Corbet's

14. | GRIFFIN

Lauren shook her head at them. Then she turned and shook it again at Griffin.

"I mean, I don't know what you want me to say here, Griff," she said. "It's not like you've come running to me for all this quality best friend time recently. And it's not like either of us have had a ton of free time, anyway."

"Course that's your response," Griffin muttered, hearing her words slip and slide together. She didn't care. She wanted to know what had gotten into everyone to make them think they were too good for Corbet's this summer. Bunch of freaking snobs.

"What the fuck, Griffin?" Lauren snapped.

Griffin's eyes flew open. Lauren's face was blurred and cast in the blue pool light, but Griffin could still see every bit of anger there. She just couldn't remember what she'd said to cause it.

"Don't you ever call me a snob." Lauren jabbed a finger at her. She was still holding the tequila shots. "It's not my problem you don't get why I don't wanna hide away on this island every summer like you do."

"Pfft, I do not." Griffin waved her off. Lauren didn't get it. ''Scuse me for wanting to spend the summer with my bessfriends."

Both of Lauren's faces turned mocking. "Best friends? Really? I threw this whole party for you, and how're you thanking me for it? Getting wasted on my alcohol and being a complete brat to me. Real best friend move there, Griff."

"You know you didn't throw this for me," Griffin said. "Come on. You threw it for you. Jus' so you got the attention of saying it was for me."

"Ha. Wow." Lauren lifted a shot to her mouth, downed it, and then chased it with the other one. She grimaced against the back of her hand. "I hope you're actually as wasted as you look right now, Griffin. You're being such an asshole."

"Yeah. Well. So are you." Griffin's eyes were drifting shut again. She blinked them open. "'Cus allllll you do's talk 'bout wanting to leave."

"I haven't said that once tonight!"

"V'implied it," Griffin argued, rolling her head side to side against the pool chair. The stars overhead darted and swirled around her vision. "Like. We get it. You can't wait. So why don't you jus' go, then? Huh? Get that dramatic essit you want s'badly."

Lauren's expression dropped away completely for a second, and then it morphed into the nastiest look Griffin had ever gotten in her life.

"Happy fucking champagne birthday, Griffin."

Lauren stood and stalked off, leaving behind two empty shot glasses on the ground.

Griffin stared up at the black sky, closed her eyes for a second, and took a deep breath in. It tasted like bonfire and cigarettes. Lauren just didn't get.

She forced herself to sit up after a moment. The patio tipped sideways. She caught herself on the chair armrest. Once she got her bearings back, she looked out across the pool and watched Lauren make her rounds to say bye to everyone—air kissing cheeks, squeezing hands, probably talking about not coming back in a week, just to spite Griffin. God. It wasn't Griffin's fault Lauren had to come back to Corbet's after orientation! She needed to remember that in the morning.

...Griffin kinda wished she still had a freshman orientation to go to this summer, though. Maybe that was why she hated Lauren so much for it now. Griffin just had to do hers on her last recruitment trip to W&L. Even that college experience had been taken away from her.

Well, she technically could still have a freshman orientation if she decided what to do about Wake Forest...

Oh, fuck. Wake Forest. Bill Hammond. No, no, NO. Griffin should NOT think about this now. She didn't want to start crying again. She groaned and fell back onto the pool chair again, throwing an arm over her face.