Corbet's

15. | GRIFFIN

Griffin put on her hangover uniform and went over to Matty's house.

Gym shorts. Dry shampoo. Oversized t-shirt. Zero makeup. Biggest pair of sunglasses she owned. It'd become such a staple in her Corbet's partying routine over the past couple of years, she hadn't thought twice about it before she left.

She was definitely thinking about it now, though, as she unlatched Matty's patio gate. She hoped to God Charlie and Evan weren't still around.

"It's the birthday girl!" Evan immediately announced from a gigantic pink flamingo float in the middle of the pool. Griffin's stomach barreled up into her throat.

"Morning," she said, allowing herself to step closer to the edge.

Matty was lying face-down on a nearby pool chair and could barely lift his head up. "It's two p.m.," he croaked, sunglasses crooked on his face.

Thank God for Griffin's own sunglasses, because there Charlie was, parked next to Matty in the same chair Griffin had fallen asleep on last night. He had his wayfarers on, and also, he was shirtless. Griffin wanted die right there in her three-sizes-too-big T-shirt.

"Is my phone here?" she asked Matty.

He groaned incoherently.

Charlie folded his hands behind his head and said, "Pretty sure it's over there on the bar."

Griffin couldn't get herself to fully look at him. "Thanks," she mumbled, heading across the patio.

Sure enough, her phone was exactly where Charlie said it was. It was dead, but luckily the outdoor kitchen was under an awning so it hadn't roasted in the sun all day.

On her way back to the pool, Griffin passed by the gate leading down to the Barnes' private boardwalk. She glanced out past the end of the pier, toward the ocean, and a tiny inkling of a memory tickled the back of her mind. She tried, but she couldn't quite grab onto it.

Had she gone out there last night?

"That party was definitely one for the books," Evan said. Griffin sat on the edge of the pool stairs and put her feet in the water. "You have fun, Griff?"

"From what I can remember."

"Thatta girl." Matty gave her a limp thumbs up from his chair. "I'm regretting the amount of fun I had last night..."

Evan smirked and put his hands behind his head, mirroring Charlie. "I'm sure you are. That girl Mary Kyle brought was begging for it from you, dude."

"No, Ev," Matty sighed, "she wasn't."

Griffin stifled a laugh.

"Wait, you guys didn't hook up?" Evan lurched over on his float and started paddling toward the edge of the pool. "Then where'd you disappear to last night?"

"Couldn't tell you," Matty said morosely, and it was the sad look on his face that triggered everything to come rushing back to Griffin.

Matty. Making out with some guy at the end of the pier after the party.

"I'm worried about you, man," Evan said, giving up on his float. He rolled off into the water, while Griffin frantically tried to piece together what else she saw last night. "You get so many prospects and never follow through. The last time I heard about you and anyone was when you and Griffin made out last summer. And Truth or Dare's don't even count."

Griffin froze, her hangxiety surging.

Even with how much it'd helped with Matty's facade, their random drunken dare last summer was not something Griffin was prepared to have openly discussed in front of Charlie right now.