I scoff, shaking my head. “You two areabsurd...and oddly perfect for each other.”
Jude slips up beside me, hooks an arm around my waist, and pulls me into him. His hand slides down the curve of my back.
“This is areallynice house,” I say, eyes wide. “Wow.”
“Millionaire benefits, baby,” Micah chuckles, unwrapping the cake with Heather.
Jude chuckles. “I’ll put your bag in the room,” he murmurs against my ear. Then, he glances at Micah. “And dude, you actually need to sleep in the guest room tonight.”
I blink. “Do you guys share a bed or something?”
Micah laughs before Jude can answer. “Oh yeah. All the time.”
My brows fly up.
Jude shoots him a look. “Not like that,” he says, grinning. “We’ve just had to stick together through...a lot.”
A lot.
The understatement of the year. It makes sense because they experience so much trauma together. I nod slowly, trying to imagine what “a lot” looks like for them. What nights they’ve held each other steady through withdrawals or panic or whatever Nolan and Adriana have put them through.
When he returns, he follows me into the kitchen. There they are, already digging into the chocolate cake like rabid freaking wolves.
“No plates?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“No time,” Heather says around a mouthful, crumbs clinging to her cheeks.
I roll my eyes and grin. “A menace as always.”
We grab forks and hover around the kitchen island, laughing and scarfing down the enormous chocolate cake. The frosting is sticky on my fingers, and the rich, sweet flavor fills my mouth as I take another bite. I forgot how much better this stuff tastes when you’re high.
Micah laughs out of his nose, pointing at all of us with our cheeks stuffed with chocolate and the sheer ridiculousness of it. I nearly choke from laughing because we look like little chipmunks.
Jude’s hand lands on my lower back, steadying me, and he mutters, “Don’t choke, Em.” I grin at him with frosting smeared over my lip, and he leans down to kiss the corner of my mouth, still laughing. I nearly jolt when I feel his tongue swirl to lick the chocolate off.
Heather waves a fork wildly. “If anyone chokes, don’t panic. There’s a nurse in the house. A stoned nurse, but a nurse nonetheless.”
Micah pours two glasses of milk and hands one to Jude and me. We clink them together and take long sips. We continue bantering, joking, and teasing.
Once the cake is finally demolished, everyone collapses onto the couch in a sugar-drunk heap. Heather curls into Micah’s side, looping her arm through his with a satisfied smile, tugging him close like he’s her personal teddy bear.
“I honestly kind of hate myself,” she murmurs. “Em, we havegotto go to the gym again tomorrow. I don’t care. It is amust.”
I wave her off. “Girl, I’mnotthinking of the gym right now. It’s actually the furthest thing from my mind.”
She giggles. “Fiiiine.”
Micah grabs the remote, flicks open YouTube, and Sassy the Sasquatch fills the screen.
My jaw drops. “Oh,no wayyou guys know about Sassy.” I lean forward to look at Jude and Micah in disbelief.
“Who smokes weed anddoesn’t?”Micah asks with a shrug.
Heather snorts at one of the scenes, and soon the four of us are laughing so hard that barely any sound comes out. My stomach hurts. My face hurts. I can’t get enough air between laughs. Jude leans into me, his arm draped behind my shoulders. His thumb finds my hand and rubs slow, absent minded strokes that send sparks across my skin. He watches me more than the screen, smirking every time I lose it again.
I rest my head on his shoulder, breathing in the faint trace of amber cologne. He nudges my knee; I flick his hair back from his forehead. His laugh is quiet, something I feel as much as hear.
Eventually the room settles, the only sound the goofy voice of Sassy on the TV. Ocean air slips in through the cracked patio door. The high fades into a sleepy haze, tugging me back to memories of smoking in his old car before hiking trails—just us, nowhere to be, talking about the future. We always said we’d keep doing that, even after he made it. Now that he has, I want it more than ever. And I’m scared it won’t be that simple.