Charlie.
Lauren hadn't won a game since the first hand. It didn't seem like she really cared, though. She always opted out of going in on big bets, and any time she lost a hand she'd make a comment like, "Whatev, it's not like I don't have chips to burn."
By the time the deal went all the way around the table and was back to Matty, Griffin couldn't take it anymore.
"I wanna buy back in," she said to Drew. "I'll Venmo you another twenty."
He shook his head. "Sorry, love. House rules at the beginning, remember? Charlie's chip stipulations are the only way to play back in."
Griffin did not remember that being 100% decided on. "So you're really not gonna let me Venmo twenty dollars?"
Drew held up his hands. "Tequila shot for white, kiss the dealer for red, Truth or Dare for blue, clothes for black."
Fine.
Griffin stood up, stepping over Charlie and squeezing out from her spot at the table. She ignored Evan's, "Shots, shots, shots shots shots shots, everybodayyyy!" on her way down into the cabin.
There weren't any shot glasses in the kitchen, and Griffin was too impatient to search the whole boat. She grabbed a salt shaker and the entire bottle of 1800—she didn't even want to know how Evan and Matt swiped it—then she climbed back up through the hatchway. When she hit the top stair, a single firework blazed up into the sky across the sound. It exploded into streaks of red.
"Uh oh," Drew said, grinning at her. "We got ourselves a family hand here."
Griffin walked back over to her spot at the table and refused to look anywhere near Lauren or Mary Kyle. Charlie shifted his legs to the side to let her back in, eyeing the bottle of tequila in her hand. So was Matty.
