Dropping Logan’s jacket in her car as she passed it, Cassie managed to sneak back into the party at her house right as everyone was leaving. Her sister’s message had been insistent—get home NOW, Mom and Dad know you’re gone—but she hadn’t expected it to be so hard to leave Logan. Still, she couldn’t risk anyone seeing him in the car with her.

She wasn’t embarrassed. Far from it. Logan was the sweetest, funniest, most caring guy she’d ever known. And then there was the way he looked at her. No one had ever looked at her like that—like they really saw her for who she was.

No, she wasn’t embarrassed. But her family knowing about him could cause both of them so much trouble, and she’d already messed up his life enough.

Once all the adrenaline from what had probably been the world’s most perfect first kiss (well, kisses) had left her system, she realized what a mess she was in. She was falling hard for a guy her parents would never approve of. While standing up to them about her college major seemed manageable, them finding out about Logan the same night they’d seen Spencer with his new girlfriend would be much harder to handle. It was not the right time to flaunt a new, much less socially acceptable (to them) guy in front of all of their friends.

As Cassie mingled with the remaining guests, her mother and Di both gave her lingering glances, her sister looking relieved and her mother pissed off. Cassie wanted to avoid any questions for as long as possible so she made her way over to the guest house at the back of the property calling, “I’ll make sure it’s empty!” to anyone who would listen.

She was actually hoping to hide out there for a while, send a message to Logan to let him know she got back, and relive a few of the sweeter moments of the evening. But she stopped in her tracks as a faint giggling floated out from the guest house. She’d seen her sister so she knew it wasn’t her. Mr. and Mrs. Huntington were still at the party, but Spencer was nowhere to be seen amongst the heat lamps and food tables. And no Marissa in the yard, either.

Cassie’s blood started to boil as annoyance seeped through her. It was one thing for Marissa to ditch her for a guy she’d just dumped. It was what Cassie had kind of wanted, after all. But to make out with him in Cassie’s guest house was a little much. She’d been patient with Marissa, not wanting any friendship drama to stand in the way of her best friend’s dream guy, but this was just rude. All the lingering happy feelings from kissing Logan were now totally squashed by the thought of Spencer and Marissa getting busy on her property.

“Party’s over, kids!” she called as she pushed open the door to the guest house, irritation coursing through her veins.

She heard a shriek from the loft and caught the flash of a red dress above—the same color Marissa had been wearing. Cassie waited but no one emerged down the steps.

“Spencer, seriously, your parents are leaving. Get dressed and get out of my house.”

There was still no answer. If it wasn’t Spencer, she was sure the guy would have said something. So it had to be them.

Cassie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn’t want to hash it out here. She wanted to remember this night as her first kiss with Logan, not as the night she definitively lost her best friend. The giant fight she knew was coming could wait a little longer.

With an annoyed sigh loud enough for them to hear, she slammed the door and stalked back through the yard to the main house. Her mom stopped her with a hand on her arm, gentle but firm.

“When everyone is gone, you better be ready to tell me where you were,” her mom said with a little smile and nod at a few people who were waving goodbye to her. “This was your chance to get Spencer back and you missed it. Now look what he’s gotten up to.”

Cassie couldn’t help herself and looked back to see Spencer and Marissa holding hands as they left the guest house. The few appetizers she’d had hours ago churned in her stomach. Why was it so hard to see them together? They’d arrived at the party together, but she could still tell herself nothing had really happened and maybe they were just there as friends. This was proof that it was something serious.

And something that made her parents extremely unhappy.

Cassie put on her best smile and slid her arm out of her mom’s hand. There were still a dozen or so people in the yard, and she could feel every single one of their eyes on her.

“Everything is under control, Mom,” she said, keeping her back straight the way she’d been taught. “I’m tired though. Can we talk in the morning?”

Her mom narrowed her eyes but nodded, her cold smile never wavering.

Cassie waited until she was in the house to let out a tiny grunt of frustration. Di couldn’t have covered her for another hour? Then no one would have even known about Spencer and Marissa. Cassie could have lived another few days without picturing the two of them together.

As Cassie walked up to her room, she tried desperately to think of an excuse to tell her mom about why she’d left. Maybe an emergency with a friend? No, everyone they knew was at this party. She felt sick and had walked herself to the hospital? That sounded even less believable…

Her phone buzzed, pulling her out of her troubled thoughts. A message from Logan flashed across the screen.

Thanks for watching the fireworks with me.

A smile rose to her lips, the first since she’d gotten home. Suddenly, things didn’t seem quite so bad.