Mia and I slide into a worn black booth at Wicker, the small pub downtown.

It’s cute, has your typical diner set-up with a counter and bar stool area blocking the kitchen, black booth seats wrapping all along the walls, and black granite-topped tables placed sporadically around the room, ketchup and hot sauce bottles in the center of each one.

If the sports memorabilia covering the walls is any indication, this place is all about supporting their local athletes. According to Mia, this is the hangout spot for all the high schoolers. Looking around, it appears to be true, there isn’t an adult in sight. Even the waiters and waitresses seem to be around our age.

“Hey, Mia, how’s it going?” A cute, blond-haired guy asks, setting a couple waters down in front of us.

“It’s going. I’m here for my ‘cure the hangover’ meal,” she laughs, then touches her temple, wincing.

“Ahh, yes,” he chuckles. “So, water and The Grease Monkey for you?”

“God, yes,” she says with a moan, slouching further into her seat.

He glances at me. “Holding out on me, huh, Mia?”

“Shit, sorry.” She places her hand on my shoulder. “This is my cousin, Lolli. Lolls, Ryan. His family owns Wicker.”

“Hey.” I smile.

“Nice to meet you... er... Lolli?” His eyebrows rise just a little. And, bless his heart, he tries to hold back a grin.

“It’s okay, you can laugh. I promise it won’t offend me. And to answer your unasked question; no, it’s not my real name.”

He smiles and gestures to Mia. “Her idea, right?”

“She definitely makes sure it’s a constant.”

He nods. “So, what’ll it be, Lolli? You create your meal; we deliver.”

“Well, I don’t need to recover from a hangover, so how about you surprise me? Just know, I’m hella hungry.”

He rubs his hands together excitedly while looking me over, as if that’ll help. “Alright. You’re a breakfast kind of girl,” he declares.

I can’t help but laugh. “Okay. That’s a little creepy, but your food witchery mind-reading thing totally works, because I am indeed a breakfast girl.” I sigh wistfully. “I’d eat it for every meal if I could.”

“I knew it!” He grins triumphantly. “Considering it’s well after 3:00 pm, that’s the answer I was hoping for.” He winks before walking away.

Once he’s out of earshot, I decide to spill the beans. “So, I had quite the interesting night last night.”

“Yeah, you had a whole jello shot all to yourself.” The smartass dazzles me with spirit fingers. “Crazy.”

“Har, har, biatch. I was actually talking about after I left the party.” I circle the rim of my glass with my finger.

Mia flips her long red hair over one shoulder, resting both elbows on the tabletop. Hands clasped together, she lays her chin on her fingers. “Do tell, oh mysterious one.” She wiggles in anticipation.

I take a deep breath. “I jumped in a shiny truck with a total stranger, who was passed out by the way, drove him to my house, left him in the driveway, and went to bed. I woke up to a pounding on my door. Thinking it was you, I opened it, tits and ass on display all day. Guy was smug. Thought he had some fun in my hoo-hoo land, didn’t believe me when I told him he didn’t, and had a fit when I told him I drove his truck. The end.”

I take a drink of my water, and glance up at Mia.

Bad idea. I choke-laugh-spit all over myself.

She stares at me, her mouth wide open, brows drawn in.

It only takes a few seconds for her to work through my word vomit.

“Are you serious?” she shrieks. “He was so high and mighty he couldn’t believe you hadn’t slept with him?”

“Yep.” I laugh at her stunned-stupid expression. “It was as if the idea of being alone with a girl, and not fucking her, was inconceivable.”

She shakes her head back and forth. Her brows go from lifted, to pinched, then back to normal in a clear sign of acceptance. “Yeah, with the top football team in the area, we kind of have a lot of big-headed, sexy shitheads,” she laughs.

“Yeah.” I nod, replaying last night in my mind.

“I can feel your brain thinking. What is it?”

“I don’t know.” I swirl the straw through my drink. “Now that I think about it, he kind of seemed like...”

She tilts her head, those green eyes searching. “Like what, Lolls?” she says in a soft, attentive tone. I don’t think I like it.

“Like...” I roll my eyes, and sit up straight. “Okay, so, he couldn’t believe we hadn’t slept together, but I think it was a little more than that.” I look up at her. “I don’t know. It was weird. I don’t think he’s used to girls doing decent things for him.” That evokes a laugh from me. “Well, nonsexual friendly things, and I honestly think he just had no idea how to take it.” I look past Mia’s shoulder.

She giggles. “Well, based on what you said, I would have to agree.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “So…?” I know what she wants.

“What?” I tilt my head back, fanning myself.

“That hot, huh?” she grins.

“Totally.”

We’re both still laughing when Ryan walks up, food in hand.

“For you, milady,” he says as he places a large plate with two slider burgers, a fried burrito, a bowl of homemade mac, and gravy-covered fries in front of her.

“Daaamn, Meems,” I stare at her food in awe. “Can you seriously eat all that?”

“You don’t know my life,” she snaps as she digs in.

“And for you, Lolli... T’s French toast with hash browns, and scrambled eggs. I even took a chance and brought you strawberry syrup.”

“Ooh-ho-ho.” Mia wiggles her eyebrows at Ryan. “You did good, boy.”

He grins and looks to me for confirmation, but all he gets is a thumbs up and a not so appropriate moan, because the goods are already causing an orgasm in my mouth. He walks away with a smile, so I guess he’s satisfied with my response.

We sit in silence and inhale our meals. It’s a quick and satisfying adventure, before paying the bill and heading to Mia’s house.

She pulls into her driveway, and kills the engine to her Red Jeep Wrangler.

“You coming in?” she asks.

“No, I’m gonna get my crap ready for hell tomorrow, and crash out early.”

“It won’t be so bad, Lolli, I promise. You’ve met some of my girls already. You just gotta give it a chance.” She gives me a sad smile.

“I know.” I sigh, before shifting my body to face her. “I actually wanted to apologize to you.”

Her head jerks back, and she frowns. “For what?”

“For being such a drag the last few weeks. You’ve been stuck spending most of your time watching movies with me when you should be hanging out or something.”

“Hey, Grease is a classic,” she jokes, nudging me in the shoulder.

“Really though, thanks for that, but I’m seriously done moping around.”

She raises a skeptical eyebrow at me.

“I’m not kidding! Might as well let loose and have some fun while I’m here. Once school’s out, I’m leaving and-”

“Okay, stop,” she cuts me off, laughing. “You can’t get me all high on a ‘let’s party’, then knock me down with thoughts of you leaving.”

“Ugh, you’re right.” I let my head drop back against the headrest. “I’m bad at this stuff.”

She tilts her head to the side, and replies, “Try to get to know people.”

“Right.” As in, yeah right.

“Seriously though, Meems,” I say, as we step out of the Jeep, “I’m just your cousin who moved in next door to you for senior year, okay? They don’t need a backstory.”

“I hear you, Lolls, but remember, this town is all about football, so…”

“Yeah, I know.”

We part ways as she calls out, “Be ready at seven sharp, chickadee!”

I throw a peace sign over my head as I walk to my door.

The second I walk in, my bitch of a cat is at my feet.

“Yes, I know. Pet you, feed you, clean out your box. I’m on it.” She follows me into the kitchen and watches as I pour food into her bowl.

After taking care of all her crap, I grab a water from the fridge and head to my bedroom.

When it was first decided that Alrick Falls was where I would complete my senior year, I didn’t realize that meant living directly next door to my Aunt Kara and Uncle Ben. I guess I was hoping to be at least a couple miles away. Close enough if I felt like stopping by, but not close enough to have to see them - by “them,” I mean her - on a daily basis. I think she knew that, which is why she was quick to jump on this place the minute it was available, thinking it would be good for me to be “close to the family.” I can’t really fault her for it; her heart’s in the right place. Regardless, right next door is a bit much and she knows it.

I do like the house, though. It’s a basic one-level home with a two-car garage and a hella big backyard. There are three bedrooms: a master and two average-sized rooms, and a hall bath.

The first thing I did when I crossed into Alrick Falls in my rental car was pull over at the hardware store to purchase paint.

The kitchen is now a deep burgundy with mocha-colored countertops and cabinets, while the living room, along with the rest of the house - other than my room - is a charcoal gray with white trimmings. The red suede couches and black furniture help bring it to life, but my room is by far my favorite.

The walls are a deep, teal blue color, matching the pillows that lay on top of my black comforter perfectly. A California king-sized bed is pushed up against the wall with a small black nightstand next to it. My long black dresser along the far wall has a TV perched on top, and that’s it. Mia says it’s weird not to have a mirror in my room. Apparently, the large closet doors that are actually two huge mirror doors don’t count - gotta love her quirks.

She’s really the only positive I could come up with for this entire situation. Being only a year apart in age, she and I have always been pretty close, and this time together will be good for us. It makes the whole “waiting a year to go back to school thing” worth it. Now I can sit idle while she soars through our final year of high school.

Yippee.

I’ve been lying on my bed staring at nothing for at least three hours, watching as my room grows dark, the light disappearing with the sun.

With a sigh, I roll over and reach into my nightstand drawer, feeling around for the Polaroid camera my parents gave me last year. For the first time, I consider walking the few blocks to the meadows, but decide against it just as quickly.

I call for Nauni, the devil cat. She jumps up, curls herself beside me, and we fall asleep.