Dead Girl Walking ― Aaron Minyard

20. renegade

are you really gonna talk about timin',
in times like these?
― big red machine ft. taylor swift

[trigger warnings: vague references to sexual assault; underage drinking; drug use (cracker dust)

[sexual content ahead]

♦

MARA WASN'T SURPRISED ANDREW INVITED NEIL TO EDEN'S AGAIN. She wasn't particularly angry, either—not like she thought she should have been.

Just because I was dead to you doesn't mean you were ever dead to me.

How did he come back after eight years apart and still get under her skin the way he had when they were kids? It was infuriating—and, in a way she wished it wasn't, nostalgic.

Mara and the others joined Andrew and Neil out in the hallway. Nicky's face lit up with a grin at the sight of Neil; Aaron looked skeptical, but glanced at Andrew and said nothing. Kevin's expression gave nothing away, and Mara doubted hers did, either, as she closed the door behind them.

Movement two doors down caught their attention. Five strangers were knocking on Neil's suite door. Seth stepped out to greet them, slapping backs and high-fiving as he moved into their ranks.

Allison wasn't far behind him. She pressed against Seth's back and slid her hands down his sides to his pants. Mara watched as she systematically dug through all of his pockets. She came back with just a lighter and a crumpled stick of gum.

Seth sent her an annoyed look over his shoulder. "I'm not stupid."

She kissed him to shut him up and put the lighter back where she'd found it. The gum she tossed behind her as worthless. She almost hit Matt with it as he and Dan stepped into the suite doorway. When Matt turned to avoid it, he spotted Neil, and his expression turned relieved.

"Neil, you made it," he said, loud enough even Allison and Seth turned to see. "Seth and Allison are going bar-hopping downtown, so the rest of us are prepping a movie marathon. Any requests or recommendations?"

"You're leaving campus?" Nicky asked Allison. "Are you serious?"

Allison scowled at him and wound her arms tighter around Seth. "It's none of your business."

Matt glanced at Allison, expression tight, but kept talking to Neil. "Renee should be back with drinks any second. She said she'd get something nonalcoholic for the two of you."

"Oh, what a waste," Andrew said. "I'm buying Neil's drinks tonight."

It took them a couple seconds to catch on. When they did, Dan lurched out of the doorway with a hard, "You're joking."

Andrew laughed at her outrage. "You wish I was."

"The last time he went out with you he hitchhiked his way back," Dan said. Seth's friends looked from her to Andrew with blatant interest, but Dan didn't seem to notice the attention. She stabbed a finger at Andrew and said, "He is not going out with you again. He'll probably wind up dead this time."

"Jesus, Dan," Nicky said. "When you say things like that it makes me think you don't trust us."

"No one trusts you," Matt said. "What are you playing at?"

"It's not really any of your business," Aaron said.

"I said he's not going," Dan said. "Neil, don't let him push you around."

Andrew nudged Neil with his elbow and said something in German. Neil answered back in the same tongue.

Mara rolled her eyes. Of course he fucking spoke German, too.