Covetous Hearts

prologue

prologue

"Listen to me, Quinn. You need to stop this."

Cue the whining.

"It's my best friend's birthday party, Quinn. I'm sorry but I'm not going to bail just to come over and watch Netflix."

Now comes the excuse that she's not at the party.

"Hazel, Arielle, Jada and Faye all said you could come tonight and you said you wouldn't. So please, don't try to get me out of this, too."

I took another sip of my cup. That boy could never get a break, could he? I poked my head out of the roof, watching him running his fingers through his hair, absentmindedly listening to his girlfriend.

He grinned once he looked up and saw me creeping at him tipsily. I smiled sheepishly and waved a little with one hand, the other holding onto my birthday princess tiara.

"Look, I got to go. Luna's dancing on the roof and I've got to make sure she doesn't get attacked by pigeons and falls off. Can't let the birthday girl die, right? If you want to come by, just let me know and you know Hazel's address. Bye!"

I laughed a little at that. Attacked by pigeons? Nathan was never one to create a believable excuse.

And as if on cue, I get the text.

You're probably not dancing on the roof, and pigeons don't attack people. Please make sure he doesn't do anything crazy and take care of him.

Happy Birthday, though!

Love ya, Q

I didn't reply. I never do. I just receive the message and leave it on read, so she knows I got it. Nathan would never cheat on Quinn, despite Quinn's crazy theories about Arielle or Jada. Sure, they're flirty and love to hang out with Nathan, but they've got their eyes on Kye and Rowan, Nathan's cute, wilder friends.

We're all friends and like to hang out together, but Arielle and Jada are closer with Kye and Rowan and Hazel, Dakota and I are closer with Nathan because we've been friends the longest.

Not strangely enough, Quinn isn't anybody's friend. Me and Dakota are friendly with her, but only because we don't want Nate feeling like absolute shit for liking a girl like Quinn. Hazel pretty much hates her guts —probably because Hazel threw an entire surprise party for Nathan and Quinn made him not go and the $50 we all chipped in for streamers and balloons went to waste— and Jada and Arielle don't like being accused of man stealers—which is pretty understandable.

Nathan took little time to get up to the roof than I expected. But Hazel's house was packed, almost everybody from school came to the party. Even though some didn't know it was my birthday or didn't even know me, Hazel did throw the best parties around.

I was stargazing when he knocked on the window from Hazel's room, which was already open, as if asking for permission to come out onto the roof. I looked over and smiled gleefully. I hadn't seen my best friend in ages.

"I see Hazel set you up with the birthday party attire." I chuckled, finding the party hat he had on amusing. He laughed, grabbing his hat and playing with the string tying it to his head.

"Yeah, I see she got you in the party mood too." He said, eyeing the princess crown I wore, his eyes traveling down to the black, shimmery feather boa I had around my neck. I blushed when his eyes traveled even further down to the black stockings and the red dress I was wearing, which was way shorter than the boa.

I felt my face heat up feverishly, but I didn't try to hide it, just as he didn't try to cover up the fact that the was ogling me, and taking his time at it, too.